ENGAGE: Sustained employment of 'hard-to-place' citizens in SMEs. A mixed-method study in Norway and the Netherlands

Together with colleagues from OsloMet University in Oslo USG has received a subsidy for a research project into the labour-market participation of people with working disabilities in both countries. The project specifically focuses on SME's. It looks at personnel/HRM policies in these organizations as well as at the support these organisations receive (or do not receive) from social policies and public agencies responsible for implementing these policies. The project is expected to start late summer 2020, and will run for 4 years.

Changing employer behaviour in order to promote hiring disabled employees

This research project, financed by Instituut Gak, uses behavioural insights in promoting employers to hire disabled people. Using a literature review, interviews and survey incentives and obstacles in hiring people with disabilities are mapped. Based on these data, behavioural interventions are designed and tested in field experiments. This way, the project aims to study the practical impact of behavioural change. The project is innovative because it is demand-oriented: focusing on employers' role in hiring disabled people. The project will result in recommendations how to promote the labour-market participation of disabled people. The research team consists of Lars Tummers (project leader), Belle Derks, Rik van Berkel, Noortje de Boer en Rosanna Nagtegaal.