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The OHLA Group reinforces its growth and diversification strategy and is committed to the digital transformation of its Services division. Ingesan, the parent subsidiary of this line of business, which has a portfolio of more than 500 contracts and a workforce of more than 12,000 people, presents VERA, a Virtual Social Centre for its healthcare activity.

With more than ten years of experience in the healthcare sector, Ingesan will be able to offer this virtual social centre in Spain, Mexico and Chile to a potential of more than 6,000 users. The company frames this project in the development of new digital care services based on its commitment to innovation and digital transformation.

The objective of the VERA digital platform is to transfer the activity of a traditional social centre to the user’s home thanks to technology. In this way, physical and distance barriers that prevent travel are eliminated and a complete range of services is made available to all citizens: psychological care, physical and sensory rehabilitation and entertainment to facilitate the individual and collective integration of the elderly and promote their maximum degree of autonomy.

Thanks to this virtual platform, users are provided with a quality, comprehensive and individualized service in their own social and family environment, while personal interrelationships are promoted through the creation of virtual groups of service users.

VERA’s challenge is to keep elderly people active and connected with Society as a whole and attend to all their needs, to prevent their physical and cognitive deterioration through a wide range of services: virtual day centre, control of lifestyle , fall sensor, communication system with family and friends or recreational activities, among others.

VERA has been awarded in the 2022 edition of TECNOSOCIAL (Málaga) as a Social Innovation project for a new service delivery model focused on people.

For its part, the progress made in digital transformation by Ingesan has allowed it to obtain the award from FORÉTICA, a benchmark business organization in terms of sustainability in Spain, within the framework of the JOBS 2030-Future of Work project. It is an initiative aimed at supporting and making visible business action towards more sustainable and ethical work, delving into the most relevant elements to achieve a fairer transition in adaptation and development in digitalization.

Simon Guérin-Sanz, European Project Manager, & Delphine Chilese-Lemarinier, Head of EU Affairs, Edenred

The war in Ukraine and the subsequent economic and energetic crisis are affecting all levels of society, bringing special harm to low-income households. Regardless of the country, inflation is rising, hitting over 40% last August, with prices breaking historical records. This is exacerbated by the price rise of several basic food products. Wheat and sunflower oil, food products at the core of our diet, were massively imported from Ukraine and Russia before the war. As the incomprehensible expenses are skyrocketing (energy bills, rent, credits), thus households’ purchasing power is threatened.

In this context, citizens, and especially the most vulnerable, see their food budget worryingly decreasing. Among them, low-income workers and pensioners, students, young adults, multi-child families and single parents, as well as disadvantaged groups, including persons with disabilities, older persons and migrants. Therefore, policy responses must secure access to meals and avoid negative social and economic consequences that food insecurity and the shift towards cheaper and less healthy alternatives could bring.

Several EU actors are already calling for concrete and quick action. “Member States must ensure that the most vulnerable are not left without support. Direct financial support and social policies should be in place to mitigate the negative effects of price increases on the most vulnerable groups. Direct assistance to those in need must be targeted,”  warned the European Economic and Social Committee in a recent opinion and call to action.

Social vouchers are targeted instruments that can be used by public authorities to distribute welfare to their citizens as an alternative to allowances in cash or in kind. In the context of the implementation of the European Fund for the most Deprived (FEAD), social vouchers can be deployed as a tool to support poor populations and notably facilitate their access to food. It has been the case in Romania within three FEAD programmes since 2021. Firstly, social vouchers under the form of cards have been distributed to 300,000 elderly people living in rural areas to access hot meals. Romanian public authorities again chose social vouchers to help disadvantaged children and deprived populations for the implementation of new FEAD projects in 2022. More than 2,5 million Romanian citizens in a situation of precarity have received social vouchers in this context. 

The Romanian experience proves that social vouchers are efficient and adaptable tools to distribute FEAD to multiple citizens with diverse needs.

Moreover, social vouchers have the advantages of cash, in that they are flexible and ensure beneficiaries’ dignity, whilst also providing the transparency and traceability of in-kind benefits that public authorities require. Employing a voucher solution for social programmes ensures significant gains for beneficiaries, governments and public authorities, distributing agencies, and also for local suppliers.

On the one hand, social vouchers can efficiently achieve their main objective and provide immediate targeted support to the most deprived. On the other hand, social vouchers bring long-term benefits and provide an economic boost to targeted economic sectors. Benefiting from their efficiency, adaptability and ability to ensure choice and dignity of the end-user, social vouchers remain an essential solution to governments’ pressing concern – keeping their most vulnerable citizens fed.

Watch this film to know more about the FEAD programme – Hot meals for the most deprived – implemented in Romania in 2021.

By Rainer Binder, Global Managing Director, Health & Public Service, Accenture

Social services agencies, always under pressure, have faced relentlessly increasing demands over the past few years. The social services workforce has been at the forefront of supporting citizens. They are a vital lifeline for many, from coping with the pandemic to addressing the ongoing impacts of the energy crisis caused by the invasion of Ukraine.

Agencies need to address longer-term trends, too. There’s the need to provide personalised and tailored ‘cradle to grave’ services built around significant life events, for one. More collaboration with other agencies is also critical, as is sharing and using data to drive insights that support proactive approaches to social support. And all this is in a context where many social services employees, like their counterparts in other sectors, are re-evaluating their career choices.

Innovation to the fore

Innovation has a crucial role to play in the design and delivery of social services. But it’s also crucial for supporting workers with the tools and information they need to be as effective as possible and provide them with the satisfying careers they want and deserve. AI and automation, for example, can relieve much of the burden of routine administration that prevents social workers from focusing on what gives them the greatest satisfaction: helping people.

Finding hidden workers, and helping employees belong

Changing employee expectations and the scarcity of suitable talent are both key issues for social services agencies right now. Two recent pieces of Accenture research shed some light on both the problems and their potential solutions.

The first, Better to Belong, looks at the ways in which employee expectations are changing and what organisations should focus on in response. People want greater autonomy and flexibility at work, with a democratised experience through which they’re empowered to manage their careers. They want personalised opportunities for growth and learning and an emphasis on their mental, physical and financial well-being. They want to work in a purpose-led organisation where they can live out the values that matter to them. And they want inspiring, empathetic leadership and collaborative team-based approaches.

The second piece of research highlights the potential of a large group of people that organisations’ standard recruitment practices often exclude. These ‘hidden workers’ are keen to join employment and often, when given the opportunity, exceed the performance of those recruited via conventional approaches. To make the most of them, organisations need to make sure that as they look for talent they are prioritising potential, filtering candidates ‘in’ rather than setting attributes that exclude the majority and third, transforming their culture.

Real challenges, virtual solutions

Emerging technologies are also helping to effect positive change. The metaverse is one. While it may appear to be some way from mainstream adoption, it is in fact already being put to use in social services. For example, the Accenture Virtual Experience Solution (AVEnueS) uses virtual reality to train social service caseworkers. It places them in realistic scenarios which enable them to gain skills and know-how that would otherwise take years to develop.

Social services have never been more important, or more challenging. The workforce is at the heart of making the changes and adaptations that supporting all citizens in the 21st century requires. During the cross-sector panel discussion we’ll be focusing on these issues (and more) in-depth. It promises to be a fascinating discussion.