Assessing working ability

The term working ability means every person’s individual ability to cope with their work. It is affected by a number of factors, including physical and psychological resources, attitude, and skills. There are various services to help you assess your working ability.

You can carry out a self-assessment of your work ability by completing the Abilitator questionnaire. Assessing work ability may also require a health assessment. In that case, contact the health services in your area. You can also get help in assessing your work ability from the employment official. If you are under 30 years old, you can also use the services of the One-Stop Guidance Center (Ohjaamo).

The Abilitator is a free self-assessment method of work ability and functioning for all people of working age. With the Abilitator quiz you can find out about your situation, strengths, and development needs. 

You should find out what your current state of health is if it has not been checked in a long time or if you feel like it has changed. If you are unemployed, the employment official is responsible for providing you with an examination of your working ability and functional capacity. You need a medical certificate so that you can participate in services promoting work ability.

The state of health of unemployed persons can be ascertained in the health examination of unemployed persons organised by the wellbeing services counties, the state of health of employed persons in occupational healthcare, and the state of health of students in student healthcare.

If you are aged under 30, a visit to a One-Stop Guidance Center can help you get started. The One-Stop Guidance Center provides information and guidance according to your needs, for example on matters related to studying, finding employment, and the smoothness of everyday life. 

If you are partially able to work, various services can help you find employment 

If your work ability is limited or otherwise impaired by a disability or illness, your employment can be promoted through, for example, multisectoral joint services, or rehabilitation measures. If your ability to work requires changes at your workplace or you need help with certain tasks, your employer may be able to provide financial support to help you make such arrangements. You can promote your chances of getting a job with a large employer by requesting from the employment official a certificate stating that you have been entered in the customer register of employment services as a job seeker with partial work ability.

If you need a comprehensive service to support your employment, you can get help from multisectoral services.

Rehabilitative work activities can be a suitable solution when you are returning to working life after prolonged unemployment, starting your career, or rehabilitating from an illness or a difficult time in your life. The purpose of rehabilitative work activities is to assist individuals whose unemployment has been prolonged, who have received unemployment benefits or basic social assistance for a certain time period, and who are unable to participate in the services offered by the employment official.

Rehabilitation may help you when the disability or illness complicates your studies, work, or coping at different stages of life.

Rehabilitation is organised by Kela, public health care, occupational health care, municipal social services, disability organisations, transport and accident insurance institutions, and earnings-related pension insurance companies. Kela and the transport and accident insurance institutions can also secure your livelihood when you participate in rehabilitation. They may also cover costs related to participation in rehabilitation.

Vocational rehabilitation can help you with choosing a suitable vocational field, finding employment, and staying in or returning to working life despite your illness. Traffic and accident insurance institutions, work pension companies, and Kela organise legally mandated professional rehabilitation. Access to rehabilitation requires meeting certain requirements.

You can find out from your doctor or Kela which party organises the rehabilitation that you can apply for. Employment service specialists can also help you find out about your possibilities for rehabilitation.

You can apply for a subsidy for arranging working conditions if your employee’s disability or illness requires new tools or alterations at work.

If you have a disability or illness affecting work, you can request a certificate for a partially disabled jobseeker from the employment authority.

Support for maintaining the ability to work

While an illness or disability may reduce your work ability and functional capacity, this does not necessarily mean that you are completely unable to work. You can get a wide range of help to maintain your work ability.

More information

Support for job seeking

You need to be proactive to find a job. You can also use a range of services to help in your job search.

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