In recent years, the lack of employment has become a major concern. Thousands of pages have been written on the subject and the figures from the labor force surveys fill the newscasts. But, for some population groups, the difficulty of finding a job is not a new problem. With its new Social Employment Program, Fundación MAPFRE is taking care of them.
TEXT: JUAN FRYBORT IMAGEN PORTADA: THINKSTOCK
When we are looking for a job, our greatest difficulty is not knowing where to start. Even getting an interview seems an impossible mission and our only option is to send our curriculum to a human resources department without addressing any specific person. And we hardly ever even receive a reply. One of the great benefits of Fundación MAPFRE’s Social Employment Program is how it helps bridge that huge gap that separates an unemployed person from companies that need to hire people. A gap which, for example, in the case of people at risk of exclusion, can become an abyss. of exclusion, can become an abyss.
According to data from the ILO (International Labor Organization), there are approximately one billion people with a disability around the world. Some 80 percent of them are of working age, but most cannot find a decent job, even more so in the case of women. Over the last few years, the Juntos Somos Capaces (Together We Can) program has been offering these people the possibility of internships in companies, with the chance of later getting a job there, thanks to this program. In the past six years, over 1,900 people with intellectual disabilities have found a job and almost 3,000 companies have signed up to the program.
Infography Gorka Sampedro
But people with a disability are not the only ones that Fundación MAPFRE is targeting with its Social Employment Program. Other beneficiaries are refugees, immigrants, victims of abuse and, in some specific programs, vocational training students and the over-18s. Thanks to the employment aids granted annually, over the last five years more than 1,700 companies have been able to fulfill their hiring needs. This means that the same number of people over the age of 18 looking for work have left the ranks of the unemployed.
Information and training, key factors
Access to employment is conditioned by a number of factors, not just the physical and mental characteristics inherent in every person, but also external issues. Our decisions when it comes to studying one thing or another, our attitude to work and self-assurance are most important, but so is the support of those around us; and our cultural and economic circumstances can help or hinder when looking for a job. Fundación MAPFRE complements its Social Employment Program with training courses, assistance to students by making them aware of the full range of vocational training available, and assistance to families so they know how best to support and foster the skills of people with a disability. For this latter group, it has also developed the Soy Cappaz application which furthers independence when fulfilling personal and work tasks.
To implement this ambitious proposal, agreements have been reached and contact made with numerous associations, companies, labor unions, non-governmental organizations, education centers and the public administration, with the aim of getting them all actively involved and turn them into the driving force transforming society in terms of equity and social cohesion. This endeavor is already bearing fruit: thousands of people have gained employment through this program.