Exclusive survey conducted for ETDE by CSA: the French favour the development of disabled recruitment

To find out what the French thought about disabled recruitment, ETDE asked CSA to conduct a large-scale exclusive survey.

The first finding is that the French are very open to working with the disabled and believe that companies and the State have a major role to play in promoting the hiring of people with disabilities.

77% said it was up to companies to inform personnel about disability-related issues. 76% thought that companies did not focus enough on disabled employees. At the same time, 84% indicated that the government should increase corporate responsibility with respect to the recruitment of disabled employees.

The French favour affirmative action on behalf of the disabled

47% of the French say that, given the chance and assuming an equivalent level of skills, they would prefer to hire a person with a disability. 31% express a preference for hiring a person without a disability.

83% of the French say they consider disabled and non-disabled employees in the same way. 85% state that a disabled person contributes just as much to the company as a person without a disability.

Acceptance of disabilities

More than 9 French people out of 10 say they would not feel any apprehension at working with a disabled person. 73% think that an employee who becomes disabled in any way can stay in the company.

The French ready to get involved

Most of the French think their personal involvement in making disabled employees feel at home and well-integrated in their company is necessary (31%) or normal (58%). Only 7% don't think it is necessary.

Two French people out of five have worked with a disabled colleague. 55% of those that have done so during their career belong to a high socio-demographic category.

Among this 55%, most may have worked for big corporations, which hire people with disabilities in larger numbers.

Points of divergence

The French diverge on the subject of talking about one's disability in the workplace. 35% say the disabled should talk about it. 31% think that if they don't, it's "normal. They're afraid of how their colleagues will react."

61% of the French think that a mental disability represents the biggest disadvantage in the job search. A much smaller percentage, 18%, indicate a motor disability and 13% a sight impairment. Only 2% think that a hearing impairment is most penalising.

New hires without spending extra

Close to 7 French people out of 10 (69%) think that hiring a disabled person does not necessarily mean that the company needs to spend extra. The fact is that, contrary to a common misconception, only 15% of newly hired disabled employees need to have their work station modified.

ETDE: A LANDMARK DISABLED RECRUITMENT AGREEMENT

Determined to go beyond legal requirements promoting disabled recruitment, ETDE management and labour representatives signed an agreement in May 2006 to hire disabled employees and keep them at the company. This agreement, approved by local labour authorities, is the first of its kind in this business sector (energy and construction). The fruit of reflection initiated in 2005, this accord is a perfect illustration of ETDE's open hiring policy.

Working with specialists

Wishing to work with objective data, ETDE commissioned an audit jointly with an association specialised in disabled recruitment management (AGEFIPH) and a consulting firm that develops policies for disabled workplace integration.

This initiative was taken to develop the hiring of disabled employees and their integration at the company: 60 new hires should be finalised by year-end 2008. Under the agreement, jobs will also be outsourced to the sheltered sector and a solution will be found for each impairment situation at the company.

Gaëtan Desruelles, ETDE Chairman and CEO, says: "Management and labour worked out this agreement together, establishing the goals as well as the resources. Our aim was to develop a disabled-friendly recruitment policy and practices based on human values and a sense of solidarity."

A three-year action plan

The agreement contained a three-year plan (2006-2008) for all ETDE locations in France, as well as commitments in the following areas:

ETDE has created a special communications kit for HR officers and executives. It contains fact sheets with key information about ETDE disabled hiring policy (e.g. recruitment and induction, returns to the workplace, solutions for keeping employees on at the company, financing, key figures and a glossary). ETDE provides its employees with the tools they need to learn about disabilities in the workplace.

ETDE events during National Disabled Recruitment Week

ETDE is taking part in the 11th National Week for Disabled Recruitment (12 to 18 November).

The electrical contracting and maintenance subsidiary of Bouygues Construction will be present at key events organised by a specialised association (ADAPT) for the purpose of bringing recruiters and disabled job seekers together.

ETDE: Almost ten events during the week

There will be "Job Dating" events (a variation on the speed dating theme, where candidates have 12-minute interviews with prospective employers), "Handicafé" events (for more informal meetings) and "Forum Emploi" events (job fairs complete with booths and conferences).

	DATE	Event	Place/Time
Monday	12 Nov. 2007	Handicafé	Paris (Lido) – 9 to11:30 AM
		Handicafé	Caen – 9:30 AM (Centre des Ressources7 bis rue Neuve Bourg l’Abbé)
		Job Dating	Lyon - 5 to 8 PM
Tuesday	13 Nov. 2007	Forum Emploi	Lyons (Espace Tête d'Or) – All day
		Job Dating	Paris (15th arrondissement) – 5:30 to 10 PM
Wednesday	14 Nov. 2007	Forum Emploi	Paris (13th arrondissement) - All day
Thursday	15 Nov. 2007	Forum Emploi	Cambrai – 10 AM to 4:30 PM (Salle du marché couvert)
		Conference "Hanploi Handicap et Formation"	Paris (Esme Sudria) – 2-6:30 PM
Friday	16 Nov. 2007	Forum Emploi	Montigny Le Bretonneux (Université Versailles Saint-Quentin en Yvelines) – 12 noon to 5 PM

Results midway through the ETDE three-year plan

ETDE personnel has implemented the disabled recruitment agreement in a manner consistent with the key findings of the CSA/ETDE survey:

In 2005, ETDE undertook reflection about disabled recruitment then signed the landmark agreement in May 2006. From the start, many concrete measures were implemented, coordinated by a central officer for disability-related matters.

31 disabled employees hired

ETDE has focused on hiring disabled personnel and keeping them at the company. To date, it has hired 31 disabled employees: 27 open-ended employment contracts and 4 apprenticeship contracts.

While the total workforce for all companies in the ETDE group grew by 9.6% between year-end 2005 and year-end 2006, the number of disabled personnel rose by 16.5%.

If the integration of new hires goes smoothly, it's because ETDE works closely with specialised associations, takes part in dedicated forums and entrusts workstation design to ergonomics experts.

€100,000 in sales entrusted to the sheltered sector

ETDE has also entrusted an initial €100,000 worth of sales to the sheltered sector. It outsources jobs in areas such as photocopying, routing, recycling, catering/restaurant work, maintenance, green spaces and packing.

Disabled workers: setting the example in recruitment An HR executive in the hearing workplace At a Job Dating event during the 2006 National Disabled Recruitment Week, an ETDE recruiter interviewed a young law graduate with a major in the area of social security. The young woman, hearing-impaired, was accompanied by a sign language interpreter. Her resumé was forwarded to ETDE head office, which had been looking for a young HR executive for six months. In January 2007, she signed a fixed-term contract and entered a work environment populated by the hearing. Good at lip-reading and able to articulate clearly, she manages without an interpreter and communicates with her colleagues without any problem. In July, she was confirmed in her job and obtained her first open-ended contract. She joined ETDE as the group's first hearing-impaired HR executive.

Disabled workers: setting the example in keeping the disabled at the company In 2006, in the Paris area, a 50-year-old site worker discovered that he had a disease requiring regular in-hospital care. Due to work restrictions imposed by the department of occupational medicine, he could not keep his earth-moving job. He was reclassified to a job in public lighting, which did not work out. Fortunately, ETDE operates in many different business areas and, in October 2007, a maintenance job was found for him. After training for the position, which turned out to be suitable, he succeeded, thanks to his own motivation and the valuable assistance of the people at ETDE.

ETDE TACKLES THE CHALLENGE OF DEVELOPING DISABLED RECRUITMENT

According to ETDE, opening up recruitment to the disabled has many advantages. It believes that diversity is a source of personal enrichment and also helps boost efficiency overall. In addition, given the difficulties of hiring in the electricity and maintenance sector, the company gives itself more recruitment possibilities by opening up positions to the disabled.

This being said, ETDE must still overcome several major obstacles with a view to accelerating the pace of disabled recruitment and making personnel more aware of what a disability really involves.

Conquering fear

ETDE has taken measures to help its employees change their misperceptions of disabilities. A number of inhibitors (e.g. prejudice and apprehension) can get in the way of smooth integration. The biggest reason is that managers feel uneasy in a new situation to which they are not accustomed. To counter these inhibitors, day-long awareness sessions are organised for HR and operations staff, who get an opportunity to discuss things over with disabled individuals.

Plans for in-house training

ETDE faces another challenge: it must solve the problem of job qualifications of the disabled (only 20% have passed the French baccalaureate exam). Noting the discrepancy between skills desired and skills possessed, ETDE decided to implement its own training programme to bring prospective employees up to standard. The idea was to target people willing and able to learn new skills and offer training programmes tailored to its business areas.

Keeping quiet about disabilities

In the workplace, many people keep quiet about a disability. According to a recent survey of ETDE site workers, this can be due to a lack of awareness. For instance, 56% of respondents thought that diabetes is not recognised as an occupational disability and 54% said the same thing about a slight hearing impairment.

That's why ETDE aims to inform its personnel about disabilities. For its special communications kit, it created a fact sheet entitled "Notifying ETDE that You Are a Disabled Employee". The purpose is to help employees deal with difficulties that can come up on the job.

¹ Survey carried out on 24 and 25 October 2007 on a representative sample of the French population (age: 18 and over). Number of respondents: 958.
² Source: Association pour l'Insertion Sociale et Professionnelle des Personnes Handicapées (ADAPT)

About ETDE:
A subsidiary of Bouygues Construction, ETDE is a turnkey provider and integrator of technical and services solutions for public- and private-sector customers in the energy, industry, service, transport, environment and telecommunications sectors. The company’s operations are based around three clearly structured, customer-oriented business areas: utility networks; electrical, mechanical & HVAC engineering; and facilities management. ETDE offers comprehensive capabilities that encompass engineering, installation, maintenance and operation for both French and international customers. It leverages the expertise, commitment and responsiveness of its 12,000 employees to deliver innovative solutions with high technological added value. Backed by a network of 200 locations across France, and with a presence in 20 countries worldwide, ETDE posted sales of €1.4 billion in 2006, a 42% increase compared with 2005. Sales are predicted to rise further to €1.7 billion in 2007.