How people with disabilities work: stories of ATB and IVF market
Employment of people with disabilities remains a serious problem in Ukraine. Yes, there is a legal quota that obliges companies with more than 25 employees to hire at least 4% of people with disabilities. However, in practice it is not so rosy, and business representatives complain that the state has put all this on their shoulders and does not want to help.
However, there are positive examples in the country. We have previously talked about how people with disabilities work in the Auchan Ukraine hypermarket chain and in Watsons Ukraine . Representatives of the ECO Market network and ATB-Market shared their experience with us today.
ATB
ATB-Market currently employs 2,039 people with disabilities. Most often, they hold the positions of service workers. As for staff turnover among people with disabilities, there are no special differences with the general indicators.
"Staff turnover among people with disabilities is similar to the overall performance of the company. There are people who work for years, there are those who come and go, it all depends on the person and his desire to be employed, " - said in the company.
ATB added that they fully comply with all norms and laws on employment of people with disabilities, maintain quotas at enterprises and make all appropriate payments.
ECO market
In the ECO Market network, we were told that as of the end of 2019, ECO LLC had 220 employees with disabilities, which is 5% of the average number of the company’s staff.
"Employees with disabilities hold various positions, mostly numbering, because this position involves easy work with the ability to work from home," - said Lyudmila Chornomorets, director of personnel management network "ECO Market".
She adds that most often they employ people with hearing impairments, deaf. In addition, the company says that staff turnover among people with disabilities is minimal. And visitors treat people with disabilities with understanding.
As for the employment situation of people with disabilities in the country, everything is limited by state quotas, which guarantee that people with disabilities will not lose their jobs, but this is still not enough.
"As a rule, businesses are not always ready to create and equip special jobs, as well as to integrate people with disabilities into the teams of their companies. That is why sometimes the employer is faced with the question of whether to hire a person with a disability or pay a fine, ”says Lyudmyla Chornomorets.
She adds that if the employment of people with hearing or visual impairments is realized without significant costs, the employment of a person using a wheelchair entails re-planning and arrangement of their places of movement with special ramps. For companies, this is an additional cost and difficult to implement when renting.
“Despite the fact that various public projects aimed at supporting people with disabilities are successfully implemented in Ukraine, the state target program for guaranteeing and supporting people with disabilities should be decisive. The program should include incentive packages for employers, conditions of compulsory insurance, the opportunity for the employer to use remote work (outsourcing, etc.), and, of course, the opportunity for the employer to use government motivation, "- Chornomorets explains his point of view.
She also noted that the state has now shifted the problem of employment of people with disabilities to business. And even in the presence of control, such coercion leads to violations and, ultimately, people with disabilities suffer.
"We hope that the government will adopt real programs that ensure the desire of employers to employ people with disabilities and, as a result, ensure the realization of their constitutional rights, " Chornomorets concluded.
Author Anastasia Ishchenko
Read also: Why Ukrainians become blood donors: 5 stories of people who share their blood with others
However, there are positive examples in the country. We have previously talked about how people with disabilities work in the Auchan Ukraine hypermarket chain and in Watsons Ukraine . Representatives of the ECO Market network and ATB-Market shared their experience with us today.
ATB
ATB-Market currently employs 2,039 people with disabilities. Most often, they hold the positions of service workers. As for staff turnover among people with disabilities, there are no special differences with the general indicators.
"Staff turnover among people with disabilities is similar to the overall performance of the company. There are people who work for years, there are those who come and go, it all depends on the person and his desire to be employed, " - said in the company. ATB added that they fully comply with all norms and laws on employment of people with disabilities, maintain quotas at enterprises and make all appropriate payments.
ECO market
In the ECO Market network, we were told that as of the end of 2019, ECO LLC had 220 employees with disabilities, which is 5% of the average number of the company’s staff.
"Employees with disabilities hold various positions, mostly numbering, because this position involves easy work with the ability to work from home," - said Lyudmila Chornomorets, director of personnel management network "ECO Market".
She adds that most often they employ people with hearing impairments, deaf. In addition, the company says that staff turnover among people with disabilities is minimal. And visitors treat people with disabilities with understanding.
As for the employment situation of people with disabilities in the country, everything is limited by state quotas, which guarantee that people with disabilities will not lose their jobs, but this is still not enough.
"As a rule, businesses are not always ready to create and equip special jobs, as well as to integrate people with disabilities into the teams of their companies. That is why sometimes the employer is faced with the question of whether to hire a person with a disability or pay a fine, ”says Lyudmyla Chornomorets.
She adds that if the employment of people with hearing or visual impairments is realized without significant costs, the employment of a person using a wheelchair entails re-planning and arrangement of their places of movement with special ramps. For companies, this is an additional cost and difficult to implement when renting. “Despite the fact that various public projects aimed at supporting people with disabilities are successfully implemented in Ukraine, the state target program for guaranteeing and supporting people with disabilities should be decisive. The program should include incentive packages for employers, conditions of compulsory insurance, the opportunity for the employer to use remote work (outsourcing, etc.), and, of course, the opportunity for the employer to use government motivation, "- Chornomorets explains his point of view.
She also noted that the state has now shifted the problem of employment of people with disabilities to business. And even in the presence of control, such coercion leads to violations and, ultimately, people with disabilities suffer.
"We hope that the government will adopt real programs that ensure the desire of employers to employ people with disabilities and, as a result, ensure the realization of their constitutional rights, " Chornomorets concluded.
Author Anastasia Ishchenko
Read also: Why Ukrainians become blood donors: 5 stories of people who share their blood with others