Sustainable Growth Programme for Finland – expansion of the Work Ability Programme (RRP)

The expansion of the Work Ability Programme is part of the Sustainable Growth Programme for Finland. The Sustainable Growth Programme consists of four pillars, and the expansion of the Work Ability Programme is covered by pillar three. 

The activities handled by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health involves six subprojects, each with their own goals.

1. Strengthening the competence of professionals

The ‘Strengthening the competence of professionals’ project will develop two new training courses on work ability and employment support for the managers of social welfare and health care centres and basic health care doctors. The basis for developing the training courses is the ‘Work ability promotion’ training developed as part of the Work Ability Programme at Finnish Institute of Occupational Health. 

Our aim is to train 100 managers and 200 doctors over the course of the project. 

More information is available from Project Manager Julia Anttilainen. 

2. Developing group coaching for unemployed people

The project involves updating the Finnish adaptation of the JOBS© peer group method that strengthens the job seeking skills and mental wellbeing of unemployed people and has now been renamed ‘Taite’ coaching.

The intention is to train 50–100 cross-administrative (social welfare, health care, employment and economy) work pairs as Taite coaches – e.g. a work ability coordinator and employment coach. The Taite instructor courses (1 cr) will be provided online, and work pairs from all organisations providing services to unemployed people can take part. During the project, the pairs will organise 3–4 training groups in their respective areas, with 8–15 unemployed persons participating in each group.

The aim of the project is to provide the Taite coaching as a new tool for professionals working with unemployed people and develop it based on the feedback received. A further goal is to integrate the Taite coaching in the regular offering of the wellbeing service counties and employment services. 

More information is available from Project Manager Miia Wikström.

3. Assessment of work ability coordinator training

This project uses the methods of development-oriented assessment to evaluate the uniformity and quality of the work ability coordinator training organised by eight universities of applied sciences. The assessment seeks to identify the strengths, good practices and development needs of the training. We also aim to determine the factors that promote or hamper the practical application of the lessons during training and the work of a work ability coordinator. We will conduct electronic surveys among students and interview both students and instructors. We will also seek to interview work representatives of organisations that employ work ability coordinators. 

More information is available from Project Manager Ritva Horppu.

4. Developing the health examinations of unemployed people

The health examinations of unemployed persons will be developed by strengthening the skills of the professionals. In addition to this, we will develop the content and quality of the health examinations. The project involves preparing national recommendations and promoting the collection of structural records and statistics of the health examinations. We also aim to assess the execution of the health examinations and health care services aimed unemployed persons and support communications regarding the right of unemployed persons to access health care services.

The project will be implemented in collaboration with the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare. 

More information is available from Project Manager Kirsi Lappalainen.

5. Developing a self-assessment method for work ability and functional capability

This project seeks to develop a self-assessment method for work ability and functional capability. The aim is to use the new method to produce consistent information on the work ability and functional capability of the unemployed population, for example. Various authorities (employment and economy, social welfare and health care, Kela) can use the method to utilise the information their customers produce with regard to work ability and functional capability.
The project is run by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. The Finnish Institute of Occupational Health and the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare serve as the experts for the purposes of the project. 

More information is available from Project Manager Matti Joensuu. 

6. Research

The aim of the study is to produce information on work ability and work engagement to support decision-making, particularly with regard to partial work ability and related use of services and benefits. 

The research efforts involve creating an assessment framework for work engagement and work ability, and for services and benefits related to supporting work ability. The assessment framework will be operationalised using the register data from the different areas (includes simulation). The source is the ‘State of work ability in Finland’ register managed by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, which we update and supplement.

The project will be carried out in collaboration with the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare. 

More information is available from Project Manager Mikko Henriksson.

The funding for the expansion of the Work Ability Programme will be provided by the European Union’s recovery instrument Next Generation EU.