PARE0019 DON’T DELAY - TIME2WORK
Authors: Z. Pavlovic, A. Smiljkovic
Journal: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (2020)

Background: Employment process of people with RMD is very sensitive and tough subject, especially in Republic of Serbia. For people with RMD it is very hard to get employed or to find a suitable job. Based on study 33% of the total health care costs was allocated to employers. Objectives: Raise awareness about employment of people with RMDs and identify barriers and bottlenecks of the process of employment. Connect with all relevant stakeholders and figure out a way to ease the whole process of employment. Methods: A round of surveys were conducted, one for employers and the other for people with RMDs.A round table was organized with participants from various relevant institutions.A series of articles were published online and in writing. A series of interviews were emitted on various TV stations. Results: Total of 136 persons with RMD took the survey and a total of 75 companies took the survey for employers.56.7% are employed. 31% of people with RMDs that took the survey said that they did not get the job because they have RMD. 37.1% are missing from work just when they are feeling really bad. 87.1% are open for prequalification and retraining. 90% is not familiar with process of qualifying for disability act. 42.60% are looking for a job via Internet. 45% does not get help at the workplace from their colleague when they are not feeling well. 42.3% met the difficulty of employer not understanding disease and it’s forecast. 39.7% does not get any feedback after interview. 40% of employers are not familiar with benefits from the state when employing person with disability act. 68% have not used any benefit provided by state. 2/3 of employers are giving advantage to work experience and probation impression over other when deciding about employment of person. Active communication between round table participants and our organization. Employment brochure, digital and hard copies. Conclusion: People with RMDs are more than interested and willing to take courses and prequalification in order to get employed. More than half that are not employed at the moment are actively seeking for a job opportunity. Employers are willing to employ people with RMDs and also send them for prequalification. They are not familiar with benefits that they can get when employing person with RMD. More than 2/3 of employers that took the survey stated number of benefits that they would see fit them when employing person with disability act, and 95% of those benefits are already on benefit list provided by Republic of Serbia. If more people with RMDs are employed causes less health care cost to the state, more funds for new medicines, more people on innovative drugs, which results in more people getting employed. The other thing that needs raise of awareness is the process of getting act of disability, since people with RMD in Serbia are not familiar with it. References: [1]H. Birnbaum, C. Pike, R. Kaufman, M. Marynchenko, Y. Kidolezi, &amp; M. Cifaldi, (2010). Societal cost of rheumatoid arthritis patients in the US. Current Medical Research &amp; Opinion https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19908947 Disclosure of Interests: None declared