Quanteam Hangagé: The European Disability Week 2017
December 7th, 2017
As every year for the last 3 years, Quanteam has demonstrated its commitment towards disability throughout the European Disability Week. From the 13th to the 24th of November, the Quanteam Human Resources Team organized various activities during the Week for the Employment and Maintenance of People with Disabilities, a cause that the company has been supporting for several years in order to raise the awareness of its employees and to promote the recognition of Disabled workers’ status. Look back on this “Quanteam Hangagé” week!
Sarah Bourenane, Human Resources Director and Ophelia Sanz, Human Resources Officer are talking about this initiative:
Since several years, Quanteam is involved in this European Week of Disability. After a first year in 2015 dedicated to the Direction and managers’ awareness, we decided last year to commit all the contributors and to organize a 5 kilometers run for the benefit of the AIMETH. This year, we decided to go even further and to cross a new threshold of awareness by promoting the “awareness” of our employees. The goal for 2017 was to free up the word and mobilize more employees through various fun activities.
A suggestion box
In order to organize this event and address in a concrete way the theme of Disability, an idea box was set up at Quanteam Headquarters to put managers in charge of thinking about activities that fit our employees’ area of interest and that respond, in parallel, to issues of well-being at work, issues that are dear to Quanteam. Beyond this, we invite all of our employees to share during Annual about health-related issues that have had an impact on the performance of their duties.
Employees’ testimonies
Our challenge is to address our employees who are mainly in project with our customers, at their Office. Therefore, we set up an emailing campaign called “Live my life” so that they all have access to our campaign, without necessarily having to go at Quanteam Headquarters. This campaign was composed of daily videos which embody the testimonies of employees recognized as disabled workers and show the rights and benefits associated with this status.
Through these videos, we wanted to emphasize the fact that being in a situation of handicap is not necessarily something visible but also that this recognition of the status is not incompatible with work, quite the contrary, since it offers many advantages: schedule arrangements, set up of a suitable workstation, early retirement etc. These compensations allow employees to feel better at work and achieve their goals.
« Blind football » and massages
On Wednesday, November 22nd, Quanteam employees met up to play “Cécifoot” (football for blind and partially sighted people) with the international player Yvan Wouandji.
But what is blindness? Cécifoot is a handisport: it is simply football for visually impaired or blind people. The ball is equipped with “bells” in order to be heard by the players who all wear blindfolds to not be able to rely on their visual acuity to play.
Our colleagues also tried the experiment by shooting at goal and juggling … blindfolded! Yvan Wouandji seemed clearly more at ease than us. Easier to watch than to practice!
For the less athletic, massage workshops were also organized at Quanteam Headquarters. An activity that is part of our “Well-being at work” policy: our colleagues had the opportunity to have a fifteen minutes massage realized by professionals visually impaired and blind. It was a real moment of relaxation that allowed at the same time to see the work of these professionals whose we forgot the handicap after a few seconds. Bet won for our contributors relaxed and “boosted” for the rest of the day!
At the end of these few days, the assessment is positive since we managed to bring out awareness of disability and its recognition. Several contributors even asked us for more information on the status of disabled workers and for us to support them in their procedures that we initiate by an appointment with an occupational doctor. Being recognized as a disabled worker is a long journey built on important personal decisions. The whole Quanteam Human Resources Team is present and supports its employees as much as possible. Mentalities are now evolving, little by little, thanks to this type of campaign and activities that we put in place every year and we continue to get involved on this part!
