While some employers are scrambling to engage people with a disability to avoid a fine, an insurance company that has employed them for 16 years has seen increased efficiency in its operations.

According to the law, at least two per cent of the workforce in companies with 20 or more employees must be registered with the Employment Training Corporation as people with a disability.

Defaulting employers are fined, with the proceeds channelled to the new Lino Spiteri Foundation which aims to boost the participation rate of disabled workers.

According to Norman Mifsud, chief officer human resources and corporate services at MSV Life, engaging people with a disability is a win-win situation.

Back in 1999, Middlesea Group, which then employed around 100 people, kicked off a corporate social responsibility initiative in collaboration with the Eden Foundation.

Through the foundation, it outsourced 14 young people with an intellectual disability to take care of tasks such as filing, digital scanning of documents, bulk posting and other paperwork.

Along the years, the agreement became an essential part of the company’s operations.

“No one was doing the job as well as these 14 young people were… they were excelling at it.

We realised that we could not do without them

“Most had even memorised the tens of thousands of 11-digit policy numbers and where each file was stored. We realised they had untapped skills, so we reorganised the system,” Mr Mifsud told this newspaper.

“We realised that we could not do without them. From the very beginning, we did not perceive employing people with a disability as some sort of charity.”

Brian Gauci, one of MSV Life's employees with a disability.

Not only are they earning a living for themselves but also contributing to the company and society. “It’s a win-win situation for all parties,” he said.

Asked about the challenges of employing people with an intellectual disability, Mr Mifsud said that, although they usually did not have any qualifications, it did not mean they could not earn them.

Employers needed to break the ice and build trust to eventually identify their employees’ strengths. People with autism and dyslexia, for example, excelled in figures and IT, and one particular employee has passed ECDL exams with flying colours after the company had invested in her studies.

Meanwhile, because of the significant number of people with an intellectual disability being engaged by the company, a supervisor was provided by Inspire. Marica Borg has been trained to work with people with a disability. She knows the strengths of each one of them and is the company’s point of contact, Mr Mifsud explained.

‘My workload has increased but so has my confidence’

Josette Debarro recalls her initial days at work with her face burrowed in her desk, not even daring to stand up and make coffee.

Five years on, the 34-year-old with IT qualifications under her belt is planning to sit for maths exams.

Ms Debarro was initially one of the outsourced employees from Inspire, working a daily four-hour shift, but as she excelled became a full-time employee in 2010 within the underwriting unit. “My workload has increased but so has my confidence in my work… and my salary,” she jokes, adding that feeling part of the workforce and being included in all team-building activities was key to her looking forward to going to work every day.

Two questions for Lino Spiteri Foundation director Nathan Farrugia:

What happens if an employer does not find a person with a disability who has the required skills for a particular vacancy?

Everyone has different skill levels and potential, so if someone wants to work, we need to make sure these skills match the jobs available. Considering the huge amount of unemployed people with a disability, it seems clear that if companies are open to being flexible or creating reasonable accommodation, they should find a match. The role of the foundation is to find that match or work with companies to ‘carve’ business processes to be carried out by one or more people with different abilities.

Employers are finding it difficult to officially know how many of their workers have a disability.

The ETC can verify if a person is registered on any of the databases at present, without breaking data protection laws. However, ultimately if the employer does not know their employee has a disability as the disability is not detrimental to their work, then that person has a right to be treated as a non-disabled.

We must bear in mind that the spirit of the contribution is to fund job coaches to help those that couldn’t find or keep a job without support.