RSE platform encourages French companies to hire disabled employees

The French Secretary of State, Sophie Cluzel, has commissioned the RSE Platform (National Platform for Global Actions for Corporate Social Responsibility) to prepare a report on the situation of employment of disabled people in France with the objective of facilitating their integration into the world of work,.

The RSE Platform was created in 2012 with the aim of becoming a major player in the consultation and construction of job proposals in the service of governmental policies.

The organization recognizes that it is difficult for people with disabilities to gain access to employment and has consequently come up with 15 proposals to improve their professional integration.

Promoting the hiring of disabled candidates

In France, people with disabilities are currently three times less likely to find a job than people without disabilities with a similar job profile and twice as likely to be unemployed.

To deal with this situation, the French Secretary of State for Persons with Disabilities wants above all to encourage companies to take more initiatives to promote the hiring of disabled people and maintain their jobs. To do this, it is essential to determine the most effective methods of convincing companies.

The recommendations of the RSE Platform also covers the vocational training, guidance, recruitment, reception and retention of disabled workers. They also aim to recognize the efforts of companies willing to hire disabled people.

Overview of the proposals

There were many recommendations put forward by the RSE platform to promote the professional integration of people with disabilities, here are the main points:

• Facilitating access for young disabled people to the various schemes to ensure a better transition between education and employment such as internships, sponsorship, sandwich courses.
• Targetting the action of organizations involved in the training and placement of disabled jobseekers.
• Encouraging the creation of employment grants both at nationally and at regional level.
• Strengthening the promotion of supported employment
• Consolidating communication, awareness and training
• Informing candidates and companies about applicable regulations, existing support schemes that can help companies recruit disabled people
• Building bridges between large companies, SMEs and other participants to better promote job retention.