In spring 2022, we surveyed the experiences and lessons learned during the coronavirus epidemic by employees working in services for disabled people. This is one of the few reports that has asked employees about the matter.
Why did we want to know about the experiences of this professional group in particular? The COVID-19 epidemic brought along a completely new situation that also destabilised normal everyday life in services for people with disabilities. Personnel working in services for people with disabilities do important work for the realisation of human rights and the rights of persons with disabilities. All employees play an important role in enabling these matters; one person works to assess the need for services, the other assists clients in carrying out activities of daily living, and the third one guides in day-to-day activities. Every employee at the different stages of the service process is important. Even in exceptional circumstances, this work did not stop. According to our data, the experiences and views of employees in the disability sector on the state of Finnish services for persons with disabilities during the coronavirus epidemic have not been studied as extensively as we did in this project.
All in all, the responses reflected the commitment of disability services employees to their work; they work because they want to work in the disability sector, they are interested in their clients and like working with them. Employees are professional with regard to interaction within their work community, and with clients and their families. When the state of the disease was at its worst, employees restricted their personal lives to help their clients. If employees are given sufficient opportunities to influence their work, they can at best create new ways of making their work more efficient. This happened in the exceptional situation.
Employee’s full potential is yet to be applied
Employees within disability services also named burdensome factors in their work that could affect their desire to change jobs. These factors included lack of appreciation, poor supervisory work, drops in occupational safety, poor work community and work that does not correspond to their job description. They also wished for certain things that would improve their job satisfaction and that could increase the attractiveness of the disability sector. These factors included better pay, a good work community, a good supervisor and personal opportunities to influence their work.
It is worth remembering that, according to the responses to the survey, we have a huge amount of untapped potential in disability services employees. In exceptional situations and even in ordinary everyday life, open encounters and appreciative listening improve work-related satisfaction and appreciation for the sector. At the same time, it creates a culture in which both clients and personnel are actors and valued influencers.
In public discussion, the social sector and services for people with disabilities in particular are often considered of secondary importance. The sector needs greater appreciation and recognition, which at best could also ease the labour situation. We want to thank more than 700 employees in the disability sector for their answers. They show how dedicated and hard-working the employees working in services for people with disabilities are. A report on this survey will be published during the spring.
The survey for employees of services for people with disabilities was carried out as part of a project funded by the European Social Fund: coping of persons with disabilities and persons of migrant origin in exceptional and crisis situations.
The article is part of the Disability in Society blog series
The Disability in Society blog series deals with phenomena connected with disability in our society and services for people with disabilities. The concept of disability has changed with time. Issues that are important today include human rights, participation, accessibility and right to self-determination.
The study has been carried out as part of the Building the Future project granted by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health and funded by the European Social Fund. In the project, the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, the Association of Finnish Municipalities and the Finnish Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities study the coping of persons with disabilities and persons of migrant origin in exceptional and crisis situations.