With 'We are able', we wanted to make companies more aware of the fact that they left a lot of talent behind, by taking few or no applicants with disabilities seriously. Especially in times of scarcity on the labour market, companies must realise that these people have talents and that they ‘are able’ to contribute to more inclusion and mutual appreciation in the workplace. Furthermore, this project not only wants to support companies, but especially their employees, who often struggle with adjustment problems in the period after recruitment. By discussing their questions, concerns and problems in advance, a company can make the recruitment of an employee with a disability into a success story. To make this possible, Time4Society, together with Sopa and Eyes, chose to develop a Talent Game. Through this game, employees can engage in self-reflection in a playful way, so that they ‘are able’ to contribute to sustainable job retention for the recruited employee.
With the 'We are able' project, Time4Society wanted to contribute to a more inclusive labour market, together with partners Sopa and Eyes (the project countries are respectively Belgium, Bulgaria and Lithuania). ‘We are able’ is built on the conviction that everyone, regardless of any disabilities, deserves a fulfilling and meaningful job. After all, everyone is an amalgamation of personality traits, hopes and dreams, talents, abilities, circumstances, and so much more. In other words, people are not defined by their disabilities. By giving more people equal access to the labour market, an enormous amount of untapped potential can become available. However, the ESF project 'Welcome2Work' of Time4Society’s sister organisation Trendhuis showed that many employers and HR managers were willing to recruit people with a disability, but that the employment contracts came to an end after a few months. In fact, it was a ‘revolving door job’. The main reason was that colleagues, despite their goodwill, had major adjustment problems. With 'We are able', Time4Society, together with European partners, wanted to develop solutions that actually lead to sustainable job retention.