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Testimonials

• Percent of Persons Distributed by labour Market Sector
• Reasons to choose TELEWORK

Ana Martins
31 years old • Paraplegic
“In 1997 I finished my degree in Computer Engineering. As for all new graduates, looking for a job was difficult, especially in a country where the barriers put up by the design of buildings are insurmountable for us. I found an article on telework that seemed interesting and that seemed to be what I was looking for, part-time work that also permitted me to do my work for the last year of my degree. After some research, and contact with the company, TELEMANutenção, I discovered they were involved in a project to integrate disabled people into the labour market, which completely fit my case.
I got into the project in the Help Desk service that TELEMANutenção provides to Microsoft Portugal clients. Help Desk is supported by a team spread all over the country, we generally work from home, even though sometimes I had to go to the head office to be trained on the Microsoft products I for which I provided services. For me, the team spirit I found was a surprise, also how easy it was to make friends with people who worked 300 Km away. With the telephone and the internet, physical distance can sometimes bring people nearer.
In 2000 I was invited to work for TELEMANutenção and to work in a mixed way, that is, working from home, and going to the head office once or twice a week. Since then I have been coordinating some projects as well as the Help Desk team and the service of templates in Microsoft applications.
PORCIDE/THINK was an opportunity that turned up at the appropriate time, which meant I did not have to face the difficulties one faces trying to get into the labour market, difficulties which are made worse by the fact that I am disabled. As a coordinator of the project I understood those difficulties, and how somebody, when applying for a job, can be disregarded just because they are physically disabled.”

Alexandra Relha
"Hi, I am Alexandra. I am 29 years old. At the moment, I expect my first child. Before I got into PORCIDE II/THINK, I worked as administrative and financial project manager, working in an office. Now, I am Team Manager of the Transcription Service. The visual disability I suffer from, amblyopia, means I can, without restrictions, coordinate a team of eight people, disabled teleworkers also integrated in the THINK project, at present being trained to cope with the transcription needs of the Writing and Audiovisual Support Department of the Portuguese Parliament.
According to THINK guidelines, the transcribers in this service are independent professionals that work as teleworkers from their homes. As such, my role is:
· To build up the team
· To coordinate the team, following the best practices for the management of "virtual teams"
· To encourage communication amongst teleworkers
· To motivate and monitor the team
· To manage the work flow between the teleworkers and the Portuguese Parliament.

Personally, I chose telework, in June 2001 for the following reasons:
· to save at least three hours a day of commuting, to be left with more time for other activities
· to decrease stress
· the project that was presented to me
· the characteristics of the working methods
· the challenge

In this way, my team and I eliminate the old problems of traffic, stress, rigid timetables, etc. and we manage to have a motivated, dynamic, light, flexible and long-lasting team that ensures the quality of the service."

PORCIDE testimonials (Adobe Acrobat - 33 KB)
Summary of the survey made to the members of the 1st group

MISSION

To Supply High Quality Entrepreneurial Services Using Telework, In Order To Integrate Disabled People into the Economy.

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