In 2007, Assystem created its Disablement Service, thus becoming the first engineering company to open such a department. In 2013, the company signed its first corporate agreement, followed by a second agreement in 2016. The results of this decade of efforts towards disabled workers are already significant: a disability employment rate multiplied by three in 10 years (0.8% in 2007 against 2.3% in 2017); the number of people with disabilities multiplied by six in 10 years; the use of the protected sector multiplied by five in 10 years. In addition, the Company agreement defines a three-year action plan and commits Assystem to targeted recruitment figures (60 employees and three replacements) and an employment rate of 3% by the end of 2018.

"The main objective of this Disablement Service is to maintain in employment and develop the skills of our employees with disability. Other significant actions are also being deployed, such as information and awareness-raising for all teams, partnership with the adapted and protected sector, and recruitment", explains Pauline Robinier, Head of Assystem's Disablement Service.

Assystem has also implemented several innovative operations. In 2014, the HandiWeek launched disability awareness weeks organised in the different agencies of the group. "The HandiWeek takes place once or twice a year. The objective is to raise awareness, federate and engage teams around a common theme: sign language workshops, theatrical animations, augmented reality spectacles, solidarity markets, etc.", says Pauline Robinier.

Handroïde Project

Assystem also organises, in partnership with Handiamo, events around disabled sports, including wheelchair basketball, horse riding and golf, to approach disability differently.

Another initiative is the intervention on aeronautical industrial projects in co-operation with adapted companies and the upstream training of their employees by Assystem in order to guarantee their good integration. Last but not least, the Handroïde R&D project will make it easier for people with reduced mobility to move around in a wheelchair, a gyropod (to travel long distances) or an exoskeleton (to overcome obstacles), facilitating access to all industrial sites (offices, workshops, construction sites, platforms, etc.). "The main point of innovation is the conjugation of the three modes (wheelchair, gyropod and exoskeleton), of which conjugation has never been realised to date. Handroïde also calls on Assystem's core competencies: design, development of mechatronics systems, in particular on-board electronics, energy management, materials studies, tests and validations, and project management. It is a way of fulfilling all missions, no matter where they take place, thanks to innovation and solidarity, one of the key values ​​of Assystem", analyses Thomas Wiart, Handroïde Project Manager.

From June to September, Assystem will partner with YMCA Services on a project to ensure sustainable access and sustainability in the employment of people with disabilities in aeronautics and to provide an innovative solution to the shortage of technicians in the quality control trades. Assystem will train seven trainees on behavioural and technical aspects. At the end of this training, a commitment of a minimum duration of six months will be proposed to the trainees by YMCA Services.