Abilitator indicates the functional capacity of those in a difficult labour market position

The Abilitator is used for surveying the customer’s situation in employment and social services, rehabilitation, health care and education. The customers are often in need of multidisciplinary services, and the Abilitator can be used for planning the service package and setting goals in such situations.

Of the Abilitator respondents, 89% are unemployed, and the unemployment of one in two of them had continued for more than 3 years. The Abilitator is used in services targeting those in a difficult employment position. For example, the respondents to the Abilitator consider their work ability to be considerably lower than Finns on average (Figure 1). Moreover, the Abilitator respondents are not necessarily visible in population-level surveys. The Abilitator is in fact an example of data inherently accumulated in conjunction with service. Often, such data is registry data, such as care notifications or prescriptions accumulated in health care. Data systematically accumulated directly from the customers themselves is rarer.

Figure 1. Self-assessment of work ability in the Abilitator data and population sample-based Finterveys 2017 survey. Let’s assume that your work ability would receive a score of 10 points at its best. What point score would you give your current work ability?

The Abilitator assesses general work ability and functional capacity, as well as five areas of functional capacity, separately: mental well-being, social inclusion, physical functional capacity, competence and the smoothness of day-to-day life. Perceived work ability and perceived functional capacity are strongly interlinked (see Work ability and functional capacity experiences application at the bottom of the page). Because most of the Abilitator respondents are not employed at the moment of answering the survey, they might also assess their work ability based on their health and general functional capacity.

You can learn about and try responding to the Abilitator on the www.ttl.fi/kykyviisari site.

The Abilitator was developed together with service providers and clients to be easy to use and a useful tool for the clients as well as the professionals working with them. The usefulness of the Abilitator in customer work is significant from the point of view of the data it generates. The data generated by the Abilitator can be utilised at the individual level in customer work and at the group and policymaker levels by e.g. describing the structure and special characteristics of the customer base of one or more parties (Figure 2). The more extensively the Abilitator is used, the better the data it generates can be utilized in assessing and developing e.g. areas, service systems or forms of operation.