Exactly What Does Quality Mean in the RPO Space?WilsonHCG
WilsonHCG and HRO Today Magazine have partnered up to study how RPO providers are delivering quality to clients — and what's at stake for providers who fall behind. We crunch the numbers to find out how client education, cultural fit, managing expectations and other dimensions of performance translate into perceptions of quality RPO service.
Download the full report here: http://whcg.co/1XJZ93s
Defining service excellence_in_facility_management_iss_january 2014Muriel Walter
This whitepaper concludes two main themes emerging in driving service excellence in FM. Firstly, that excellence is underpinned by consistency, and secondly, an absolute confidence in delivering to an agreed set of standards. But research also shows that this consistency is not enough in itself to guarantee service excellence.
Leveraging Enterprise-Wide HR Shared Services in Higher EducationChazey Partners
As a Higher Education institute, how do you truly engage Shared Services as a new way of working? In 2015, Chazey Partners was engaged by UCSF to assess its HR Shared Services performance and we thereafter put together a compelling case study on how University of California San Francisco (UCSF) meets its growth projections while supporting enterprise-wide payroll integration through Shared Services.
Exactly What Does Quality Mean in the RPO Space?WilsonHCG
WilsonHCG and HRO Today Magazine have partnered up to study how RPO providers are delivering quality to clients — and what's at stake for providers who fall behind. We crunch the numbers to find out how client education, cultural fit, managing expectations and other dimensions of performance translate into perceptions of quality RPO service.
Download the full report here: http://whcg.co/1XJZ93s
Defining service excellence_in_facility_management_iss_january 2014Muriel Walter
This whitepaper concludes two main themes emerging in driving service excellence in FM. Firstly, that excellence is underpinned by consistency, and secondly, an absolute confidence in delivering to an agreed set of standards. But research also shows that this consistency is not enough in itself to guarantee service excellence.
Leveraging Enterprise-Wide HR Shared Services in Higher EducationChazey Partners
As a Higher Education institute, how do you truly engage Shared Services as a new way of working? In 2015, Chazey Partners was engaged by UCSF to assess its HR Shared Services performance and we thereafter put together a compelling case study on how University of California San Francisco (UCSF) meets its growth projections while supporting enterprise-wide payroll integration through Shared Services.
A comparative study of service quality evaluation of selected life insurance 172paperpublications3
Abstract: Due to implementation of government policies on globalization and liberalization, the customer have become more critical about the service quality of the product. In the present era, consumers have become more aware about the alternatives available in the market related to the services and service providers. Due to increase in customer awareness, customer expectations are rising and the providers should aware about the expectations of the customer. This study compares customers’ perceptions of service quality of both public and private sector insurance service providers in Rohilkhand Region. The service quality of both public and private sector insurance has been measured through SERVQUAL scale.
Data was collected from 350 respondents (125 of LIC and 75 of each selected private player) of Rohilkhand Region of both public and private sector insurance providers. In this study five parameters of SERVQUAL such as tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy have been identified that describe criteria used by customers to assess service quality. This study is confined to four major life insurance companies in India.
NOD: Employment Programs for People with Disabilitiesacamuso
This presentation provides an overview of the National Organization on Disability and their various employment initiatives for people with disabilities.
This summary report outlines the findings and recommendations based on our research into how jobseekers’ needs and abilities are assessed. We conducted interviews and focus groups with benefit claimants and staff at a range of jobcentres and Work Programme providers across east London. Our full report is complemented with a review of literature analysing assessment in other sectors.
A copy of the full report can be obtained from:
Community Links
105 Barking Road
London E16 4HQ
www.community-links.org
Resolve Disturbing Memories with the Help of LogosynthesisDr. Willem Lammers
This free, downloadable presentation can help people in overcoming the traumatic effects of natural and man-made disaster, with the help of Logosynthesis.
This is a new method for self-Coaching and guided changed, developed by Dr. Willem Lammers from Bad Ragaz, Switzerland. You can join the Logosynthesis group on Facebook for support in the application of this file.
Overcoming the Barriers to Employment, EmployabilityThe Pathway Group
Overcoming the Barriers to Employment (Employability) will help you to understand the barriers that you or others may face when seeking employment. Seeking employment can be stressful and most people will react in different ways. The most important thing is to identify the issues in regards to employability and improve these areas to increase the chance of employabilty.
If you would like to find out more about our pre-employment training, employability training or apprenticeships and traineeships please call us on: 0121 707 0550 or e-mail: info@pathwaygroup.co.uk
Skills Outlook 2015: Youth, Skills and EmployabilityEduSkills OECD
(Andreas Schleicher, Director for the OECD Directorate for Education and Skills) Young people around the world are struggling to enter the labour market. In some OECD countries, one in four 16-29 year-olds is neither employed nor in education or training. The OECD Skills Outlook 2015 shows how improving the employability of youth requires a comprehensive approach. While education, social, and labour market policies have key roles to play, co-ordination between public policies and the private sector is also crucial. The publication, which builds on the results of the 2012 Survey of Adult Skills presented in the first edition of the Skills Outlook, also presents examples of successful policies in selected countries.
Scanned with CamScannerRunning Head NEEDS ASSESSMENT AS.docxjeffsrosalyn
Scanned with CamScanner
Running Head: NEEDS ASSESSMENT ASSIGNMENT
NEEDS ASSESSMENT ASSIGNMENT
Needs Assessment Assignment
Name: Gabrielle McNeely
Institutional Affiliation: Strayer University
Needs Assessment Assignment
Title: Needs Assessment
Specific Purpose:
To notify diverse organizations, regarding the aspect of needs assessment and human service leadership.
General Purpose:
The main goal of this research is looking at economic changes in human service which are the leadership crisis, which explains the decrees of experienced leaders wanting to work in a nonprofit organization setting. Research has discovered that the workers in human services do not want to transition into upper management positions (Watson &Hoefer, 2014). Other economic changes in human services depend on leaders being diverse and relatable to all races, genders, and ages in the workplace.
Thesis Statement:
According to our (Lu, 2013), research reveals political and pragmatic forces outweigh economic rationality in human service contracting decisions. Government contracted human service programs can pose a threat to government employees by causing job loss and wage reductions.
Introduction
Government contracting is heavily influenced by different groups of actors within the government such as public employees, who can influence the government contracting decisions. Nonprofit organizations can serve local communities better than government agencies. Also, at times, the demand for human services outweighs what the government contract provisions for, and the government cannot satisfy or meet the needs of everyone. Lu also revealed that states with stronger non-profit advocacy are more likely to contract out their human service production.
A more open-ended approach is to use the Internet so that people can describe what they like if they are current consumers or what services they would like if they were to use your program in the future. Provide an easily accessible part of the website for people to request more information or for making suggestions about your services. Also, make sure that someone responds on a daily basis. A word of caution: do not over-rely on the Internet to obtain feedback on your services. Not all of your consumers can access the Internet, and be mindful that overusing Internet surveys can be perceived as pestering.
Attention Getter:
Did you know that in the human services field, the person or entity paying for the service is usually not the consumer of the service (except in those few instances where clients pay full fee)?
Body
Because many organizations experience more demand for their service than what their resources will allow, because dissatisfied clients who leave the agency can be replaced by someone else on a waiting list, and because funding limitations force agencies to reduce services, agency staff may tend to treat their consumers with less care and consideration (Hasenfeld, 2015). The term customer is.
Outreach & Recruitment Guide for One-Stops and Community OrgsAmy Rist
As Project Director representing a healthcare employer for an innovative regional partnership program, I developed this comprehensive recruitment strategy that helped us draw from a diverse, untapped population when recruiting for our sector program. Leading the development process along with our local One Stop Career Center (OSCC) and community-based organization(CBO) partners, the development of this final strategy helped to create a process not just for this grant program but for all industry job training program recruitment processes going forward.
A comparative study of service quality evaluation of selected life insurance 172paperpublications3
Abstract: Due to implementation of government policies on globalization and liberalization, the customer have become more critical about the service quality of the product. In the present era, consumers have become more aware about the alternatives available in the market related to the services and service providers. Due to increase in customer awareness, customer expectations are rising and the providers should aware about the expectations of the customer. This study compares customers’ perceptions of service quality of both public and private sector insurance service providers in Rohilkhand Region. The service quality of both public and private sector insurance has been measured through SERVQUAL scale.
Data was collected from 350 respondents (125 of LIC and 75 of each selected private player) of Rohilkhand Region of both public and private sector insurance providers. In this study five parameters of SERVQUAL such as tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy have been identified that describe criteria used by customers to assess service quality. This study is confined to four major life insurance companies in India.
NOD: Employment Programs for People with Disabilitiesacamuso
This presentation provides an overview of the National Organization on Disability and their various employment initiatives for people with disabilities.
This summary report outlines the findings and recommendations based on our research into how jobseekers’ needs and abilities are assessed. We conducted interviews and focus groups with benefit claimants and staff at a range of jobcentres and Work Programme providers across east London. Our full report is complemented with a review of literature analysing assessment in other sectors.
A copy of the full report can be obtained from:
Community Links
105 Barking Road
London E16 4HQ
www.community-links.org
Resolve Disturbing Memories with the Help of LogosynthesisDr. Willem Lammers
This free, downloadable presentation can help people in overcoming the traumatic effects of natural and man-made disaster, with the help of Logosynthesis.
This is a new method for self-Coaching and guided changed, developed by Dr. Willem Lammers from Bad Ragaz, Switzerland. You can join the Logosynthesis group on Facebook for support in the application of this file.
Overcoming the Barriers to Employment, EmployabilityThe Pathway Group
Overcoming the Barriers to Employment (Employability) will help you to understand the barriers that you or others may face when seeking employment. Seeking employment can be stressful and most people will react in different ways. The most important thing is to identify the issues in regards to employability and improve these areas to increase the chance of employabilty.
If you would like to find out more about our pre-employment training, employability training or apprenticeships and traineeships please call us on: 0121 707 0550 or e-mail: info@pathwaygroup.co.uk
Skills Outlook 2015: Youth, Skills and EmployabilityEduSkills OECD
(Andreas Schleicher, Director for the OECD Directorate for Education and Skills) Young people around the world are struggling to enter the labour market. In some OECD countries, one in four 16-29 year-olds is neither employed nor in education or training. The OECD Skills Outlook 2015 shows how improving the employability of youth requires a comprehensive approach. While education, social, and labour market policies have key roles to play, co-ordination between public policies and the private sector is also crucial. The publication, which builds on the results of the 2012 Survey of Adult Skills presented in the first edition of the Skills Outlook, also presents examples of successful policies in selected countries.
Scanned with CamScannerRunning Head NEEDS ASSESSMENT AS.docxjeffsrosalyn
Scanned with CamScanner
Running Head: NEEDS ASSESSMENT ASSIGNMENT
NEEDS ASSESSMENT ASSIGNMENT
Needs Assessment Assignment
Name: Gabrielle McNeely
Institutional Affiliation: Strayer University
Needs Assessment Assignment
Title: Needs Assessment
Specific Purpose:
To notify diverse organizations, regarding the aspect of needs assessment and human service leadership.
General Purpose:
The main goal of this research is looking at economic changes in human service which are the leadership crisis, which explains the decrees of experienced leaders wanting to work in a nonprofit organization setting. Research has discovered that the workers in human services do not want to transition into upper management positions (Watson &Hoefer, 2014). Other economic changes in human services depend on leaders being diverse and relatable to all races, genders, and ages in the workplace.
Thesis Statement:
According to our (Lu, 2013), research reveals political and pragmatic forces outweigh economic rationality in human service contracting decisions. Government contracted human service programs can pose a threat to government employees by causing job loss and wage reductions.
Introduction
Government contracting is heavily influenced by different groups of actors within the government such as public employees, who can influence the government contracting decisions. Nonprofit organizations can serve local communities better than government agencies. Also, at times, the demand for human services outweighs what the government contract provisions for, and the government cannot satisfy or meet the needs of everyone. Lu also revealed that states with stronger non-profit advocacy are more likely to contract out their human service production.
A more open-ended approach is to use the Internet so that people can describe what they like if they are current consumers or what services they would like if they were to use your program in the future. Provide an easily accessible part of the website for people to request more information or for making suggestions about your services. Also, make sure that someone responds on a daily basis. A word of caution: do not over-rely on the Internet to obtain feedback on your services. Not all of your consumers can access the Internet, and be mindful that overusing Internet surveys can be perceived as pestering.
Attention Getter:
Did you know that in the human services field, the person or entity paying for the service is usually not the consumer of the service (except in those few instances where clients pay full fee)?
Body
Because many organizations experience more demand for their service than what their resources will allow, because dissatisfied clients who leave the agency can be replaced by someone else on a waiting list, and because funding limitations force agencies to reduce services, agency staff may tend to treat their consumers with less care and consideration (Hasenfeld, 2015). The term customer is.
Outreach & Recruitment Guide for One-Stops and Community OrgsAmy Rist
As Project Director representing a healthcare employer for an innovative regional partnership program, I developed this comprehensive recruitment strategy that helped us draw from a diverse, untapped population when recruiting for our sector program. Leading the development process along with our local One Stop Career Center (OSCC) and community-based organization(CBO) partners, the development of this final strategy helped to create a process not just for this grant program but for all industry job training program recruitment processes going forward.
Acquiring and retaining high-quality talent is critical to an organisation’s success. As the
job market becomes increasingly competitive and the available skills grow more diverse,
recruiters need to be more selective in their choices, since poor recruiting decisions can
produce long-term negative effects, among them high training and development costs to
minimize the incidence of poor performance and high turnover which, in turn, impact
staff morale, the production of high quality goods and services and the retention of
organizational memory.
If inspection is the enemy of improvement, someone's not doing it right.Rami Okasha
What is the relationship between scrutiny and improvement? How can modern forms of scrutiny which focus on outcomes support improvement and innovation in social care? This paper describes some emergent approaches and results in Scotland being pioneered by the Care Inspectorate.
brief descriptions of sample projects completed by Minear & Company consultants to help university administrative departments focus their resources on what matters most
490The Future of EvaluationOrienting Questions1. H.docxblondellchancy
490
The Future of Evaluation
Orienting Questions
1. How are future program evaluations likely to be different from current evaluations in
• the way in which political considerations are handled?
• the approaches that will be used?
• the involvement of stakeholders?
• who conducts them?
2. How is evaluation like some other activities in organizations?
3. How is evaluation viewed differently in other countries?
We have reached the last chapter of this book, but we have only begun to share
what is known about program evaluation. The references we have made to other
writings reflect only a fraction of the existing literature in this growing field. In
choosing to focus attention on (1) alternative approaches to program evaluation,
and (2) practical guidelines for planning, conducting, reporting, and using evalu-
ation studies, we have tried to emphasize what we believe is most important to
include in any single volume that aspires to give a broad overview of such a complex
and multifaceted field. We hope we have selected well, but we encourage students
and evaluation practitioners to go beyond this text to explore the richness and
depth of other evaluation literature. In this final chapter, we share our perceptions
and those of a few of our colleagues about evaluation’s future.
The Future of Evaluation
Hindsight is inevitably better than foresight, and ours is no exception. Yet present
circumstances permit us to hazard a few predictions that we believe will hold true
for program evaluation in the next few decades. History will determine whether
18
Chapter 18 • The Future of Evaluation 491
Predictions Concerning the Profession
of Evaluation
1. Evaluation will become an increasingly useful force in our society. As
noted, evaluation will have increasing impacts on programs, on organizations, and
on society. Many of the movements we have discussed in this text—performance
monitoring, organizational learning, and others—illustrate the increasing interest
in and impact of evaluation in different sectors. Evaluative means of thinking will
improve ways of planning and delivering programs and policies to achieve their
intended effects and, more broadly, improve society.
2. Evaluation will increase in the United States and in other developed
countries as the pressure for accountability weighs heavily on governments and
nonprofit organizations that deliver vital services. The emphasis on accountability
and data-based decision making has increased dramatically in the first decade of
the twenty-first century. Also, virtually every trend points to more, not less, eval-
uation in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors in the future. In some organi-
zations, the focus is on documenting outcomes in response to external political
pressures. In other organizations, evaluation is being used for organizational
growth and development, which should, ultimately, improve the achievement of
those outcomes. In each context, however, evaluation is in dema ...
Understanding the Challenges of Street ChildrenSERUDS INDIA
By raising awareness, providing support, advocating for change, and offering assistance to children in need, individuals can play a crucial role in improving the lives of street children and helping them realize their full potential
Donate Us
https://serudsindia.org/how-individuals-can-support-street-children-in-india/
#donatefororphan, #donateforhomelesschildren, #childeducation, #ngochildeducation, #donateforeducation, #donationforchildeducation, #sponsorforpoorchild, #sponsororphanage #sponsororphanchild, #donation, #education, #charity, #educationforchild, #seruds, #kurnool, #joyhome
Jennifer Schaus and Associates hosts a complimentary webinar series on The FAR in 2024. Join the webinars on Wednesdays and Fridays at noon, eastern.
Recordings are on YouTube and the company website.
https://www.youtube.com/@jenniferschaus/videos
A process server is a authorized person for delivering legal documents, such as summons, complaints, subpoenas, and other court papers, to peoples involved in legal proceedings.
This session provides a comprehensive overview of the latest updates to the Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (commonly known as the Uniform Guidance) outlined in the 2 CFR 200.
With a focus on the 2024 revisions issued by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), participants will gain insight into the key changes affecting federal grant recipients. The session will delve into critical regulatory updates, providing attendees with the knowledge and tools necessary to navigate and comply with the evolving landscape of federal grant management.
Learning Objectives:
- Understand the rationale behind the 2024 updates to the Uniform Guidance outlined in 2 CFR 200, and their implications for federal grant recipients.
- Identify the key changes and revisions introduced by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in the 2024 edition of 2 CFR 200.
- Gain proficiency in applying the updated regulations to ensure compliance with federal grant requirements and avoid potential audit findings.
- Develop strategies for effectively implementing the new guidelines within the grant management processes of their respective organizations, fostering efficiency and accountability in federal grant administration.
Russian anarchist and anti-war movement in the third year of full-scale warAntti Rautiainen
Anarchist group ANA Regensburg hosted my online-presentation on 16th of May 2024, in which I discussed tactics of anti-war activism in Russia, and reasons why the anti-war movement has not been able to make an impact to change the course of events yet. Cases of anarchists repressed for anti-war activities are presented, as well as strategies of support for political prisoners, and modest successes in supporting their struggles.
Thumbnail picture is by MediaZona, you may read their report on anti-war arson attacks in Russia here: https://en.zona.media/article/2022/10/13/burn-map
Links:
Autonomous Action
http://Avtonom.org
Anarchist Black Cross Moscow
http://Avtonom.org/abc
Solidarity Zone
https://t.me/solidarity_zone
Memorial
https://memopzk.org/, https://t.me/pzk_memorial
OVD-Info
https://en.ovdinfo.org/antiwar-ovd-info-guide
RosUznik
https://rosuznik.org/
Uznik Online
http://uznikonline.tilda.ws/
Russian Reader
https://therussianreader.com/
ABC Irkutsk
https://abc38.noblogs.org/
Send mail to prisoners from abroad:
http://Prisonmail.online
YouTube: https://youtu.be/c5nSOdU48O8
Spotify: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/libertarianlifecoach/episodes/Russian-anarchist-and-anti-war-movement-in-the-third-year-of-full-scale-war-e2k8ai4
Jennifer Schaus and Associates hosts a complimentary webinar series on The FAR in 2024. Join the webinars on Wednesdays and Fridays at noon, eastern.
Recordings are on YouTube and the company website.
https://www.youtube.com/@jenniferschaus/videos
Presentation by Jared Jageler, David Adler, Noelia Duchovny, and Evan Herrnstadt, analysts in CBO’s Microeconomic Studies and Health Analysis Divisions, at the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists Summer Conference.
Jennifer Schaus and Associates hosts a complimentary webinar series on The FAR in 2024. Join the webinars on Wednesdays and Fridays at noon, eastern.
Recordings are on YouTube and the company website.
https://www.youtube.com/@jenniferschaus/videos
Donate to charity during this holiday seasonSERUDS INDIA
For people who have money and are philanthropic, there are infinite opportunities to gift a needy person or child a Merry Christmas. Even if you are living on a shoestring budget, you will be surprised at how much you can do.
Donate Us
https://serudsindia.org/how-to-donate-to-charity-during-this-holiday-season/
#charityforchildren, #donateforchildren, #donateclothesforchildren, #donatebooksforchildren, #donatetoysforchildren, #sponsorforchildren, #sponsorclothesforchildren, #sponsorbooksforchildren, #sponsortoysforchildren, #seruds, #kurnool
ZGB - The Role of Generative AI in Government transformation.pdfSaeed Al Dhaheri
This keynote was presented during the the 7th edition of the UAE Hackathon 2024. It highlights the role of AI and Generative AI in addressing government transformation to achieve zero government bureaucracy
3. 3
Summary
Every public service relies on effective assessment – to target resources, determine eligibility, and ensure people get the best service possible. Properly understanding jobseekers’ needs and abilities is crucial to the success of employment support services in helping people into long-term, sustainable jobs. It allows employment support services to be tailored and responsive to jobseekers’ widely varying situations, but it also has the potential to ensure they feel valued, and are understood as empowered individuals actively contributing to their own progress towards work.
Jobseeker assessment serves several purposes for jobseekers: from determining benefit eligibility to tailoring employment support packages. This report looks at employability- focused assessments, which are primarily about ensuring quality employment support. Such assessments are essential for deciding what support jobseekers need, determining what externally-contracted provision they are sent to, setting payment levels for external providers, and setting conditionality requirements on a jobseekers’ claim.
Every year, Community Links works with thousands of jobseekers through our employment and training service and our benefits advice service. We undertake assessment of jobseekers in each of our services and use this to tailor the support that we provide. We also see the consequences of failing to properly assess jobseekers: claimants who come to us after they’ve been sanctioned often say their sanction was due to conditions being attached to their claim which were unsuitable for their personal circumstances.
These experiences have prompted us to look in-depth at how to improve the way jobseekers’ needs and abilities are assessed. We conducted interviews and focus groups with benefit claimants and staff at a range of jobcentres and Work Programme providers across east London. We have complemented this with a review of literature analysing assessment in other sectors.
This report presents the key findings from this work. We plan to follow-up our research with a wider assessment of the role of jobcentres and employment support services.
A new approach to
employability assessments
The research highlights a clear need for change in the way assessment is carried out. On the basis of our findings we have developed two key principles underpinning a new approach to assessing employability. Both of these ultimately rely on advisors having more time to work:
Firstly, assessment should be an ongoing process. To get an accurate, in-depth picture of a jobseeker’s situation requires continually updating the assessment. Our research has shown that attempts to segment customers upfront into different ‘streams’ of support are unlikely to be successful, as successful assessment relies on a strong, trusting relationship to be built between advisor and jobseeker over time. It is important that advisors have the time and resources to build these relationships and use them to continuously assess needs and tailor support appropriately.
Secondly, jobseeker assessment should take more account of jobseekers own perspectives. Jobseekers understand their own needs and abilities better than anyone. They should be put on a more equal footing with their advisors, to allow them to actively contribute to their assessment and thus shape their support offer. A more participatory assessment would also encourage employment support to include a consideration of jobseekers’ strengths and abilities, instead of just addressing their barriers and needs. Focusing on understanding what the customer can do - and wants to do - would encourage them to build on their strengths, and help prevent a decrease in confidence.
4. 4
Four areas for improvement
This research has highlighted four areas in which these principles can be put into practice. If we got these areas right, customers would receive more accurate assessment and consequently better support; employment support providers could also achieve better results.
Processes and tools
The process of assessment is crucial. Jobseekers told us there were big differences in the way assessments are being carried out. Some were assessed at the start of their claims, others felt they were unaware they had been assessed until further down the line. Most felt that not enough quality time was taken up-front to understand their situation. People appreciated ongoing assessment. Processes which involved regularly checking in on progress were popular.
The tools that are used also matter. People feel disempowered by formulaic, ‘tick-box’ assessment tools which remove the human, personal aspect of relationships with advisors. Jobseekers are very aware of their own needs and abilities, and they know when these are not being understood by employment support providers. Advisors and jobseekers alike expressed frustration about how information from assessments can be lost – because of poor IT systems which are unable to record all necessary information, or because processes are not in place to share information between providers.
A target-driven culture within provider organisations makes it difficult to undertake objective assessment of needs. Staff can feel constrained about how they assess people’s needs when they are aware of targets based on how many people should receive particular forms of support. Finally, improving assessment processes will not help unless there are adequate support offers in place afterwards. Many respondents highlighted how, while there was good provision in place for many, those with the largest and most complex barriers found it harder to receive appropriate support.
1. Assessments should be reviewed and updated on an ongoing basis, so that claimants’ changing circumstances are properly understood, and decisions about forms of support are made accordingly.
a) Guidance should make clear that the Claimant Commitment must be a live document which coaches and jobseekers can update when necessary, rather than only at infrequent reviews.
b) Information from a range of sources should be used to update assessments. In particular feedback from internal or external providers of specific support (such as workshops, training courses) should be fed through and properly documented so that it can be referenced and utilised by advisors.
2. JCP and Work Programme providers should move towards a more collaborative, participatory form of assessment. The Claimant Commitment offers a good example of this and its forthcoming evaluation should ask jobseekers the extent to which they feel they could influence their commitments. Based on this evaluation, additional staff training and guidance should be put in place to ensure claimants are meaningfully inputting into their assessments.
3. Assessment of jobseekers should take more of a strength-based approach. This would involve focusing more on people’s abilities, rather than just their barriers to work. Guidance should be developed to ensure the Claimant Commitment focuses on such strengths, and these should inform what types of support people are offered.
4. At a basic level, tools and systems must be able to collect the range of situations and present these in an ongoing way. JCP and WP providers should review their systems for collecting and recording customer information to ensure that information about barriers such as homelessness, childcare and transport are always collected and always used to inform ongoing support.
5. 5
Partnerships
In a complex employment support system with many organisations and contracted services, strong partnerships are essential. Staff from both JCP and Work Programme providers are keen to strengthen partnerships with each other, but are currently stymied by the perennial problems of information-sharing systems and time pressures.
Similarly, staff are very aware of the benefits of working more with local voluntary and community organisations, but a lack of time stops them being able to do so effectively. Improved communications between different providers of employment support would allow assessments to be updated even as jobseekers are passed between different provider organisations. This should avoid having to repeat the assessment, which can feel disempowering for jobseekers.
5. Information about customers’ strengths, abilities and barriers should be shared between JCP and WP advisors, to smooth out assessment processes and avoid duplication. This includes sharing documents such as the Claimant Commitment, something recommended by the Oakley review of Jobseeker Sanctions. In the long-term, this should also include data sharing agreements; in the immediate term, JCP advisors should ask customers for permission to send key information to WP providers upon referral.
6. ‘Warm handovers’ should be implemented between JCP and contracted employment provision, so as to minimise duplication of assessment. Aligned and improved Customer Management Systems, together with data sharing mechanisms, can help with this.
7. ‘Lead advisors’ should ensure that staff at all levels can network and build a good working knowledge of available local provision to refer to. Once customers have been referred to internal or contracted provision, advisors should stay in touch with the provider and use evaluative information to further improve assessment of the customer’s strengths and needs.
6. 6
Staff
Frontline staff are key to ensuring assessment works. Currently a lack of time and resources, can often means advisors are unable to provide the thorough and on-going assessment claimants require.
The research showed that advisors are keen for more training, both to be able to use assessment tools more effectively and be able to develop the strong relationships that encourage disclosure and enable strong assessment to take place.
Specialist lone parent and disability advisors are no longer a common feature of jobcentres, and instead it seems that steps have been taken to ensure that all advisors have a broad understanding of the barriers jobseekers face when looking for work, including more complex and specialist issues. Whilst the introduction of advisors who have specialist knowledge of certain issues as part of the JCP Social Justice Agenda is welcomed, the research showed that more could be done to ensure that groups with unique circumstances and needs – such as lone parenthood – are properly catered for.
8. JCP and WP providers should provide additional training to encourage staff to undertake ongoing assessment of customers’ strengths and needs
a) JCP should receive further guidance about the discretion they can use in their approach with jobseekers, and the importance of proper and full assessment to enable such an approach to be taken.
b) Some of this training should focus on enabling staff to handle more sensitive and specialist issues that may arise through assessments. Advisors identified as supporting specialist needs through the JCP Social Justice agenda are welcomed, but they must be trained properly and competent at supporting other members of the team on these issues.
c) JCP and WP providers should ensure they facilitate uptake of such training and should utilise feedback from customers to identify staff who might benefit from training in assessment.
9. Jobcentres and Work Programme providers alike should appoint ‘Lead Advisors’ for specific areas (such as disabilities, mental health, etc).
a) Other advisors should feel confident to ask for support from these individuals and given time to seek appropriate advice.
b) These lead advisors should be responsible for building partnerships at district level to allow for good understanding of different customer groups’ needs, strengths and barriers, as well as local referral options and means of providing support.
7. 7
Relationships
Deep Value relationships between jobseekers and their advisors are essential. The term ‘Deep Value’ captures ‘the value created when the human relationships between people delivering and using public services are effective’ (Bell and Smerdon 2011). Jobseekers were very clear about how strong, trusting relationships are crucial to encouraging disclosure of information. Community Links has previously written about how ‘strong human relationships between public servants and clients can nourish confidence, trust and self-belief’, making it more likely that information will be shared and that problems will be uncovered (Council on Social Action 2009). Giving advisors the time and discretion to create these relationships and to interact with customers on a human level would lead to much more accurate and ultimately useful assessments. Some current practices, such as group inductions to some employment programmes, prevent these relationships from forming. However, the recent introduction of the Claimant Commitment in JCP has the potential to really change the culture and encourage much stronger relationships to be built and used for assessment.
Jobseekers find that the one-sided nature of employment support can be a real barrier to developing strong relationships and to revealing their own needs and strengths. Participatory approaches to assessment, by which jobseekers can be involved in an equal and reciprocal relationship with professionals and work together to get things done, can encourage the formation of these relationships. Making sure jobseekers feel ownership over their assessment, and that they can build a strong, trusting relationship with a personal advisor is crucial. Adopting a more participatory also ensure that customers are informed about assessments that have been made and their implications.
10. In order to allow for more empowering, participatory ways of doing assessment, advisors and jobseekers should be encouraged to develop stronger, Deep Value relationships. This should make jobseekers more likely to disclose strengths and barriers, and to improve overall assessment.
a) Changes which may enable the development of such Deep Value relationships should be trialled - including allowing jobseekers to choose which advisor supports them; or reducing advisors’ responsibility for enforcing conditionality.