Job assistance

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The term job assistance is used inconsistently in German-speaking countries and, depending on the regional context, describes various services and institutions that are geared towards the professional integration of people with disabilities:

In Austria, Arbeitsassistent is a nationwide service offering for the professional integration of people with disabilities in working life. They are comparable to the integration specialist service in Germany.

In Germany, the term work assistance refers to personal assistance at the workplace (workplace assistance). It is comparable to personal assistance at work in Austria. The term job assistance has also been used in Bavaria since 1986 for psychosocial support in working life, and the Hamburg job assistance (HAA) uses it for personal support of people with learning difficulties in the company during induction through job coaching.

Germany

In Germany, work assistance is, in the broader sense, personal support at the workplace (workplace assistance) for disabled people with significant support needs.

definition

The Federal Working Group of Integration Offices and Main Welfare Offices has defined work assistance in the current recommendations as "the support that goes beyond occasional handouts and regularly recurs in terms of time and activity for severely disabled people (assistants) in the form of an assistant commissioned by them in the context of acquisition or maintenance a job on the general labor market ”. According to this recommendation, the job assistance is a cash benefit that the disabled employee receives in order to employ his job assistance himself (employer model) or to buy something from an outpatient service.

As part of the benefits in the event of extraordinary burdens according to § 27 of the Disabled Compensation Tax Ordinance (SchwAV), it is also possible to cover the costs of a job assistant employed by the employer. Work assistance within the meaning of the BIH recommendation is direct personal support at the workplace, such as a reader for blind employees or people with learning difficulties, a sign language interpreter for deaf employees or an assistant for physically disabled employees. However, the core activity of the work tasks must be carried out by the employee himself. Work assistance is currently used mainly by employees with physical and sensory disabilities. However, it is also conceivable that people with learning difficulties will be called upon to cover their permanent need for support at work.

The placement of a job, the support of the induction through job coaching or the psychosocial support by the integration specialist service is not work assistance in the sense of the recommendation of the BIH.

Legal claim

In Section 49 (8) and Section 185 (5) of the Social Code (SGB IX) as well as in Section 17 (1a) of the Disabled Compensation Tax Ordinance (SchwbAV), there is a legal right to the "necessary work assistance" in Book IX of the Social Code .

As a service for the participation of severely disabled people in working life, the job assistance serves, on the one hand, to achieve a job that is subject to social insurance contributions ( Section 270a (1) SGB III). In this case, the legal claim, limited to three years, is directed against the responsible rehabilitation provider. Severely disabled people are also entitled to work assistance within the framework of job creation measures, provided they need it (Section 270a, Paragraph 1, Sentences 2 and 3, SGB III).

The job assistance also serves to secure existing employment relationships that are subject to social insurance contributions. In this case, the cost unit is the integration office.

Even after the integration phase, job assistance is often required in view of the type or severity of the disability. Then after three years there is a change of responsibility from the rehabilitation provider to the integration office. In order to ensure uniform approval and administrative practice, SGB IX provides that the work assistance services are carried out by the integration office from the start; This will be reimbursed for the costs for the first three years from the start of employment by the initially responsible rehabilitation agency. There is a comparable regulation for job assistance in job creation measures ( Section 49 (3) No. 7 SGB IX and Section 21 (4) in conjunction with Section 17 (1a) SchwbAV). The assumption of the costs of a necessary job assistance is also possible to take up or secure an economically independent existence (Section 17 Paragraph 1 No. 4 and Paragraph 2 to 3 SchwbAV). Since the job assistance is about a cash benefit to severely disabled people, it makes sense to choose the form of the personal budget. The integration offices provide such a personal budget. The level of benefits is based on the average daily need for work assistance. The assumption of costs should - in accordance with the general social law appropriateness requirement - be in a balanced relationship to the economic integration success achieved with it, i.e. H. to the income subject to social insurance that the severely disabled person earns himself.

In practice, work assistance services are also provided together with services to employers to cover extraordinary burdens in the form of personal support; this enables flexible forms of work assistance, especially when assistance needs at the workplace cannot be precisely determined in advance.

In 2003 there were 8304 cases of work assistance at the integration offices in Germany, 620 of them based on the employer model, and 78 cases at the Federal Employment Agency. By 2010, the number of cases of work assistance based on the employer model rose to 2,283, the other numbers were unfortunately not reported by the BIH.

Austria

Job assistance

Job assistance in Austria is a nationwide service offering for the professional integration of people with disabilities. The task and mandate of the job assistance is to place disabled people in the work process and to sustainably secure disabled people whose jobs are at risk.

It covers for employees

  • Development of a skills profile
  • joint search for suitable jobs
  • Possibility of accompanying the interview
  • individual support in the operational integration process
  • Follow-up care at the workplace if necessary.

It covers for employers

  • introduce suitable people who meet the requirement profile
  • Information about funding opportunities and assistance with funding processing
  • Possibility of support during the induction phase
  • professional support in the event of problems and crisis situations.

There is also - often with the same provider - the offer of youth work assistance. It is aimed at young people with disabilities between 14 and 19 years of age. Clearing, job coaching, vocational training assistance and personal assistance in the workplace have been developed as further special services in recent years .

In 1992, the first two work assistance model projects were founded in Upper Austria by the sponsoring association Pro mente oö and in Lower Austria by the IBI association as a pilot project for the target group of people with mental health problems. The first work assistance facilities for people with intellectual disabilities were, besides the IfS, the Ennstal community (then Liezen) in Styria and the Bungis association in Burgenland. Regardless of the development of work assistance, the Institute for Social Services (IfS) in Vorarlberg has been working according to the principles of supported employment since the mid-1980s, mainly for the target group of people with learning difficulties and severe intellectual disabilities.

Since Austria joined the European Union in 1995, the offer of work assistance has been gradually expanded and also extended to other types of disability. This expansion was closely related to the possibilities of co-financing by the European Social Fund. In 1999, work assistance was anchored in the Disability Employment Act. With the introduction of the federal government's employment offensive (“Disabled Billion”) in 2001, the work assistance system, originally designed for adults with disabilities, was expanded to include the target group of young people with disabilities. In 2001, the umbrella association for job assistance was founded to network all job assistance providers in Austria, which in 2006 developed into the umbrella association for professional integration .

Financing is provided by the federal social welfare offices, the labor market service and / or the federal states.

The job description of the job assistant combines training in the social field (e.g. social pedagogues, psychologists) with training and experience from the private sector. The job description and requirement profile are regulated in the guidelines § 6 accompanying assistance in the Austrian Disability Employment Act. The successful model of work assistance is decisive for the fact that there are now more than 100 work assistance for disabled people in Austria.

Personal assistance in the workplace

Personal assistance in the workplace (PAA) in Austria includes support services that are required as part of an employment relationship or training. It is based on the individual support needs of the assistants, who are experts in their own field. Personal assistance at work in Austria is comparable to job assistance in Germany (see above).

Specifically, personal assistance at the workplace offers:

  • Mobility aid (route between home and work or training location, field service ...)
  • Manual support when performing work or during the training period (preparation of documents, operation of technical devices ...)
  • other support required due to disability (help with lunch, with the toilet ...)

In Austria, PAA services can be used by people who are classified at least in care level 3 and who are employed in an employment relationship subject to social insurance or who are in training and need assistance.

PAA is financed by the Federal Social Welfare Office using funds from the Austrian government's employment offensive ( billions for disabled people) for people with disabilities. The assistants do not pay a deductible. In all federal states (with the exception of Burgenland) there are assistance service points that are responsible for project implementation.

literature

Job assistance in Germany
  • Berit Blesinger: Personal assistance in the workplace. In: Rudolf Bieker (Ed.): Participation in working life. Paths of professional integration of people with disabilities. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2005, pp. 282-295.
  • Berit Blesinger, Jörg Schulz: Self-determination and social participation through work assistance. In: impulse H. 23, 2002, pp. 12-18. PDF; BAG UB Impulse No. 23
  • Federal Working Group for Supported Employment (BAG UB) (Hrsg.): Handbuch Arbeitsassistent. Hamburg 2005. Handbook for work assistance from the BAG UB , PDF file (270 kB)
  • Dau / Düwell / Joussen [and 9 more], LPK-SGB IX, rehabilitation and participation of people with disabilities, teaching and practice commentary SGB IX, SchwbVWO, BGG, 5th edition, Nomos-Verlag, ISBN 978-3-8487- 3375-0
  • Stefan Doose: Supported employment: Long-term professional integration. Theory, methodology and sustainability of the support of people with learning difficulties through integration specialist services and workshops for disabled people in the general labor market. A fate and course study. 2nd revised and updated edition. Lebenshilfe-Verlag, Marburg 2007. ISBN 978-3-88617-209-2
Job assistance in Austria

Web links

German situation

Austrian situation

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Federal Working Group of Integration Offices and Main Welfare Offices (BIH) (2011): Recommendation of the Federal Working Group of Integration Offices and Main Welfare Offices (BIH) for the provision of financial services for work assistance for severely disabled people in accordance with Section 102 (4) SGB IX (as of September 20, 2012) Cologne. (PDF document; 5.7 MB)  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.bag-ub.de  
  2. ↑ Report of the Federal Government on the situation of disabled people and the development of participation. Berlin December 15, 2004, pp. 140 f. In: Download as PDF ( Memento from February 21, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ Federal Working Group of Integration Offices and Main Welfare Offices (BIH) (Ed. 2004): Annual Report 2003/2004. Help for severely disabled people at work. Karlsruhe 2004.
  4. ^ Federal Working Group of Integration Offices and Main Welfare Offices (BIH) (Ed.) (2011): Annual Report 2010/2011. Help for severely disabled people at work. Cologne, p. 25. (PDF)
  5. ↑ cf. Umbrella organization Professional Integration Austria here