About ZIPS

The Alliance of Companies Employing Persons with Disabilities of Slovenia (ZIPS) was established in July 1991 as a result of the final restructuring of the former Association of Companies Employing Persons with Disabilities of Slovenia. The Association's predecessor was the Business Alliance of Workshops Employing Persons with Disabilities of Slovenia, which was set up in 1980 as an organised affiliation of companies employing persons with disabilities with the view to achieving common goals as well as specific objectives. Since that time the Alliance has fully established and confirmed the idea that even persons with severe disabilities may be employed under specific conditions and terms, and consequently successfully integrated into commercial programmes, which continue to be supported by a minimum 20% share of public funds in the form of various types of economic relief – an integral part of social economy, becoming more and more clearly defined in the European Union due to comprehensive social integration of people with disabilities.

There were 10 original founders of ZIPS; today there are 112 companies employing persons with disabilities in total, which are businesses with the status of companies employing persons with disabilities. The ZIPS implements the following key tasks:

• regulation of general and common issues in the area of training and employing people with disabilities in the companies employing persons with disabilities;
• examination and promotion of specific social activities and other forms of social security for persons with disabilities in regular employment or in training;
• concern for further specialist education of both persons with disabilities as well as other employees, with particular emphasis on management and administration of companies employing persons with disabilities;
• liaising between the planning and expedience of operations and development of the companies employing persons with disabilities as well as introducing state-of-the-art technologies;
• joint representation before national authorities with regard to the regulation of status, economic relief and obtainment of funds;
• creation and introduction of new product lines, and planning of a common market policy;
• implementation of services in legal operations on behalf of either individual or several founders.

ZIPS represents a voluntary affiliation of businesses which have been granted the status of companies employing persons with disabilities. With their monthly contributions, the founders of ZIPS alone provide the funds for the running of ZIPS.

The ZIPS bodies are the Board, made up of directors of individual founders, the Chairman and the General Secretary.

Essential Information