Your work history, education, occupation and health status will help determine which of the options is the best for you.
Vocational rehabilitation supported by Veritas under the earnings-related pension system does not include medical rehabilitation, work ability assessment or rehabilitation assessments. These services are handled by Kela. Further information can be found from Kela’s website.
Work trial
A work trial is the primary form of vocational rehabilitation. It helps to clarify whether changes can be made at your current workplace that would enable you to continue working. For example, your employer could offer you shorter working hours, lighter work tasks or other flexible arrangements to help you to regain your work ability.
Work coaching
You can learn new professional skills and tasks through work coaching in your current workplace or in the service of a different employer.
Work coaching differs from work trials in that it is a longer process, which is necessary since it is specifically for the purpose of learning completely new tasks or acquiring a new professional qualification. The period of work coaching generally lasts from three months to two years.
Quite often the coaching is arranged alongside a longer period of training. The period introduces you to the field and gives you the opportunity to practice the necessary work tasks. Work coaching can also be completed in the form of shorter courses and training periods that enhance your current areas of competence. Work coaching can be a paid or unpaid arrangement.
Training
The purpose of training is to supplement your earlier studies through individual courses or to provide the educational foundations for a completely new profession, including the relevant qualification or degree. The aim is to obtain a professional qualification in a field that is better suited to your health status.
The training can be carried out as full-time studies, apprenticeship training or as a part of work coaching. Apprenticeship training and training as part of work coaching are, for the most part, realised within the workplace.
An apprenticeship contract is established jointly by you, your employer and a local apprenticeship agency. You will be in an employment relationship for the period of the apprenticeship and your employer will pay you wages in accordance with the relevant collective agreement. In this case, rehabilitation benefits that correspond to the wages you receive will be paid to your employer.
Training that is carried out as part of vocational rehabilitation must be full-time. You can receive support for blended studies if the extent of your education in credit units is equivalent to full-time studies or the studies are part of your work coaching programme.
Vocational rehabilitation for entrepreneurs through business subsidies
If you are an entrepreneur, you can receive a business subsidy for vocational rehabilitation. The subsidy is intended for the purchase of such equipment or devices that would enable you to continue working. Other methods of rehabilitation are also possible, whether you are continuing as an entrepreneur or shifting to paid work.
Sometimes, a shift from salaried work to entrepreneurship is a way to get oneself back into working life. When you can be your own boss, you can freely choose only to do such work tasks that are suitable for your health status.
It is also possible to get a business subsidy for the establishment of a company or the purchase of new tools and equipment. The subsidy is means-tested and must be accompanied by (an)other means of financing. When applying for a business subsidy, you must submit a free-form statement of your prerequisites to be an entrepreneur, as well as financial and profitability calculations.
