The Role of Emotions in Inclusive Employment Policies: Findings from the Emodi Project on Intellectual Disability and Well-Being

The increasingly evident role of emotions in the labor market is encouraging public policies to begin using them as tools to improve social programs, especially those aimed at increasing social inclusion through labor inclusion. In the EmoDi Project (IN3-UJA Group), we have demonstrated how the inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities (ID) in companies improves the work environment and fosters emotions that promote well-being and cohesion. Additionally, through an experimental approach, we have sought evidence to confirm that having a job positively affects both the emotions of people with ID and their families, thus favoring their inclusion in society.

Preliminary results show that, although emotions were similar between the experimental group and the control group in the initial phase (pre-test), once the experimental group obtained employment (post-test week and post-test month), emotions that generate well-being increased, and disruptive emotions decreased. Furthermore, the data from the Inico-Feaps Scale indicate that, after one month of employment, the emotional well-being of people with ID in the experimental group improved significantly compared to those who did not have a job.

When contextualizing these observations within a broader process, where emotions and affections are being commodified, the question arises as to what situation those individuals find themselves in who access employment through such an intervened process, as is the case with people with ID. Although public authorities seek to generate positive emotions towards this group to promote their inclusion, there is a risk that the work they perform may not respond solely to a logic of productivity but rather be part of an emotional artifice in a society where the ability to generate emotions holds value in itself.