OSTY - Osatyökykyisten työllistäminen

OSTY – Employing partially able-bodied people

Project in a Nutshell

Definition of Partial and Full Working Ability

The concept of people with partial working ability is understood broadly in the project. Besides illnesses, limited working ability can be caused by challenging life situations, caregiving responsibilities, time-consuming hobbies such as Olympic sports, a poor workplace atmosphere, or ineffective management, personal financial or other difficulties.

Working ability can be permanently reduced, for example, due to an incurable illness or the reduction can be temporary. The level of working ability can vary greatly even from day to day.

Due to the broad definition, practically nobody has full working ability available all the time, but everyone at some point in their lives has reduced working ability. Reflections on the challenges of defining partial working ability can be found in more detail in Finish in the project's publications (listed below).

Objectives

We aim to enable equity for individuals with partial working ability in the labor market by developing, through service design, a model supporting employment that prevents discrimination caused by cognitive biases.

During the project, we support the employment of individuals with partial working ability in the ICT sector. Flexible working hours and remote work, for example, can enable full working ability of those with partial working ability in other environments.

If you are interested in participating in the project's coaching or if you know someone suitable for our target group who could participate, please contact the project manager at sini.maunula@laurea.fi.  

Target Group

The project's target group consists of individuals with at least 50% remaining working ability, with symptoms invisible to others. Invisible symptoms include various pain conditions, mental health problems, gastrointestinal diseases, neurological disorders, and fatigue syndromes. These symptoms are also characterized by typical fluctuation, where working ability may be excellent at times and nonexistent at others.

The framing of the target group aims to provide support to those with partial working ability for whom support does not already exist, meaning those who are either have too much or too little working ability for various services. The project focuses on those suffering from invisible symptoms to assess, among other things, the significance of these symptoms in evaluating a person's skills and expertise, whether they disclose their partial working ability or not. Additionally, individuals suffering from invisible symptoms may miss out on support due to the invisibility of their symptoms, leading to a decline in work ability and even disability. Therefore, it is important to consider a model that supports the employment of individuals with partial working ability that takes into account the preservation of work ability in the future.  

Publications (in Finnish)

2025

Maunula, Sini. Työelämä on täsmätyökykyisiä täynnä. 28.11.2025. Täsmäkampanja. Luotettava työntekijä. Vastuu Group. https://luotettavatyontekija.vastuugroup.fi/blogi/tyoelama-on-tasmatyokykyisia-taynna 

Hytönen, Kaisa., Kanerva, Markus. & Maunula, Sini. 2025. Päätöksenteon ilmiöt moninaisen työyhteisön johtamisessa. Laurea julkaisut. https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-799-727-0 

Maunula, Sini. 16.9.2025. Pelko syrjinnästä estää hakemasta tukea työpaikalla. Laurea Journal. http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2025091696380 

Maunula, Sini & Arnberg, Reija. 24.6.2025. Työmarkkinoiden piilopotentiaali käyttöön erilaisuuden huomioimisella. Henry blogi. https://www.henry.fi/ajankohtaista/blogit/2025/06/tyomarkkinoiden-piilopotentiaali-kayttoon-erilaisuuden-huomioimisella.html 

Maunula, Sini. Inhimillinen työelämä tukee osatyökykyisiä. 4.3.2025. Laurea Journal. http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2025030415359

2024

Maunula, Sini. Eriarvoistumisen noidankehä syntyy ennakoinnin laiminlyömisestä ja yksilön kustannustaakasta. 26.11.2024. Laurea Journal. http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2024112696758

Korhonen, Annamaija. Oman työkykynsä tietää parhaiten osatyökykyinen itse. 18.11.2024. Laurea Long. https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2024111828517 

Rajalakso, Mira. Osatyökykyisten ja työelämän yhteensovittaminen vaatii työtä. 1.11.2024. Laurea Journal. http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2024110188650 

Maunula, Sini. Katsaus näkymättömästi oireilevia tukevien järjestöjen viestintään. 31.10.2024. Laurea Journal. http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2024103188285 

Maunula, Sini. & Peltomaa, Veera. Kestävä työelämä rakentuu ihmisyyden ymmärryksestä ja hyväksymisestä. 27.9.2024. Tulevaisuudenkestävä bisnes – inhimillistä johtajuutta, inhimillistä työelämää -julkaisussa. Sivut 119-124. https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-328-436-4 

Rajalakso, Mira. Osatyökykyisten rekrytointi tyssää tiedon puutteeseen: Tietämättömyys ja byrokratian pelko taustalla. 17.9.2024. Laurea Journal. http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2024091773506 

 Korhonen, Annamaija. Ihmisenä työelämässä. 22.8.2024. Laurea Journal. http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2024082266013 

Maunula, Sini. Tarve osatyökykyisten yhdenvertaisuuden parantamiselle tunnistettiin sosiaali- ja terveysalan ProjektiTori-tapahtumassa. 12.4.2024. Laurea Journal. http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2024041217036 

Maunula, Sini. Täysin työkykyiset ovat taruolentoja - mihin tarvitaan osatyökykyisen leimaa? 27.2.2024. Laurea Journal. http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe202402278916 

Korhonen, Annamaija. "Eihän susta ees näy päällepäin". 14.2.2024. Laurea Journal. http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe202402147146 

Official Summary of the Project:

People with partial working ability are affected by a disease or condition, for example. There are 1.9 million people in Finland who have a chronic condition or disability and 600,000 who feel their ability to work is reduced (Suomen sosiaali ja terveys ry SOSTE 2018). However, the definition of who has partial work ability is anything but unambiguous. The partially able-bodied people are a diverse group whose degree of work ability and its daily variation vary.

Despite great individual differences, there are stereotypes associated with the people with partial working ability, which is reflected in companies' hesitation in hiring them (Haatanen 2022). According to the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health and The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment of Finland (2017), companies want more information about a person's limitations to help making the recruitment decision. Although the desire for information is understandable and can, in the best case, increase understanding, it still decreases the equality of the people with disability. Information related to illness or disability is defined by law as sensitive information, and the employer can't collect or process it without the permission from the job seeker (Finlex 2004).

People with disabilities have difficulties getting a job. One of the reasons may be the stereotypes, assuming that someone with partial work ability is away a lot and the work ability is low all the time. Talking about partial work ability can lead to thinking about the limitations of a person instead of their competence. This effect where word choices affect the focus of attention is known as framing bias (Bazerman & Moore 2013, 95). A person with partial working ability may start to identify themselves mainly as disabled and focus on their limitations. This can decrease their sense of self-efficacy. Self-efficacy plays a major role in how one approaches tasks (Bandura 1997), so a low self-efficacy can lead to troubles getting work.

The OSTY project tries to influence these biases (stereotypes and framing) in such a way that the attention would shift from the limitations to the existing work ability and skills, thus increasing equal treatment in the job search. OSTY's target group is people with partial work ability, whose disabilities are unseen by others, meaning that they suffer from, for example, pain symptoms, neurological or long covid symptoms. The invisibility of symptoms means both pros and cons for this group. The advantage is that disability isn't visible in the recruitment situation, so it doesn't affect the chances, unless the job seeker raises the issue themselves. The challenge is that the person in working life doesn't necessarily receive support, because their ailment can't be seen. This can weaken their work ability and even lead to disability or burnout. These groups also have in common that the intensity of the symptoms varies and therefore flexibility in working life (remote work, flexible working hours, part-time work) would help working and maintain the ability to work.

The goal of the project is to help the target group to find employment and create a co-operation network to cocreate a model supporting the employment. The model is developed and piloted using service design. The purpose of the first pilot is to strengthen the self-efficacy of the target group by shifting attention from their limitations to their competence and working ability. The following pilots will be planned based on the information collected from the people with partial working ability, employers and other stakeholders. Planning is carried out in service design workshops with stakeholders representing different perspectives. The aim is to interact with employers and increase the desire to recruit members of the target group. The project communication tries to influence how the target group is seen, and to emphasize that they have a lot of work ability and competence on offer to employers.

References:

Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. W H Freeman/Times Books/ Henry Holt & Co. 

Bazerman, M. & Moore, D. (2013). Judgment in Managerial Decision Making. 8. painos. Wiley. 

Haatanen, T. 2022. Osatyökykyisiä tarvitaan työmarkkinoille. Työ- ja elinkeinoministeriö. Viitattu 1.3.2022 https://valtioneuvosto.fi/-/1410877/osatyokykyisia-tarvitaan-tyomarkkinoille 

Sosiaali- ja terveysministeriö, työ- ja elinkeinoministeriö. 2017. Työmotivaatio on työnantajalle tärkeämpää kuin 100-prosenttinen työkyky. Viitattu 21.3.2023 https://tem.fi/-/tyomotivaatio-on-tyonantajalle-tarkeampaa-kuin-100-prosenttinen-tyokyky 

Suomen sosiaali ja terveys ry SOSTE 2018. Osatyökykyiset ovat merkittävä työvoimapotentiaali. Viitattu 1.3.2022. https://www.soste.fi/osatyokykyiset-ovat-merkittava-tyovoimapotentiaali/

Finlex 2004. Laki yksityisyyden suojasta työelämästä. 5 §. Viitattu 21.3.2023. https://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/ajantasa/2004/20040759