This working paper investigates how company-level strategies interact with national policy contexts to support the inclusion of vulnerable workers across the three different phases of employment – recruitment, career development, and retention. Using qualitative interviews with employers in Germany, Norway, Poland, and Romania, we explore how organisations respond to vulnerabilities related to health limitations and disability, age, and caregiving responsibilities.
The working paper is structured as follows. The first section gives a brief overview of vulnerabilities across the three phases of employment, recruitment, career development, and retention, followed by a description of the data sources and methodological approach. The second section consists of four country-specific parts. Each part provides a short summary of relevant policy context and findings from qualitative interviews, organised according to the three employment phases. The final section concludes by summarising the key findings and discussing their implications on how policies and workplace-level strategies interact to shape inclusive employment for vulnerable groups.
Authors: Laura Tufă, Justyna Katarzyna Bell, Iuliana Precupetu, Rosa Maria Radogna, Shirin Reiter, Mateusz Smoter, Elisabeth Ugreninov