Case Study
Management assistant for office management at WDR

Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) employs around 4,200 people in almost 150 jobs, including administration, commercial jobs, editing, technology and IT. In the context of employment, diversity and inclusion - especially of people with severe disabilities or equal opportunities - play an important role. This is supported in particular by the promotion of employment and the realisation of equal opportunities, whereby instruments such as a target agreement on accessibility and company integration management help to put this into practice.

The man has spasticity in his lower extremities (paraspasticity) and is dependent on the use of a wheelchair. His motor skills, grasping range, and mobility are limited.

He first attended a school with a special focus on physical and motor development and then transferred to a vocational college for business and administration, where he successfully completed commercial school. He then applied for a training position as an office management assistant at WDR and successfully took part in the selection process and barrier-free online vocational aptitude test, interview by telephone / Skype, assessment center and job interview. After his vocational training, the office management assistant was offered a temporary position in the Human Resources department and then, after applying for a vacant position, was hired on a permanent basis for the visitor service and the switchboard. At the beginning of his job, like other colleagues, he received induction training and was trained in how to talk to people - by telephone or in person on site.

As part of his job in the telephone switchboard, the salesman works in a multi-person office with satisfactory movement space for the wheelchair. He works there at a computer workstation or height-adjustable desk that he can drive under with his power wheelchair. At his workplace, he uses a PC to receive enquiries about possible contact persons and about mediation by means of software via telephone and headset, gives initial information to interested people, makes bookings for the tours on offer and, together with his group leader, arranges for the people leading the tours.
The lounger of the merchant in the so-called visitor service is located in the entrance area of another building, where customers and interested as well as business people etc. are received. There, among other things, questions regarding the licence fee can be asked in the context of the function as an information office for the licence fee service, information can be provided and visiting people can be registered. In order to be able to carry out these tasks, he uses a tablet that can be attached to the wheelchair via a holder. With the help of the tablet, he searches for the information needed by the visiting people in the WDR system.

From his home in the neighbouring town, the businessman reaches the WDR headquarters or the buildings with his workplaces, which are not far apart, by means of a transport service. He covers the other distances there with his electric wheelchair, which he controls via a joystick on the wheelchair. Toilets suitable for disabled people are available in every building.
The workplace in the telephone exchange is located on the upper floors of the listed building, so that accessibility measures must always be considered in the context of historic preservation. The employee reaches his workplace barrier-free with an electric wheelchair via a side entrance with a satisfactory wide door, as he cannot use the main entrance and no structural changes may be made. He reaches the floor with his workplace via a satisfactory sized lift with accessible controls in the restricted reach area, which can only be used by authorised people with a key for it. The other colleagues use the staircase or the paternoster lift. As it was not possible to access the workplace on this floor via the existing door, which was too narrow, a satisfactory access was created via the recreation room with its satisfactory wide doors. The doors to be opened and closed on the way to the respective workplace and to the toilet suitable for disabled people have electrically operated door openers and closers and can thus be passed without difficulty.
In the event of an evacuation, e.g. in the event of a fire, an evacuation chair is available. With the use of this chair, a designated evacuation assistant can evacuate the merchant via the stairwell - this is trained regularly and is part of an evacuation concept for people with disabilities or mobility impairments.
The other workplace in the visitor service is located at ground level in the reception area there and can be accessed and navigated without barriers by wheelchair.
Access, routes and reaching the respective workplace were tested in advance in a "walk-through" with him and appropriate adaptations were made.

During his vocational training, the merchant required work assistance on an hourly basis due to the nature of his work, which was supported by the employment agency, as were the driving service, a subsidy for the training allowance and the assistive products (work table and evacuation chair). The costs for the driving service will be funded in the future by the integration or inclusion office, as the corresponding insurance periods or waiting periods for cost absorption by the pension insurance are not yet available.
The transition from school to vocational training and subsequently from vocational training to permanent employment was supported by the representative body for severely disabled persons. The severe disability representation was also involved in an advisory capacity with regard to the barrier-free design and the development of the application procedure, under the aspect of the participation or application of people with disabilities.