Inclusion is a major challenge of our time. Today, according to the French Ministry of Labor, Full Employment and Integration, more than two million people are excluded from the workforce. However, some of them want to work, but for various reasons (age, health, mobility, origin, qualification, career break, etc.) they have difficulty finding a job. Telepresence robots could help these people to find a job, earn a salary and thus project themselves into working life in the long term.

Making the job market more inclusive through telepresence

According to a study by the French Ministry of Labor’s Directorate for Research and Statistical Studies (Dares), there are more than 6 million unemployed people in France. And yet, the number of job vacancies is exploding in France. Worse still, there have never been so many unfilled jobs. A paradoxical situation with economic, social and societal repercussions. This paradox particularly affects people with disabilities.

Indeed, they represent 15% of the French unemployed, compared to 8% of the general population. Telepresence robotics, whose benefits in terms of educational continuity, thanks to the TED-i program, are no longer in question, could provide a partial response to these employability issues. Indeed, it would be a way to break down this barrier to employment by offering people with disabilities the opportunity to work from home, without having to physically travel to the office.

Cantin Dumay is a convincing example of this since a telepresence robot has accompanied him throughout his university career and has enabled him to hold the position of editorial assistant for a television program for three years now.

Telepresence to overcome disability-related barriers to employment

A recent study on the perception of the employment of disabled people published in 2022 shows that the integration of disabled workers into companies is still perceived as difficult by the general public, recruiters and by disabled people themselves.

However, installing a telepresence robot in a company’s premises so that a disabled person can work from home can remedy a large part of the obstacles to hiring due to disability. The disabled employee does not need to travel to the office and can work from home, while being physically present with his colleagues through the telepresence robot. This approach is accompanied by a structured human resources policy and internal mobilization to ensure the successful integration of the telepresence employee into the company.

Inclusion of people with disabilities in the labor market: a major societal challenge

Facilitating the access of disabled people to the job market while overcoming the recruitment difficulties of companies, such is certainly the future of telepresence robotics. Indeed, hiring a disabled person means allowing him or her to escape from a certain form of social exclusion. A mission whose benefits would not only be economic for the society in which we live, but also social, as shown in the testimony below, from the Vademecum 2022 of the “Inclusion through employment” guide.

Thus, our ambition is to contribute to reducing the unemployment rate of people with disabilities, currently estimated at 14%, and to respond to employability issues, particularly in sectors in tension. Through our solutions and expertise, we are committed to demonstrating that the development of teleworking is an opportunity to be seized in order to achieve full employment and promote inclusion in the workplace.