Companies and associations promoting the employment of people with disabilities and the public authorities launched on Thursday 10 March a national “Employment & disability” barometer allowing employers to share “in a simple, fast and transparent way” their commitment to inclusive employment.
Like the professional equality index, which measures the efforts of companies in terms of gender equality, this barometer crosses several indicators, starting with the proportion of employees with disabilities (the law requires, under penalty of financial, at a minimum of 6%).
“But beyond the employment rate, which rather testifies to the past through the hirings already made, it was necessary to highlight the progress of which companies are capable”insists Christian Sanchez, co-president of the Inclusion Manifesto, and director of social relations at LVMH.
Support businesses
Hence five other indicators showing how each company raises staff awareness of the issue and implements a structured disability policy (for example through the presence of “disability” referents, the existence of an agreement with Agefiph, the evolution of the recruitment and internships of disabled people, efforts to maintain them in employment, etc.).
Unlike the professional equality index, which companies with more than 50 employees must now declare, the publication of the barometer on a dedicated site is optional.
“It’s about supporting companies, reassuring them on a subject that they too often perceive as complex”explains Sophie Cluzel, Secretary of State for People with Disabilities, for whom “On this subject there are mostly poor rather than malicious employers” and who notes that the question sometimes remains “taboo” in company.
“Demystifying situations of disability at work”
President of the medical equipment company Septodont, Olivier Schiller thus testifies to the difficulty of one of his employees to declare that she was hard of hearing. “When her colleagues greeted her, she neither heard nor answered: they thought she was in a bad mood and tended to leave her in her corner, he says. From the moment she was able to say that she was hard of hearing, we were able to accompany her and she has since blossomed a lot. »
This leader of a medium-sized company, however, recognizes the difficulty for companies like his to address this issue. “The barometer precisely aims to demystify situations of disability at work, to show that employment and disability are possible, and to create a new dialogue between employers and people with disabilities. » Consultation of the barometer should also enable people with disabilities to better target their job search by identifying companies that take into account disabilities.
All the activity takes advantage of the attention to the disabled
Companies hope to benefit from a tool allowing them to change their practices. “In the hotel industry, we are rather naturally fond of meeting differences, but that does not prevent narrow-mindedness and prejudices”testifies Steven Daines, global director of human resources at Accor, who gives the example of a blind employee at the reception of a hotel in Ajaccio (Corsica). ” The demonstrates on a daily basis that he is capable of doing a job that, a priori, a person with his disability cannot do”recognizes the HRD, for whom the reflection on the handicap now irrigates all the reflection of the company.
Successfully, he says. “When we think of our customers with disabilities for whom we are developing a sink that lowers, we also realize that it is very useful for families with young children. » It is thus all the activity of the company which benefits from the attention to the handicapped people.