Adecco: Digitalization, new tech, and boosting employability for talent with disabilities

July 15, 2019
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This article was written and published in Spanish and has been translated into English via Google Translate. Click here to read the original article.

According to the latest study by the Adecco Foundation, 65% of people with disabilities say that digitalization has helped facilitate the search for employment - however, only 26% of people with disabilities of working age are in the labor force today.

"Many people with disabilities remained excluded from the labor market and, thanks to the development of technology and innovation, have had the opportunity to demonstrate their talent and opt for a job that, a few decades ago, they would have had very difficult to access," affirmed Francisco Mesonero, General Sirector of the Adecco Foundation.

The New Technologies, a great ally for the employability of people with disabilities

The International Day of Appropriate Technologies is celebrated on July 15, a key date that reminds us of the importance of investing in the design of inclusive technologies that take into account certain social needs, such as those that have around 4 million people with disability in our country.

On the occasion of this celebration, the Adecco Foundation and Keysight Technologies Spain have come together to carry out the eighth edition of the Technology and Disability Report. Through a survey carried out by the Adecco Foundation for people with disabilities, the influence of new technologies in their daily lives and, specifically, in their access to the labor market and their professional development has been analyzed.

Key data that emerge from the analysis is that technological advances are closely related to the inclusion of people with disabilities and have become essential allies to improve, in general terms, their quality of life as claimed by 66% of respondents. Among other positive consequences, communication and job search are presented as the aspects where people with disabilities have benefited most thanks to advances in technology, according to 65% and 64% of respondents respectively.

For these reasons, the new tech has become essential to guarantee employment access for people with disabilities in the ordinary company, since they open communication bridges between both, thus creating more accessible environments and open their needs. In practice, it allows people with disabilities to improve their employability by accessing training, giving more visibility to their professional profile, improving interaction with companies and access to job offers; Once the job is obtained, it contributes to the optimal development and maintenance of your job. 71% of the respondents affirm that the new technologies help them, in some way, to carry out their job, by reducing the barriers with which they find themselves and equating their capabilities with those of the general population.

According to Francisco Mesonero, General Director of Adecco Foundation: "It is a fact that the impact of technology on the employment of people with disabilities is growing, and the figures prove it. This growth must become a motivation to continue advancing, putting technology at the service of a social goal that today has become a national priority: equal opportunities and the full inclusion of people with disabilities."

Teleworking is introduced as a real alternative and even an interesting guarantee for those with reduced mobility, but it is progressing slowly in Spain. With respect to last year, the percentage of people with disabilities who have a job and their position allows them to work from home has increased by 6 percentage points, with 17% of people with disabilities indicating that they have the option of teleworking.

Among the advantages of teleworking for the company are the reduction of infrastructure costs, the increase in productivity, the recruitment of new talents, as people with disabilities excluded from the labor market, the reduction of absenteeism, the increase of the recruitment potential of talent, opening up to the more inactive sectors such as people with disabilities, the promotion of new technologies, the promotion of CSR policies, by adopting measures that favor reconciliation and the generation of a comparative advantage.

For people with disabilities, the barrier of mobility is eliminated (saving costs and time), it means greater flexibility and the possibility of reconciling family, therapies and work, among others, the increase of motivation and commitment, inclusion in the labor market and improvement of self-esteem and the overall improvement of the quality of life.

Another theme taken into account in the study, are social networks, key platforms in the search for employment, because they are a tool that mitigates weaknesses and strengths, and where people with disabilities can act on equal terms. 64% of respondents say that New Technologies facilitate the search for employment; In fact, 77% of respondents say that social networks increase the chances of finding a job.

But there is still a large digital divide in people with disabilities, despite all the advantages and improvements that technology represents for this group, sometimes it creates barriers that are difficult to overcome. As for the most accessible terminals, 70% highlights the smartphone, followed by the laptop (45%) and the Tablet (38%). However, 16% say that there are still many accessibility barriers present in the devices.

19% of respondents find barriers navigating the internet, highlighting that there is a lack of accessible options: absence of texts in easy reading, a size too small for people with visual impairment, as well as the color and contrast of sources ; pop-ups, banners or advertising; ergonomics: adaptation to the physical and psychological characteristics of the user, complex operation: lack of menu or fixed index, visible in the different pages of the same web, since it can lead to confusion and loss of location in the navigation.

In the search for employment, these barriers represent a very important limitation because virtually all of the job offers that are published do so on digital platforms. Social networks (66%), followed by employment applications (62%) are the most used by respondents. In addition, it is noteworthy that 26% of respondents use applications to make their technological devices accessible, positive fact, since they improve their user experience.

In short, technology still has a lot to explore and new actions to implement to continue impacting positively on the lives of everyone, especially people with disabilities - that's why it is key to meet the needs raised in the field technological and business, so that ordinary companies can have, from the start, accessible solutions for people with disabilities, being with it more open environments and prone to their incorporation.

This article was written and published in Spanish and has been translated into English via Google Translate. Click here to read the original article.

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