3. Work integration types of social enterprises in Walloon region Belgium

There are several types of WISEs serving a variety of purposes and target groups in Wallonia:

3.1 Work integration enterprises (enterprises d’insertion or EIs)

The decree of December 19, 2012 limits its scope to public limited companies (SA), cooperative companies with limited liability (SCRL) and economic interest groups (GIE). These commercial companies must also have a social purpose within the meaning of article 661 of the Companies Code.

These companies must produce goods and services, while at the same time pursuing a specific “social” goal of sustainable and high-quality integration of disadvantaged or seriously disadvantaged workers.

The board of directors of integration enterprises must include a minimum of five natural persons without family ties in the 1st and 2nd degree. The decree retains 3 categories of integration enterprises:

Small and medium-sized enterprises within the meaning of Annex 1 of the RGEC
Companies whose share capital or voting rights are mainly held by local authorities (municipalities, associations of municipalities, CPAS, intermunicipal companies, autonomous municipal authorities, provinces, provincial associations, provincial authorities) .
The large company, i.e. the company which is no longer a small or medium-sized company within the meaning of point 1° because: either it brings together several companies with a social purpose linked together by a common shareholding; or it has in its shareholding an adapted work company or an ASBL approved for a mission of socio-professional integration of a precarious public and in doing so, exceeds 250 full-time equivalent workers; or it simultaneously fulfills the conditions referred to in the first and second indents.

An integration company is a legal person constituted in the form of a commercial company with the social aim of the socio-professional integration of job seekers who are difficult to place by resorting to an activity producing goods or services. Work integration enterprises (enterprises d’insertion or EIs) provide work opportunities for less privileged persons and guarantee a lasting employment with room for training and support in a labour environment where corporate social responsibility is a central element.

EIs for disadvantaged workers (integration companies, the typical WISEs model), the enterprise must, according to the decree of 20 October 2016 concerning the agreement of social economy initiatives and agreement and subsidization of WISEs fulfil certain criteria to be officially recognised. First of all, it must be a commercial enterprise with a social purpose that explicitly aims to integrate low-skilled people through an activity that produces goods and services through employment. Even before being recognized as a WISE, the enterprise must be recognized as a “social initiative” by the Walloon Region. In order to do so, it must respect the four principles of the social economy:

– Purpose of service to the community or members, rather than a profit-making purpose

– Management autonomy

– Democratic decision-making process

– People and labour’s primacy over capital in income distribution

It must also provide appropriate technical, formative and social guidance to their low-skilled workers.

The integration enterprises are bound by the same restriction as that imposed on the SFS in terms of the distribution of profits, namely that

in the event of the distribution of a patrimonial profit to its associates, the integration enterprise must limit this distribution to an interest rate fixed by the king (currently, 6%);
they must also develop activities that generate social added value, namely the production of products or the development of services that do not harm the environment, contribute to sustainable development and serve a social purpose.

Then, to be recognised as a WISE, the enterprise must, according to the same decree, meet several cumulative conditions, including having 50% severely disadvantaged workers within 4 years of accreditation. To be approved, the integration company must in particular undertake to include, among the people employed under the ties of an employment contract, a certain percentage of workers belonging to the target group. On the Walloon side, this percentage must be at least 20% at the end of the twelve months following the notification of approval; 30% on annual average during the following twelve months; 40% on annual average during the following twelve months; 50% as an annual average during the following years – with, in all cases, a minimum of one full-time equivalent. On the Brussels side, out of the total number of people employed, the percentage of workers in the target public must amount to at least 30% of the company’s operational staff.

Accreditation is granted by a specific accreditation committee comprised of public authority and social economy actors, for a period of 2 years, then renewed for 4 years. After this 6-year period, it can be granted for an indeterminate period (Belgium Wallonia 2016a).

In the Walloon Region, the term “difficult to place job seeker” (DEDP) means the person who, at the time of his engagement in the integration enterprise, does not hold a secondary education diploma. superior or equivalent and who is registered as a job seeker with the Walloon Office for Vocational Training and Employment.

The integration enterprise must also respect a moderate wage tension, which may not exceed, in full-time equivalent, a ratio of 1 to 4 between the lowest wage salaries and the highest.

The integration enterprise must also comply with the definition of a small enterprise (it must in particular employ fewer than 50 people and have either an annual turnover not exceeding seven million euros, or an annual balance sheet total not exceeding five million euros); and it must conclude an agreement with the Walloon Office for Vocational Training and Employment, in order to ensure, if necessary, the follow-up of professional training for DEDPs.

The criteria taken into account for the granting of approval include in particular the demonstration of sufficient viability. Thus, the application for approval must include, among other things, elements relating to the company’s marketing and profitability prospects; a description of the material and human resources implemented to carry out the project, including the resources provided for the function of supervising the target public; a presentation of the skills and experience of the business manager, particularly in the field of management; a financial plan covering the next three years as well as, on the Walloon side, a detailed draft budget for the calendar year of the current financial year, and on the Brussels side, a detailed business plan for the calendar year following the current exercise.

Subsidies

The decree of December 19, 2012 sets up 3 types of aid:

a subsidy for the use of a social secretariat;
a subsidy within the framework of the granting of an SGEI (Services of General Economic Interest) mandate;
a grant for disadvantaged (TD) or severely disadvantaged (TGD) workers.

1. Subsidy for the use of a social secretariat

This subsidy in the amount of EUR 1,500.00 is granted to approved companies affiliated with an approved social secretariat or using a human resources management service dependent on a local authority.

It is granted on the basis of a certificate from the approved social secretariat or the HRM department.

Subsidy for the SGEI mandate

Annually, the approved integration company can benefit from a subsidy within the framework of a mandate for the management of an SGEI.

This grant is intended to cover the costs associated with hiring a social worker (salary cost, including travel costs and operating costs of a maximum of 15% of the salary cost).

The amount of this subsidy is up to EUR 100,000.00 and is linked to the number of disadvantaged or severely disadvantaged workers engaged in the company. This grant must comply with the European de minim is regulation for SGEIs

Amount of subsidy Euro	Minimum number of disadvantaged (TD) or severely disadvantaged (TGD) workers	Subsidized social worker
25,000	8	half time
50,000	26	minimum half time maximum full time
75,000	45	minimum two halves maximum one and a half FTE
100,000	60	at least two halves maximum two FTEs

Thus, the approved company can only receive the subsidy for the SGEI mandate insofar as the total amount of de minimis aid it has received does not exceed EUR 500,000.00 over a period of 3 fiscal years.

Subsidy for workers

This grant depends on :

– the type of approved integration enterprise:

SMEs;
dependent on local authorities;
large company within the meaning of Article 2, § 1, paragraph 1, 5°, c) of the decree.

– the status of the worker:

disadvantaged worker (TD);
severely disadvantaged worker (TGD).

– the joint committee to which the worker belongs:

CP group 121, 124, 145 and 302;
the other CPs.

– of the worker’s working time.

– maintaining compliance with the conditions of approval and subsidization.

The subsidy is granted only for additional workers in relation to the reference workforce.

This subsidy cannot exceed half the wage cost over 12 months for a disadvantaged worker (TD) and half the wage cost over 24 months for a severely disadvantaged worker (TGD).

The payment of the subsidy is spread over 4 years at the rate of 25% of the total amount.

The grant thus divided is payable at the rate of an advance of 75% when submitting the grant application and a balance of 25% at the end of one year on presentation of supporting documents and proof of compliance with the conditions. accreditation and subsidization.

The granting of the subsidy obliges the company to maintain the worker in the bonds of an employment contract during the 4 years of the payment of the subsidy and during the 3 years which follow.

The subsidy amounts to a maximum of EUR 18,000.00 for a disadvantaged worker (TD) and a maximum of EUR 36,000.00 for a severely disadvantaged worker (TGD).

Subsidies are also granted for the social support of the target public. The Walloon Region, for its part, grants a subsidy of 33,000 euros per full-time equivalent on an annual basis to the approved integration company with a view to hiring one or more social guides responsible for ensuring the social monitoring of workers; this social follow-up can include support for workers wishing to integrate into the traditional labour market. The allocation of subsidized social workers is determined according to the number of workers meeting certain specific criteria.

Integration enterprises benefit from a subsidy intended in particular to partially cover the remuneration of the head of the enterprise as well as, if necessary, his training in management in the social economy. The integration enterprise benefits from this subsidy on a decreasing basis during the three years following the date of approval (20,000 euros the first year, 13,500 euros the second year and 7,000 euros the third year).

3.2 Adapted work enterprises previously -enterprises de travail adapté ETA

Adapted work enterprises previously known as sheltered workshops (enterprises de travail adapté ETA) – these employ people that have been unable to find a job in a regular company, whose long-term inactivity on the labour market usually relates to personal circumstances.

In order to be recognised and subsidised, Adapted work enterprises (enterprises de travail adapté ETA) previously known as sheltered workshops must comply to the conditions from the section 47 of the law of 6 July 1963 concerning social insertion of people with disabilities. They must primarily hire people with disabilities who are registered in the National Fund (and therefore have a mental disability of more than 20% or a physical disability of more than 30%) and who, because of the nature or degree of their disability, cannot temporarily or permanently work in professional activity in a “normal” work environment. They must ensure that people with disabilities can do meaningful and gainful work, but also provide them possibilities of professional accommodation and promotion and, if possible, access to “normal” employment. In order to provide this training, the ETA must propose the services of a coaching staff. Persons with disabilities must be employed trough an employment contract in adequate hygiene and safety conditions.

ETAs belong to the integration sector in the broad sense. Their particularity is to offer stable and lasting employment to disabled workers, to whom they provide a social status and a certain job security guaranteed by an employment contract, a minimum wage level and suitable working conditions (particular distribution tasks, appropriate work pace). The ETAs benefit from significant intervention by the public authorities to compensate for the loss of profitability associated with the employment of disabled people. This public subsidy policy aims in particular to promote the continued employment of the most disabled people. This is why it provides for workers to be subsidized to different degrees depending on the seriousness of their deficiency or incapacity.

ETAs must be legal persons or organized by a legal person in order to be approved and to benefit from subsidies. They are generally constituted as a non-profit association (ASBL) and offer two types of employment: production positions and management and company management positions. The proportion between disabled and able-bodied workers is very different there, and the majority of people with disabilities are found in production and able-bodied people in management positions. The ETAs must accommodate as a priority and according to a minimum percentage of people recognized as disabled by the competent institutions (AWIPH, etc.).

The ETA sector is characterized by great diversity in terms of size, activity, level of production, social practices, etc., but this diversity is tending to diminish due to mergers and synergies between ETAs which are increasingly frequent. Non-exhaustively, the ETAs take charge of the following activities: agriculture, crafts and textiles, handling, cleaning, catering, packaging, woodworking, horticulture and gardening, pallets, electronics, cabling, mechanical welding, mailing, printing, office automation, etc. Their activities are set up according to three commonly observed patterns: some ETAs conclude subcontracting contracts with private companies; others work for their own account and therefore manage the entire production process, from design to commercialization; still others combine these two forms.

Adapted Work Companies (ETA) are social economy companies whose priority mission is the professional integration of people with disabilities.

To carry out their mission, they adopt an economical vehicle: that of the company, thus offering:

A guaranteed salary level
Social status and job security guaranteed by an employment contract
Working conditions adapted to each individual

The 54 Walloon ETAs sell their services and products on the ordinary market. They are an economic actor in their own right: they meet the same constraints as those required of any other structure of the “classic” circuit: quality of service, respect of deadlines, etc.

Active in more than 20 major sectors, the ETAs are multi-activity in order to allow all their workers to be active in a suitable job, taking into account their qualifications and the handicap from which they may suffer.

The profile of workers within them is very varied. They may be people with a visible disability, a disability from birth, people who have experienced an accident at work which has led to a permanent disability or people with illnesses which do not manifest themselves or only slightly.

They constitute the main opportunity for less able-bodied people to find a job as well as a possibility of social integration and fulfilment under optimal conditions from the point of view of remuneration, promotion, supervision and social Security.

ETAs are therefore distinguished from “classic” companies by:

Their social purpose

The challenge for the Walloon ETAs is to follow the technological movement while maintaining the social objective. The primary purpose of the ETAs is to work towards the integration of disabled people into social reality and the functioning of the company.

Their production purposes

ETAs are accompanied by not only economic but also social considerations. Their primary objective, unlike ordinary companies, is not production and the search for maximum profit but the adaptation of work while providing quality and satisfaction to their customers.

The ETAs therefore put on an equal footing, on the one hand, production which aims to be of quality and which meets the demands of their customers and, on the other hand, the revalidation and socio-professional reclassification of people with disabilities. The criteria for evaluating production activities (quantity, quality, type and style) to which reference is made in the ETAs are heterogeneous, one could say individualized, both with regard to people and to goods or services. product services.

The AFT provides training for adults with little education and job seekers. These trainees alternate between theoretical learning and training through real work situations within the company or on site. They also benefit from individualized psychological and social support in order to enrol in a process of professional and social (re)integration.

The eweta, the Walloon Federation of Adapted Work Companies (Fédération Wallonne des Entreprises de Travail Adapté), represents all the 54 Walloon Adapted Work Companies but also German-speaking ones. The sector represents no fewer than 10,000 workers, of whom more than 8,500 are disabled. https://eweta.be/leweta/

Main data of ETAs in Wallonia

The ETAs, in 2018, represented more than 10,000 workers (10250 jobs valid and disabled), including:

Nearly 8,500 workers with disabilities
More than 8,500 production workers

Characteristics of these jobs:

Nearly 90% fixed-term contracts
85% disabled workers

361 million Euros of total product

20 sectors – The types of activities developed by the ETA are multiple, there are more than 20 major sectors of activity: food, crafts, animals, building, wood, electricity, electronics, packaging, horticulture, printing, rental, mechanics, metals, cleaning, paper, plastic, catering, textiles, glass and miscellaneous.

3.3 IDESS (employment development initiatives in the proximity social services sector

The IDESS (employment development initiatives in the proximity social services sector) recognition process is governed by the decree of 2006 relating to the accreditation and grant of IDESS, defining the conditions and procedures to be followed. Among the 17 conditions to be met are those to develop community services for social purposes and to demonstrate the relevance of the project as well as its economic viability. The enterprise must also propose, in collaboration with the public employment service, a project of social and professional integration to the workers (Belgium Wallonia 2006).

An IDESS is an approved structure that offers local services (small DIY jobs, gardening) and services intended for at-risk individuals (social taxi, laundry and retail services) to individuals living in Wallonia, or non-profits that have their registered office in Wallonia. Some IDESS may also offer cleaning services for the premises of small non-profits. IDESS satisfy the needs of individuals as they pertain to minor tasks that are too small to be carried out by professionals from the private sector. They may provide the following types of services:

minor maintenance, repair and home-improvement works are too small to be of interest to a “traditional” company and could be carried out by a handyman with no special qualifications. This pertains to both the recipient’s building and furnishings
minor tasks to improve and maintain green areas, such as: grass cutting; hedge trimming; removal of weeds from around homes and courtyards; digging of gardens and vegetable plots; chopping wood for heating purposes; collection and disposal of waste and/or leaves and branches; cleaning of graves; removal of snow and weeds from pavements
social transport is transport intended for “at-risk” individuals with no car and who are not able to use public transport or taxis
social laundry involves laundry services for “at-risk” individuals
social retail refers to shops for “at-risk” individuals (see below). These sell food products or necessities at prices that are at least 30% lower than those available in traditional retail establishments. Repair, recycling or reuse activities are also eligible, as they pertain to non-food and second-hand products
cleaning of premises for the premises of small non-profits

An approved IDESS can benefit from two types of subsidies:

a subsidy that is intended to partially cover operating costs
a subsidy that is intended to partially cover the remuneration of SINE employees (reintegration of unemployed individuals who are very difficult to place in the social-integration economy), or those who have been hired under Article 61 of the Organic Law of 8 July 1976 regarding Public social-welfare centres.

Aid may also be granted in the form of APE (employment-promotion aid) points, with a maximum of 24 additional points per IDESS. More specifically:

The IDESS is granted an annual subsidy to cover its operating costs, provided that it employs at least two FTE employees. This amounts to €1,000.00 per employed worker with “SINE” status, in accordance with “Art. 60, Section 7” or “Art. 61”.
An €11,000.00 subsidy may be granted when three criteria are satisfied: the IDESS employs three FTE employees with SINE status, in accordance with Article 60 or Article 61 of the Organic Law of 8 July 1976 regarding Public social-welfare centres; this subsidy is dedicated to the purchase of vehicles that are adapted for use by the elderly (Article 3, Section 1, Paragraph 5 of the Decree from the Walloon Government) or individuals with reduced mobility, or the adaptation of existing vehicles; this subsidy has not been received previously.
An annual subsidy of €13,000.00 per “SINE” or “Article 61” worker employed by the IDESS as a FTE.
An additional subsidy of €1,000.00 per worker who provides services to “at-risk” individuals (see above).
The IDESS can also benefit from assistance in the form of APE points, which are intended to improve the management or workers.

Work experience enterprises (enterprises de formation par le travail) (EFTs) – these offer assisted employment for underprivileged groups of people.71 At the same time, they offer so-called ‘integration training’ aimed at preparing the person for the transition towards regular employment.
Socio-professional integration center CISP

In Wallonia, the CISPs provide vocational training and the socio-professional integration of poorly educated adults and job seekers. There are 157 of them constituted as non-profit organizations or in CPAS service. Each year, they train nearly 16,000 trainees, which represents more than 5.5 million hours of approved training (2017 figures, source: Interfédé).

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