Aréa, Disability, Rehabilitation and Work
Since its creation, Human interest has been at the heart of Aréa’s DNA, and the company aims to use its activities to help people who are far from employment to find a job or return to it: people who have been disabled since birth or because of trauma, or who have been deprived of their liberty as a result of a conviction. Despite progress towards a more inclusive society, people in these situations are all too often left to fend for themselves when it comes to employment.
To remedy the situation, the french legislator has developed several tools and measures. Our company has been involved in this issue since 1987, incorporating ESAT* (centers providing care through employment) into its organisation, as well as Prison Labour since 1997. Although these environments are restrictive, they come with several advantages, and they are nonetheless rewarding for companies wishing to create value and meaning outside the purely economic sphere. We are proud to play our part every day.
Like other social issues, working in these environments is sometimes the subject of misunderstanding or false belief. The facts are simple: excluding these people from employment is tantamount to excluding them altogether (economically, socially, humanely...). This is somehow a kind of double punishment. These issues therefore deserve a factual and objective approach.
*ESAT : French organisation that offers people with disabilities a professional activity as well as medical, social and educational support. (remploy)
‘We’re proud to play our part every day in that matter.’
Aréa and disabled workers
“Disabled workers and adapted companies need managers who are committed and entrust them with missions. I would add that, in this case, it is rewarding for our workers to understand what they are doing: a bench, a table, a barrier... When they go for a walk and come across one of the pieces of furniture they have worked on, they are proud and their work takes on its full meaning.”
- Joachim Valério, Director of the adapted company USI9 for 25 years -
Aréa and work in detention
It was a subcontractor at the time, committed to working in prisons, who discussed this choice with the founder of Aréa a few years after the creation of our company. Michel Boudou was already used to working with unqualified staff who had to be fully trained and who did not have all the traditional aptitudes for the job, so he decided to take the plunge. In line with these convictions, and in order to continue to help those who are furthest from employment, we became concessionaires at the Muret detention centre, near Toulouse, in 1997.
Produced in prison.s
PePs (Produiced in Prison.s ) is the only scheme that guarantees responsible and inclusive manufacturing conditions for products and services produced in prisons. Aréa is one of the first 10 companies in France to have obtained this label, which is supported by ATIGIP (The french agency responsible for community service and the professional integration of people serving sentences).
aréa, Disability, Rehabilitation and Work in figures
