Ireland

Project - e-Quality Through e-Work 

Rationale

To support disadvantaged individuals (people with disabilities, lone parents and carers:- all in receipt of welfare payments) who would otherwise experience significant barriers to securing mainstream employment to access existing training/education courses for which there is a graduate market demand; and also to develop e-working skills to provide through this project access to genuine work experience with local employers to build their CV that would enable them to become directly e-employed.

In the case of those wishing to become successfully e-work self-employed:to secure the assets and supports in the case.

At the same time, supporting a selected group of 10 to 15 local employers to adapt their working arrangements and practices and through the use of ICT and other technologies to accommodate distance (e-)work by employees.

We aim to achieve higher levels of “family friendly” and “environmentally friendly” employment practices and opportunities, while at the same time increasing the inclusiveness of these labour market opportunities to the target groups.

Objective

1. To pilot an innovative model of employment for the named target groups.
2. To work with and progress up to 60 individuals over a two year period.
3. To recruit these individuals by sourcing them through a number of the partners in the DP: e.g. SLES, DSFA, DSSE, SWAN.
4. To identify and select a number of employers locally where there is a realistic potential for e-work (IBEC, Dun Laoghaire Chamber of Commerce and Business in the Community will support us to identify these employers).
5. To use this model to prove to employers that e-work is a cost-effective and practical way of achieving work outcomes.
6. To demonstrate that the employment of people with disabilities and lone parents and other carers within their own homes is a viable method of integrating and including these groups into the labour market.
7. To adapt and deliver training and supports to employers involved in the pilot project through DP partners.
8. To liaise with and propose adaptations to existing education and training courses (Roslyn Park College, FAS-NetCollege, Senior College DL) and other programmes to achieve greater access to certified qualification by the target groups.
9. To augment existing education and training provision by adapting and delivering e-work training modules to prepare participants in all aspects of e-work.
10. To provide resources, technical and personal supports to participants who choose to e-work.
11. To conduct a Feasibility Study and Market Research into the potential for self-employment and the development of a marketing co-operative which would channel contracts to self-employed e-workers.
12. To facilitate a number of participants to further training in self-employment skills.
13. To support and facilitate the purchase of equipment and home-refurbishment to accommodate an e-work station if required.
14. To develop and build on collaborative relationships with all the partners in the DP and Transnational/Cross-Border partners with a view to long-term mainstreaming and application of the learning.
15. Cross-share the learning within the project with all partners, between projects (incl. Transnational) and disseminate the learning with a view to exploring and developing mainstreaming potential.

Innovation

Nature of the experimental activities to be implemented	Rating
Training	**
Integrated measures (pathway to integration)	**
Training of teachers, trainers and staff	**
Improvement of employment services, Recruitment structures	**
Conception for training programs, certification	**
Anticipation of technical changes	**
Work organisation, improvement of access to work places	**

 

Type of innovation	Rating
Process-oriented	***
Context oriented	***

 

Through the use of ICT, the project will support individuals who have traditionally been excluded from the labour market, to access employment opportunities.

Through bringing together education and training service providers who traditionally work in isolation from each other, we aim to develop a more integrated and inclusive model of delivery of education and training, which will focus on the needs of the individual rather than the system.

Through the development of a holistic model of facilities, supports and services to the target groups including personal supports, training/education, employment support services, enterprise support services, and capital finance: we aim to ensure that individuals can achieve much higher levels of outcomes. In particular participation in learning leading to greater uptake of life-long learning opportunities, and also increased access to employment and self-employment opportunities.