The Department of Social Protection is currently undertaking an important policy review of the EmployAbility Service. The aim of the EmployAbility Service, which was formerly known as the Supported Employment Service, is to provide support to people with disabilities or other disadvantaged groups to secure and maintain paid employment in the open labour market, leading to independence and career progression.

The review of EmployAbility will consider whether the service has achieved its aims and objectives, and if it has been a positive experience for participants and employers.

We understand that your organisation was involved with some of the EmployAbility services, and we would particularly like to give you the opportunity to contribute to this review.

We would be very grateful if you could answer each question below and submit your response as soon as possible, or by Friday 26 June.

Your response will be submitted directly to Indecon only, who are assisting the Department on this evaluation, will be treated as strictly confidential and will not be seen by the Department of Social Protection or any other organisation.

We believe your views are very important to our evaluation and we are therefore very thankful for your help with this.

Please select the "Done" button when you have finished, so that your response will be submitted and taken into account.



Experience and Impacts of EmployAbility Service

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* 1. If your firm has worked with an EmployAbility Service in the last 3-5 years, please indicate how many participants, if any, your organisation has employed/engaged with since 2012:

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* 2. To help us understand in what ways you believe your firm’s involvement with the EmployAbility Service has been positive, please indicate whether you agree or disagree with each of the following statements.

Our firm’s involvement with EmployAbility has:

  Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don’t Know
Enabled our organisation to play a role in supporting the progression and retention in employment of people with disabilities
Facilitated the development of innovative approaches to meet gaps in employment or progression opportunities for people with a disability
Made it easier for our organisation to recruit people with a disability who could potentially work with us
Made it easier for our organisation to support the transition of people with a disability into our workforce
Delivered on our overall expectations

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* 3. We would also like to understand the extent to which you believe the EmployAbility Service has been beneficial to Participants (persons with disabilities) who have worked with your firm. Please indicate whether you agree or disagree with each of the following statements.

The EmployAbility service we have been involved with has:

  Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don’t Know
Increased participants’ overall self-confidence
Improved participants’ skills and ability to work
Increased participants’ overall independence
Contributed to improving participants’ health and sense of well-being
Increased participants’ motivation to work or to undertake further education or training
Increased participants’ opportunities to avail of progression, education and development opportunities within the world of work
Satisfaction with Administration of EmployAbility Service

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* 4. To help us understand your satisfaction with how the EmployAbility Service has been administered, please indicate whether you were satisfied or dissatisfied with the following aspects.

Level of Satisfaction/Dissatisfaction with:

  Very Satisfied Satisfied Dissatisfied Very Dissatisfied Don’t Know
Overall operation and administration of service by EmployAbility staff
Process of initial participation as an employer organisation
Helpfulness and flexibility of EmployAbility staff in working with our firm
Matching and suitability of Participants for employment roles
Helpfulness of EmployAbility staff in supporting Participants while on-site / employed with our firm
Administrative requirements to participate as an employer in EmployAbility
Operation of Wage Subsidy Scheme
Provision of Disability Awareness Training for Employers
Overall Assessment of Success of EmployAbility in Meeting its Aims/Objectives

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* 5. Please outline your opinion on the impact of the EmployAbility Service in meeting its key aims/objectives, as outlined below.

Success in Meeting the Following Objectives:

  Very Successful Successful Neither Successful nor Unsuccessful Unsuccessful Don’t Know
Facilitate the integration of people with disabilities and other disadvantaged groups into paid employment in the open labour market
Provide supports to assist with this integration process
Meet the labour requirements of Employers
Support the progression / retention of people with a disability in the labour force, leading to independence and career progression
Counterfactual

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* 6. If your organisation has employed/taken on EmployAbility Service participants since 2012, please indicate whether you would have provided the specific opportunities to these persons without the service:

Other Comments

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* 7. Please indicate below any other comments you might like to make about your experience with the EmployAbility Services, including your views on the benefits of involvement for participants and employers, and on how the service could be improved:




Thank you very much for your help with this.

Please select the "Done" button when you have finished, so that your response will be taken into account in the review.

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