A sheltered workshop or sheltered workplace is a workplace where a defined proportion of employees are people with disabilities and to which the labour office has granted special status. This status brings with it contributions towards setting up the job, towards operating costs, and towards the work of a job assistant. The other side is a commercial advantage: employers with twenty or more employees have a mandatory quota for employing people with disabilities, and they can meet it by purchasing goods or services from a sheltered workshop, known as substitute performance. This creates stable demand. Granting the status requires meeting conditions on the composition of employees and on the equipping of the workplace, and is subject to inspections by the labour office. When negotiating with larger customers, it is therefore worth explicitly pointing out the option of substitute performance, since not everyone is aware of it.
See also: Grants for Employing Disadvantaged Jobseekers, Employment contribution from the Labour Office, Registered social enterprise.
