Office Touches
Bureau Raakt works for various impact-driven companies and organisations that want to mean something to society, based on a shared social entrepreneurial vision. Raakt connects, advises and helps to solve social problems.
The social impact of Specialisterren
People with a form of autism (ASD) often drop out during their education, have difficulty finding suitable work or drop out as a result of stress/ burnout. They are often talented people with the ability to do high-quality work, whereby a lack of soft skills such as communicative abilities, teamwork and social skills in particular result in poor performance, a drop-out rate and a slide into unemployment benefit.
Specialisterren trains these people to become ICT professionals and offers them a permanent job in its test factory in Utrecht. In this way, people with a form of autism can successfully build up a career, boost their self-confidence and develop further as professionals. By the beginning of 2021, Specialisterren has 45 testers with autism in permanent employment. The vast majority are people with a formal diagnosis, belonging to the target group and eligible for the job agreement.
The testers at Specialisterren work partly on location at clients’ premises, while a large proportion of the work is carried out in the test factory. Specialisterren has been in existence for 13 years and has extensive experience of handling complex test projects, often in collaboration with other companies or as a subcontractor.
The cooperation
Bureau Raakt works with Specialisterren on the basis of a social ambassadorship aimed at growth and scaling up.
Vincent Aalbers, account manager at Specialisterren, is pleased with this collaboration: “Bureau Raakt is a very interesting party with a great mission. By joining forces, we increase our network and thus the social impact we make.”
Thomas Gesink of Bureau Raakt is also looking forward to great results: “Specialisterren is a wonderful social enterprise that shows that, with the right professional approach, the difference can be made for people and society. In order to increase this very contribution to an inclusive labour market, we are entering into this partnership.”
