SUNRISE-Sustainable solutions for social and work inclusion in case of chronic illness and transplantation

The research project aims to study and propose strategies and measures to improve the existing regulatory tools to provide new opportunities for the social inclusion and the return to work in favour of transplanted workers and suffering from chronic diseases. After their experience during illness and convalescence, these people face a return to active life in poor or otherwise compromised health conditions. The return to work or the transition to new commitments more appropriate to the aforementioned health conditions is, today more than ever, a major challenge for the labour market and the Welfare State. The social and occupational inclusion of these people is extremely relevant to the impact on the personal, relational, social and economic sphere of the individuals involved and their families, and for the sustainability of our social security system in the face of the pressures arising from the lengthening of working life and the cost of welfare benefits. Through the analysis of the current regulatory framework it will be possible to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the measures so far prepared by the legislator in order to ensure the continuity of the work paths of transplanted workers and those affected by chronic diseases, in order to outline possible reform proposals to ensure greater effectiveness to inclusion policies and resources invested. To this end, the research project will not only focus on the legal rules and the institutional pathways to return to work, but, on the basis of recent international research, it will develop its own analysis also on the role played by industrial relations and collective bargaining in ensuring adequate conditions for the return to work or transition to other working positions. Collecting and analysing collective and contractual experiences at sectoral, territorial and company level will allow to identify general trends and the best practices to be disseminated and subjected to analysis to verify their reproducibility in other working contexts. Finally, considering the organisational consequences of managing the pathways for the integration or reintegration of people with a compromised state of health, the research will develop an in-depth study on the professional figures who in practice are managing such complicated transition stages in companies and organisations. The goal is to identify paths from legale or collective bargaining or technical standards perspectives for the definition of professional figures and for the recognition and construction of the skills necessary to carry out the work inclusion process.