Problem addressed

People with disabilities can face multiple obstacles to entering the workplace, often due to stigma or a scarcity of inclusive job positions that can be adapted to their individual abilities. In 2017, there were 7.7 million people of working age with a severe disability in Germany. The disability pay gap and a lack of information about vacancies reduce the chance of people with disabilities finding quality employment. Employers are also sometimes not confident that they will be able to support an employee with a disability and provide them with a barrier-free workspace, and thus do not provide many opportunities for people with disabilities.

Innovative solution

AfB is a social enterprise that aims to create inclusive, barrier-free jobs in refurbishing and reselling used IT hardware. Its innovation lies in its ability to support people with disabilities in their search for employment and to raise awareness amongst employers on disability issues, whilst also helping to reduce the negative environmental impact of IT production and waste. It aims to become one of the leading non-profit IT companies worldwide.

AfB is based on a socially responsible business model sustained by its partnership with over 1 000 corporations, banks and public institutions. AfB collects used IT and mobile hardware, repairs it, certifiably removes stored data, and resells it at a reduced price in AfB stores or online. AfB subsequently provides each partner organisation with a certificate of Corporate Social Responsibility, in which the social and environmental impact of their reused IT hardware is statistically measured (e.g. the collection of 600 notebooks sponsors one workplace for a disabled person). AfB also organises social projects in schools, such as ‘JumP’, which provides schools with more affordable, recycled IT equipment.

AfB works closely with public employment agencies and other organisations to design jobs in which all work processes are inclusive and barrier-free. This includes providing work instructions that are illustrated and in easy-to-read language, ensuring that there are permanent contact people for employees with disabilities, training supervisors to be considerate in stressful situations, and setting up workplaces appropriately for different disabilities. Workplaces for people with visual impairments, for example, can be set up so that sound cues are converted into visual signals (e.g. doorbells, alarm systems). Special workplace equipment can be provided, such as illuminated magnifying glasses, if needed. Light generally plays a major role, with workplaces often illuminated in order to be fully accessible and inclusive.

People with various disabilities and those without disabilities work side-by-side at all stages, from collecting to recycling and reselling. To support staff, AfB provides onboarding programmes tailored to a person’s level of education or job experience. It runs specific workshops for people with disabilities in order to increase their independence and autonomy before entering the labour market. The company also offers a three-year vocational education IT training programme for young people with disabilities. AfB is also involved in social and ecological projects, offering support through IT refurbishment – this includes Joblinge, which provides IT hardware for a work programme that aims to reduce youth unemployment in Germany.

Key results and benefits

As a result of AfB’s inclusive employment strategy, the company has around 440 employees in 19 different locations, of which approximately half have a disability. Employees are supported by social workers, as well as a representative in the case of severely disabled people. The company has experienced rapid growth over recent years, with 63 employees hired in 2019 alone.

In 2019, AfB processed more than 470 000 pieces of IT equipment and mobile devices, of which 65% were refurbished. It contributed to savings of around 52 300 megawatt hours of energy, 17 000 tonnes of CO2 emissions and 22 900 tonnes of iron. In 2019, it sold more than 13 250 refurbished devices at a reduced price to schools and non-profit organisations.

Potential for mainstreaming

Since 2004, the AfB has expanded its work beyond Germany into four more countries with notably differing labour market situations, namely Austria, France, Switzerland, and, most recently in 2019, Slovakia. This shows that such an inclusive and environmentally conscious strategy can readily be adapted to different contexts and mainstreamed. AfB plans to employ more than 300 persons with disabilities across the company by 2025.

The business sustainability strategy of AfB innovatively combines economic, social and environmental goals in a day-to-day business model that is based on social entrepreneurship and partnership. Long-term partnerships remain a core part of its approach and these are established by providing partners with benefits, such as annual sustainability data to showcase economic, environmental and social success. Developing such partnerships would therefore be a key condition for successful transfer of AfB to other contexts. AfB received investment in 2013 from a social impact fund, which also bought an equity share of the holding of AfB (Initiative 500 gAG).

The cooperative business model that is at the core of the company contributes to various Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), mainly quality education (SDG4), decent work and economic growth (SDG8), responsible consumption and reduction (SDG12), climate action (SDG13) and partnerships for the goals (SDG17).

The AfB has received numerous national and regional awards in the fields of sustainability and inclusion, such as the Innovation Award of the German Economy 2014, the German Sustainability Award for the Ecological and Social Business Model, the Querdenker Award, and the Green Award for Innovation, Cutting-Edge Thinking and Entrepreneurship. The AfB also received the SFE CEFEC Award 2020 as European’s Social Firm of the Year 2020. Social Firms Europe CEFEC is a Confederation of European Social Firms, Employment Initiatives and Social Cooperatives, which supports social enterprises in Europe that employ a substantial proportion of disabled and disadvantaged people. The Award recognises best practices, as well as promising social start-ups.