Fig. 1: The indexed development of unemployment based on international methods chosen from. selected EU countries.

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1 s The Public Employment Service in Ringkoebing amt, Denmark AF s Regulatory and Business Environment etc. Being the most important instrument in implementing Danish labour market policy, we would like, initially, to draw attention to the recognized success of this so-called active labour market policy. Since 1993 the labour market development in Denmark has been characterized by a continued increase in employment and a corresponding reduction of unemployment. Fig. 1: The indexed development of unemployment based on international methods chosen from Sweden 140 Germany 120 France 100 EU 80 England 60 Denmark selected EU countries. As can be seen, the development in Denmark has clearly been the most positive of all the EU member states. As we have succeeded in bringing down unemployment very significantly during a relatively short time without having succumbed to any of the extremes of either a wage explosion followed by inflation or by ending in a wage proletariat, the Danish model has become a model for the rest of the EU. Ringkoebing, being the region experiencing the first and most precipitous decline in unemployment, and boasting a most harmonious labour market (that is to say, an almost complete balance between supply and demand of labour) has become the region appearing as the role model of labour market policy in Denmark. The reduction in unemployment has been especially abrupt in the Ringkoebing region, which has to do with the business structure of the region: many manufacturing industries and relatively few industries in commerce, service and the public sector etc. with subsequently strong dependence on economic trends. Underneath the overall development, however, there have been extremely strong fluctuations in the employment in the region, especially in the clothing and textile industries, which have been cut back by approximately 50%. An interesting feature is that the employment rate in Denmark is much higher than in the rest of Europe, especially in the case of women. The implications of this fact are many. One of them is that there is a strong pressure on AF to be able to handle the ups and downs of employment. C:\MES DOCUMENTS\WORD\INTERNATIONAL\ANGLAIS\DOC\DK-EMPLOY.DOC - March 16, Page 1

2 In a time of high employment and relatively low unemployment - within certain trades, indeed, full employment - we balance on a knife-edge, between on the one hand of complying with the demand for labour, quantitatively as well as qualitatively, and on the other hand to procure jobs for those whose qualifications are not (at all) in keeping with the actual demands. It is important to understand the environment` in which we work. An environment` we of course have to adapt to but which we have also been quite succesful in shaping`, which is a crucial reason for our success. As an example we will mention the open placement`, a concept which entered AF s world in 1989, when AF Ringkoebing Amt (AF-RA) opened the first job shop in the country, Job 2000, and which today is an essential reason why we have managed to approach as close as we have to a balance between supply and demand, cf. above. Another example to show that the region seeks to influence the development on a national level is the adoption of the adult apprentice arrangement. This arrangement was adopted on a national basis following several years of regional efforts in the county of Ringkoebing. The arrangement is briefly stated about increasing the the recruitment of adult candidates for the vocational educations within trades having or expecting a lack of qualified labour. As a consequence of these efforts Ringkoebing is the region in the whole country with the relatively greatest number of adults being recruited for vocational educations. Main objectives The active labour market policy has two main objectives: 1. To ensure that the enterprises may get the labour they need, and 2. That unemployed persons who qualify for unemployment benefit will receive offers of employment or education / training which may bring them back into employment. Active` means that prevention and activation (as opposed to passive` benefit) are the central priorities. This means that by 2001, all adults will be activated no later than 12 months after they have become unemployed, and all young persons before 6 months of unemployment. Therefore, the first special feature to be noticed, is the principle that rights and duties must go hand in hand. AF-Ringkoebing one of 14 regonal offices The active labour market policy is primarily implemented by AF which comprises 14 regional offices and a number of local offices. AF-RA is one region out of 14 in the nationwide AF-system. The region is constructed of 4 office units placed in Herning, Holstebro, Lemvig and Ringkoebing, and also two job shops (JOB 2000) in Herning and Holstebro. The region is managed by a regional manager who is in charge of a management group totalling 8 managers. The region has at the moment some 130 employees divided among a number of staff categories. The Total Quality Management Journey. In the last 10 years AF-RA have been on a journey towards implementing a true Total Quality Management (TQM) culture. However, when we set out on the journey we did not even know the TQM concept. In fact, we started by implementing a genuine target and framework management system - i.e. we delegated as much responsibility and competence to the individual employees in the organization as possible. And, what is in retrospect more important: based on an agreement in the joint council committee we published the results attained by everybody monthly. So, at that stage C:\MES DOCUMENTS\WORD\INTERNATIONAL\ANGLAIS\DOC\DK-EMPLOY.DOC - March 16, Page 2

3 we formed the mutual trust between staff and management that is still today one of the major fundamentals of our success. As a consequence of our having achieved our quantitative goals, it was natural for us to describe the services delivered and the underlying processes. So in 1992 at a staff conference it was decided to describe the first key processes and to evaluate the work at the following conference. It turned out to be a success, and gradually we came to grips with a more systematic structure of describing processes, quality-levels and measuring points etc. During this period we established the first version of our quality manual. Again, in retrospect, a fundamental reason why we have come so far today is that we have sort of built in quality circles in almost anything we do. I.e. we do not stop at planning` and doing`. We also check`and act`. For instance, we decided in 1993 to test quality management according to the guidelines described in the ISO 9000 series. This led to the certification in June 1993 of open placement (termed JOB 2000). Since then we have chosen to maintain this certification, but have not spread to the rest of the organization. Also we have formalized the creed in the organizational management: we believe in management by means of values and well defined strategies and objectives and in respecting customers and partners. With the emergence of the Excellence model, in a form adapted to public institutions, it was only natural for AF-RA - fitting in with the above - to reflect our organization in the criteria of this model. In this way, quality development appears as a cohesive whole contributing to the creation of a qualified survey of strong points as well as potential areas of improvement. Working with the Excellence model reached a climax, when in the autumn of 1997 we were awarded the Danish Public Sector Quality Award`. Since then we have been working even more intensely on the (thoughts behind) the model, so we have come quite a long way. In February 1999 we submitted an application for the Quality Award of the EFQM, Public Sector. During the application process the region hosted a site visit and subsequently received a substantial feedback report indicating our strengths and the areas of improvement. The numbered score was reported to lie in the interval of 500 and 550 points. Leadership based on values In AF-RA we have committed ourselves to a value- and normbased management, where professionalism, quality, commitment, and cooperation / respect are the core values. By choosing this management form we intend to put the customer at the centre, that is to say, we: * Offer services differentiated according to needs. * Make our customers active partners. * Adjust expectations among the customers. It is important to notice that management` is not a discipline to be handled independent of its context. The form of management chosen is therefore an expression of how we think we can support the mission, vision and strategies of AF-RA in the best suitable way, just as it is obviously decisive that the form encourages the results of the institution in a broad sense. But apart from the considerations of effectiveness and efficiency thus lying behind the chosen form of management, it also implies a democratic attitude demonstrated e.g. in the way we aim at the maximum delegation of competence and responsibility to employee groups and to each employee - based on a mutually obliging dialogue. This, we consider to be a precondition to act interactively` C:\MES DOCUMENTS\WORD\INTERNATIONAL\ANGLAIS\DOC\DK-EMPLOY.DOC - March 16, Page 3

4 in a still more dynamic world. This lays great claims on the employees, but equally on the management, since traditional (authoritarian) management is no longer current. AF-RA s work on value-based management has, by the way, set the fashion. All AF regions and AMS have begun to work in similar manners. Our region also contributes in a number of other contexts with its visions and experiences. The organization is result-oriented. A natural indredient of everyday life in AF-RA is that we are determined to achieve the results which we have decided upon. And in this area the Excellence Model has contributed to increasing our skills to make priorities in such a way as to optimize the result aspects. In table 3 has been shown an excerpt of the result areas applying to AF-RA, and below we shall explain briefly what is included in each of the activities. Table 1: The development in AF-RA s production of open placements, total job orders, enterprise visits, and individual action plans agreed upon, Activity Development %* IHP: Enterprises visited: Job placement, notified vacancies: Open placement, notified vacancies: * Development in planned and production numbers in the years in percentage IHP (Individual action plans). IHP (individual action plans) are mutually binding agreements between unemployed jobseekers and AF. The action plan contains an agreed course of activity which the unemployed person must complete in order to get back to work Enterprise visits. Enterprise visits consist of an AF staff paying a visit to an employer - private as well as public enterprises - with a view to offering one or more of AF s services. C:\MES DOCUMENTS\WORD\INTERNATIONAL\ANGLAIS\DOC\DK-EMPLOY.DOC - March 16, Page 4

5 Job placement ( notified vacancies). Job placement concerned with registered vacancies include jobs which the employers notify to AF to have AF selecting and referring unemployed people for the notified jobs. Open placement (notified vacancies). Open placement includes all the jobs presented as vacancies in AF s job-shops (JOB.2000) where jobseekers can seek relevant employment at their own initiative. These vacancies are similarly presented on the internet ( In table 2 are shown AF-RA's natural share of the total national production and the share we de facto achieved i Table 2: AF-RA's share of national production Activity Achieved share Natural share IHP 5,1% 4,3% Enterprises visited 7,5% 5,3% Job placement, notified vacancies 9,6% Open placement, notified vacancies 7,7% As regards AF, a total productivity objective has been estimated, which briefly described is a weighed sum of the result key figures being divided by the operational resources of AF. From table 3 it can be seen that AF-RA improved its productivity with 7 per cent from 1997 till Compared with the national average AF-RA s productivity is 15 per cent higher than the average of the regions as a whole. During both these years AF-RA is the region that has the highest position in the productivity survey. Table 3: The development in the productivity index for the years Region Development Ringkoebing 0,71 0,66-7% National average 1,00 0,80-20% Note that a low level indicates a high productivity. Source: The Ministry of Finance The results shown above is an indication that the region is highly result-oriented. The main purpose C:\MES DOCUMENTS\WORD\INTERNATIONAL\ANGLAIS\DOC\DK-EMPLOY.DOC - March 16, Page 5

6 of these results is, however, that regional labour market political efforts are being carried through which will work in accordance with AF s mission, namely: 1) That the enterprises will get the labour they need, and 2) That unemployed people will become employed and thus avoid long-term unemployment. They sum up the purpose of AF, and they are the main objectives that we pursue. C:\MES DOCUMENTS\WORD\INTERNATIONAL\ANGLAIS\DOC\DK-EMPLOY.DOC - March 16, Page 6