Konsta is a happy employee at a fast-food restaurant

Konsta Kärkkäinen's work day at McDonald's Suomenoja has just begun. As the lunch-time peak hour has not yet started, he has a moment to talk about his work and tasks at the restaurant. Konsta was supported by a job coach of the Western Uusimaa Wellbeing Services County in finding paid employment. 

“I started here a little over two years ago. The best things about my job are getting to do meaningful things during the day, and, naturally, earning a salary. My riding hobby requires money, and I occasionally buy computer stuff. It is also important to me that the tasks are varied, and I have been assigned more responsibilities as I have gained new skills.” 

Konsta's supervisor, field manager Jerry Airikka, praises Konsta for his skills and attitude.

“Konsta is always in a good mood and he is able to carry out a variety of tasks. For example, he makes drinks, takes orders, collects food for home deliveries, works at the till and even trains new employees. Nowadays", Konsta’s tasks are quite demanding. 

It was important for Konsta to find actual employment. He works four days a week, four hours at a time. The livelihood of his and other people with partial work capacity consists not only of their salary but also of a pension and, in most cases, housing allowance. On top of the pension, a person can earn EUR 922 per month. 

For Konsta, important aspects of employment also include his good work colleagues and being a full-fledged member of the work community. Diversity is a goal at McDonald’s that the Suomenoja location achieves well. 

“I have been getting new tasks all the time, and I like it. It is nice to wake up in the morning to a new work day”, Konsta says and gets to work. 

In addition to the Suomenoja location, the McDonald’s entrepreneur Tomi Hurme has restaurants in Vantaa, Tuusula and Kerava. All of them have employed people with partial work capacity, or in other words, people with specific work capacity.

“McDonald's aims to support diversity and our entrepreneurs take this goal very seriously. That's why I contacted the City of Espoo Disability Services when the Suomenoja restaurant was opened in spring 2019”, Jerry says.

Eija Tikander, Job Coach at the Disability Services of the Western Uusimaa Wellbeing Services County, explains that specific work capacity is a new and illustrative way of speaking about partial work capacity. In Job Coaching, people with specific work capacity are helped to find individually tailored tasks and jobs. 

“The four employees with specific work capacity working at the restaurant have different tasks according to their individual competence. At the moment, there is also a person doing an internship in the restaurant, who will be employed here in the autumn”, Eija describes the employment of people with specific work capacity in the restaurant. 

The cooperation between McDonald's Suomenoja and the Disability Service’s Job Coaching is smooth, and the company has understood how profitable it is to employ people with specific work capacity. 

“This is really beneficial to us, because at the moment, finding employees in general is challenging. We have been able to match the working hours of our employees with specific work capacity with peak hours. They are highly motivated employees, conscientious in their tasks and always on time in the workplace. It is good for the work community to have different kinds of people”, Jerry reflects. 

In the Disability Service’s Job Coaching, the client is helped to find employment that matches their skills, wishes and education. The aim is always to find paid employment, which will allow the employee to receive occupational health care and other work-related benefits. The employer, for their part, gains a motivated employee for the job. The employment is usually preceded by a 1–2-month-long internship, during which both the employee and the employer can assess the suitability of the job for the employee. The job coach will support both the person to be employed and the employer from the start and on a regular basis even after the person has been employed. 

“The job coach’s support during the employment is essential. The job coach has regular discussions with both the employee and the employer about how the employment is going. This is important in order to avoid the employment being terminated due to an issue or misunderstanding that starts out small”, Eija says. 

A job coach needs to be familiar with different kinds of work tasks in order to be able to find the right people for them. 

“Eija is a highly skilled job coach. She has always found us the right person for the task. Eija is familiar with our work tasks and therefore knows how to help and guide the employee. Working with her has been easy”, says Jerry.

Eija emphasises that it is important to find the right combination of employee, job and employer. Some people with specific work abilities need very specific tasks, whereas others wish to have more variation. No one is forced into a job that they are not interested in. 

“Konsta is a data scientist by education, and we started out by trying a job in that field. That job was not, however, a good match for Konsta. At first, he was not sold on the idea of working in a restaurant. He decided to give it a shot anyway, and is now very happy with both his tasks and the work community”, Eija recounts the beginning of Konsta’s employment.

The Disability Services have helped people with specific work capacity to find employment in various organisations, such as fast food restaurants, lunch restaurants, school kitchens, property maintenance, parishes, grocery shops, day care centres and nursing homes. 

The Disability Services have several job coaches in different parts of the County, three of whom work in Espoo. They also cooperate with work activity groups for people with disabilities to discover people with potential to find paid employment in the open labour market. Work activity groups can also come to work places as groups to carry out specific, predetermined tasks. The members of work activity groups are clients of an activity centre and are not employed by the employer who assigned the task.

Support for people with specific work capacity

• Finding and articulating your skills and wishes.
• Job-seeking and meeting employers.
• Assistance and support in applying for a pay subsidy and in dealing with other authorities. 
• Guidance and training in work tasks together at the workplace.
• Reviewing the employment contract and obligations together before signing the contract.
• Support for all challenges that arise during the employment.
• Collaboration with the client’s networks.

Support for employers

• Guidance and support in applying for pay subsidies.
• Assistance in employee orientation: getting to know the workplace and the work community, training and teaching work task.
• Continuous support during the employment to ensure the continuity and smoothness of the employment.

If you have a job or a task in need of an employee, contact the nearest Disability Services worker. We will find you a motivated employee!

Espoo

• Chief Counsellor of Job Coaching Sirpa Karppa tel. +358 50,360 4592, sirpa.karppa@luvn.fi 
• Job Coach Eija Tikander, tel. +358 50 538 8569, eija.tikander@luvn.fi
• Job Coach Sanna Tarkkonen, tel. +358 46 877 3202, sanna.tarkkonen@luvn.fi
• Job Coach Essi Lahtinen, tel. +358 46 877 1340, essi.lahtinen@luvn.fi

Karkkila and Vihti area

• Job Coach Minna Myrskylä, tel. +358 40 304 8215, minna.myrskyla@luvn.fi 

Lohja and Raasepori area 

• Job Coach Liisa Keinänen, tel. +358 40 304 8214, liisa.keinanen@luvn.fi 
• Tammisaari: Work Life Coach Carina Enberg, tel. +358 40 573 8936, carina.enberg@luvn.fi