Partnership between Employment Services (PARES) Strategic Dialogue 2014 Delivering a Coordinated Service Offer

Transcription

1 Partnership between Employment Services (PARES) Strategic Dialogue 2014 Delivering a Coordinated Service Offer Tuesday 20 May 2014 Hotel Pullman Brussels Midi, Place Victor Horta 1, 1060 Brussels Recommendations to Employment Services The PARES (Partnership between Employment Services) initiative is part of the Europe 2020 strategy. It supports EU-level dialogue to promote cooperation between different forms of employment services (public, private and non-profit) and to identify where they can deliver complementary services. PARES Strategic Dialogues (SDs) provide a forum for relevant stakeholders to discuss specific issues within this remit in order to develop consensus based recommendations targeted at policy makers and/or practitioners in order to take the issue forwards. The first PARES SD of 2014, held in Brussels on 20 th May, covered Delivering a Coordinated Service Offer. The objective was to consider how best different actors can work together to successfully and consistently deliver a coordinated service offer and how to address potential operational issues that might occur. The SD discussed the foundations underpinning partnerships, in particular how partnerships between employment services can be successfully operationalised; how partnership working is reflected in day-to-day service delivery; how information is transferred between the partners; and, how to create a coherent and comprehensive user experience for jobseekers and employers. This PARES SD had a strong operational focus. Discussions centred on how partnership agreements between employment services are effectively translated into service delivery models that improve coordination and joined-up provision for clients. This document presents a series of recommendations for employment services and relevant actors which are derived from key consensus observations from the meeting. 1. Strategic level requirements for co-ordinating service delivery formalising agreements, management arrangements and oversight Consensus Observation A formal agreement developed conjointly by all partners can be help create a useful framework to support the development of coordinated offers by different employment services. For example, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) represents a commitment for parties to work together to maximise the effectiveness of services provided to clients of employment services (both jobseekers and employers) and provides a transparent declaration of the objectives and common goals of the

2 cooperation.. The PARES Strategic Dialogue 2013 provided recommendations to employment services on the drafting of a MoU 1, including, identifying concrete fields and forms of cooperation, formulating a clear statement of intent, providing a flexible framework for cooperation, and developing an action plan for its implementation. Depending on the services to be provided by the partnership, agreements can be in the form of more flexible joint working agreements or more legally defined contracts. It is important to ensure that all actors participate in the design of a partnership or framework agreement. To add value to the client offer, they should promote a structured, open and honest dialogue to help overcome prejudices and apprehension, identify shared interest, relevant specialisms, and scope of the service. Changes to national law can facilitate partnership-based delivery by strengthening the status of partnership agreements. For example, in the UK the PES, local government and other relevant public agencies have a statutory duty to cooperate with local employer-led partnerships. Following a topdown approach, a national framework partnership agreement opens the door for the development of parallel agreements at the local level. National level agreements should be sufficiently flexible to allow for the creation of locally based partnership agreements and activities that can respond to local conditions. If they chose to follow a bottom-up approach, partnerships can be developed to deliver joint actions at the local level and build trust. In formalising partnerships locally, the same precepts apply as those for national partnerships. There is no one-size-fits-all model or ideal mix of central and local arrangements. Both approaches can be pursued simultaneously as they are mutually reinforcing. National and local specificities are key factors in designing the most suitable arrangements. For instance, in certain Member States, a formal agreement at the national level is an essential prerequisite for any type of partnership to function effectively at the local level, while other countries recognise the value of local partnerships. However, they may face challenges because of the lack of uniformity across partnerships at the local level, the fragmentation of the service offer within an area and across different areas, and lack of transparency. Regardless of level, operational service delivery will be more effective if the agreement sets out clear common objectives, the responsibilities of each partner, and the expected and measureable outcomes from the joint activity and services to be delivered. A range of agreement types are in play dependent on local circumstances, the maturity of partnering relationships and degree of contractual formality required. Agreements can focus on what is to be achieved and not necessarily the how. Freedom on how to design and deliver services gives partners the opportunity to play to their strengths and provides scope for innovation and creativity, as well as responsiveness to changing circumstances. One form of locally-designed contractual agreement is 1 The PARES Strategic Dialogue 2013 addressed the issue of the drafting of a MoU ; Working in partnership at the local and regional Level

3 the co-investment partnership which involves the pooling of financial resources from amongst the partners to deliver a particular service. Where budgets cannot be pooled, local agencies may enter into agreements to align mainstream programmes so that they complement partnership efforts that are more focused on local needs. Other arrangements allow for pilot agreements around joint management contracts for different client groups providing the scope for testing-out operational processes around local co-delivery. If the partnership is based on a contractual relationship, it is important to ensure that any financial incentives support the objectives of the partnership. Performance-led, outcome-based funding (linked to pre-established, quantifiable targets) while desirable, should be designed in a way that discourages competition between partners and does not create perverse incentives (e.g. where service providers prioritise support for clients with the greatest chance of a successful outcome rather than those with deeper and more intractable problems). For instance, clear minimum service standards and varying performance payments for different categories of clients can ensure that service providers focus on the intended target groups. Strong leadership helps provide vision, define common purpose, and drive progress. There should be a lead organisation, which can be the natural lead e.g. the main funder or organisation carrying the greatest risk, or it can be elected by partner organisations. Importantly the lead organisation must be able to stimulate trust, promote buy-in, facilitate an on-going dialogue, manage the change process and be perceived as an honest broker. A cross-representative steering group should support the work of the partnership. To ensure the effective design and implementation of a coordinated service offer, named individuals, with appropriate authority both within and outside their organisation, should be responsible for day-to-day management and the continuous improvement of locally coordinated services and should be held accountable for the outcomes of the services delivered by their organisation. Local managers should communicate the partnership's objectives with staff involved in service delivery. Involving staff in the development of the delivery models ensure their ownership and commitment to the partnership. This is especially important with staff working in co-location, for instance, in a one stop service centre. Front-line advisors should be provided with up-to-date information on the services available, places available, and eligibility rules to avoid unsuitable referrals. To deliver a good quality coordinated service offer, progress should be continuously reviewed through a virtuous circle of monitoring, reviewing, evaluating and improving. Key performance indicators should be collectively agreed upon and a monitoring and evaluation system should be part of the institutional architecture of the partnership. Performance monitoring should take place regularly (fixed periodicity) and key milestones should be set to meet short-, medium- and long-term targets. Job-seekers and employers should be consulted through customer surveys and focus groups/panel discussions. At the national level, mutual learning across local partnerships (what works) should be promoted.

4 At the outset, there should be clear guidelines about what happens if a partner fails to deliver. While a mediation process may help to resolve issues, if a partner is consistently under-delivering, steps should be taken to ensure their replacement. An escalation process - and the conditions linked to its utilisation - should be set in place in relation to contractual financial and performance issues. Finally, the partnership itself should be evaluated periodically to test and demonstrate the added value of its work; particular aspects of such an evaluation should include assessment of the mix of members, partners respective contributions to the achievement of the partnership s goal and objectives, and working practices. The evaluation process also needs to be reviewed, so that it accommodates changes to the economy, labour market, and policy priorities. Recommendation Employment services entering into co-operation arrangements at the national/federal level and local level should formalise these through a memorandum of understanding (MoU) or other type of formal agreement that outlines the shared objectives, common goals and purpose of the cooperation, and different partners roles and responsibilities. The form of the agreement should be dependent on local circumstances, the maturity of partnering relationships and the degree of contractual formality required. Building a trust relationship takes time and commitment. The agreement should be the result of a participative process, based on a structured, open, and honest dialogue among partners. In order to foster this type of dialogue, partners could jointly produce a mapping of arguments typically put forward both in favour and against public-private partnerships of employment services. Such a mapping forms a solid basis for sparking an honest discussion surrounding parties fears and prejudices and identifying shared interests and the added value of working in partnership. The "arguments' map" used in the Netherlands can serve as inspiration for partners developing such a tool 2. Local actors must be mandated to participate by their national authority, where relevant. A lead organisation should provide vision and steer the partnership, supported in its work by a crossrepresentative steering group. Each member of the partnership should have a manager with appropriate authority to contribute to the development and decision-making of co-ordinated services within the partnership and within their own organisation and similarly, who will be accountable for the contribution and performance of their organisation. Partners should be committed to speedily replace key staff that leave and communicate the changes within the network. Success of the partnership is linked directly to the engagement of staff. Buy-in can be achieved through transparent communication to frontline staff in all partner agencies about the objectives and how they will be achieved. Allowing staff to communicate their expectations and including them 2 Argumentenkaart (in Dutch)

5 in the development of the service offer creates increased commitment. Encouraging staff to establish working relationships with staff in other organisations and setting up a system for job rotation within the network can be particularly effective. Key performance indicators should be collectively agreed upon and a monitoring and evaluation system should be part of the institutional architecture of the partnership. Evaluation should assess the added value of the partnership, partners and co-delivery. Escalation processes in response to poor performance or contractual financial issues should be agreed in advance. A process needs to be in place within the partnership to review, assess and respond to monitoring and evaluation findings, in particular to provide scope for continuous improvement and progression. 2. Delivering a coordinated service offer that focuses on the customer journey Consensus Observation Transitioning from unemployment to employment may be a relatively straightforward process for some jobseekers, necessitating little additional support beyond access to live vacancies and job matching assistance. For those furthest from the labour market, the journey from unemployment into sustainable employment can be long and complex, including alternating phases of training, job placements, short-term paid employment, and periods of unemployment and inactivity. Deliver a quality, co-ordinated service offer entails placing the jobseeker and employer at the centre of service delivery, responding to their needs rather than the fragmented interests of service providers. This requires understanding customer needs (and preferences), mapping partners roles and service offers, and thinking through the sequencing of interventions such that the transitions for all jobseekers are as positive and as seamless as possible and their periods of unemployment and inactivity are kept to an absolute minimum. There are a number of critical success factors for delivering a co-ordinated service. Running through the customer journey are a number of overarching conditions for creating a coherent and comprehensive experience for the clients. Effective data pooling is critical. The sharing of labour market intelligence (including vacancies) and client information (personalised action plans) amongst all partners (employment services [public, private and non-profit], municipalities, the third sector, training providers, and other service providers) via common IT platforms would be ideal for joint planning and effective delivery of a coordinated service offer. In this regard, PES could be particularly well placed as a hub for managing knowledge and information exchange. The assessment of data protection and protocols for data sharing are critical issues for early examination and agreement by the partners. Understand what information needs to be shared and recognise that achieving this is part of a wider structural discussion. Common processes for obtaining client agreement to data sharing and quality assurance standards for partners data management and protection systems need to be established.

6 Analyse need alongside the collective offer from the partners. The analysis of local needs and a mapping of partner roles and service provision will deliver a better coordinated service offer. Such mapping should consider initial engagement (such as outreach ), assessment of needs (profiling), preparing people for work (through skills development and job search activities), and support with employment retention or progression. Segmentation of the client base, a tailored service offer (including reduced duplication and the identification of service gaps) and the identification of lead providers in response to both client service requirements and volume of demand will increase effective referrals, progression routes for customers and positive outcomes. The customer journey can be used to examine how and when clients and employers are likely to experience referrals, handovers and entry points to different options. From a jobseeker's perspective, this transversal perspective aims to ensure that the client experiences a smooth transition between service providers and a clear line of progression towards sustainable employment. Co-branding which packages a coordinated service offer under a single recognisable brand with a clear message and sign-posting can help clients (individuals and employers) to identify the entry points and navigate between services. Operating under the brand of the partnership can allow the marketing of services without any public pre-conceptions of the individual partners, (e.g. a public housing association, a type of organisation not normally associated with employment services, successfully offering job brokerage to tenants under a joint brand). In the initial stage of the customer journey, early preventative measures can be undertaken by the partnership. A young persons journey into sustainable employment begins while he/she is still in education or training; early intervention and partnerships between PES and schools are of central importance during this early stage. Development of information leaflets/on-line sources/ outreach/ multi-agency guidance services and access routes for young people are key partnership based activities within the Youth Guarantee. Required prior notification of redundancy to the PES means that early intervention and action planning is feasible for those still in employment. Prior to becoming unemployed individuals, PES assessment and profiling and onward referral to training providers for re-skilling and a new job can mean that an individual experiences no gap in their employment record. Partnership based action-planning and co-ordinated delivery in response to large scale redundancies have proved effective in collectively minimising the impact on unemployment. Diagnostic assessments and profiling should be carried out during the first weeks of a client s registration. Different partners are able to introduce different models of diagnostic tools/needs assessment tools. Some of which may better fit with the needs of different categories of client and the identification of their service needs. Partners may have tools that in addition to capturing labour market related issues, can identify a wider range of barriers to employment (housing problems, debt management, alcohol and substance abuse, etc.). Partners should explore the scope for implementing shared diagnostic tools these could underpin a shared information protocol,

7 common case management and action planning, as well as ensure building on best practice. Client segmentation can mean different avenues of intervention for different clients, different sequencing of activity and the involvement of a range of partners along the customer journey towards employment. Mapping the customer journey highlights the mechanics of a partnership based offer. Transition points along the customer journey are critical interdependencies between partners that require clear operational management processes and protocols. Different partners will have the role of lead coordinator at different stages of the customer journey; accordingly, referral and handover agreements should be put in place in order to ease the client s transition between service providers. Note that for some PES the partners at key transition points can be internal as well as external. Referral or handover agreements can cover a range of issues: planning setting out the expected volume and flow of referrals; up-to-date information on services giving advisors information on options for clients and places available with different providers; feedback giving advisers feedback on the progress and eventual outcomes from referrals to improve future referrals; communication between partners how referrals are to be made e.g. on-line, via , through access to shared dairies between advisers, or through joint meetings where the current adviser introduces the client to the new adviser and service to be received; data sharing about the individual sharing of diagnostic tools, common case management processes and action planning templates; quality service standards and metrics such as number of days between referral to new provider and first contact; agreed monitoring and review arrangements between partners on services provided, for example monthly meetings to discuss shared key performance indicators. Implementation of the agreements, can be enhanced through the use of shared on-line platforms for communication and the collation of monitoring information. Recommendation Rigorously explore and test the extent to which data pooling is feasible and allowable. As far as possible, develop common processes for obtaining client agreement to data sharing and common quality assurance standards for data management and protection systems. Develop a common brand in order to maximise communication of the partners service offer to jobseekers and employers, in order to create a recognisable identity for customers and minimise the potential confusion linked to multiple providers. Use the concept of the customer journey as an operational planning tool to identify what services are needed for the client and when; to be delivered by whom (directly and/or in partnership); and to identify the key transition points between partners ("hand-overs") for the customer and the necessary procedures to smooth the process.

8 Develop operational agreements around the key transition points to clarify and manage: service planning, assessment tools; access to current data on provision; referral processes; data sharing protocols; quality standards and metrics; monitoring and review arrangements. 3. A demand-led coordinated service offer and sustainable employment Consensus Observation Partnerships between employment services should provide a demand-led service offer aimed at meeting the needs of local employers. At the operational level, this entails investing in the pooling and continuous updating of information on employer demand and local labour market needs and opportunities. Designing a knowledge management strategy and IT infrastructure for collecting and managing such information will help to provide a clearer understanding of current and future local employer demand (i.e. occupational projections) which will feed into the design of a customised service offer. While the pooling of labour market information requires that the necessary institutional structure be put in place, attitudinal change is essential in fostering a data sharing environment. Accordingly, dialogue, respect (for different agendas), mutual recognition (of the contribution that each party makes to the labour market and their role in addressing specific issues) and acknowledgment of the potential for collective benefits from sharing data are key to tackling proprietary views about information. Employment services should create support roles that meet the needs of employers. Employers receive requests from numerous labour market actors; a streamlining of such requests (for instance, through a communication or Customer Relationship Management [CRM] protocol) can facilitate and encourage employer engagement and reduce duplicate contacts from multiple agencies. Sector specific account managers and dedicated teams charged with the liaison with local businesses can help to build trust and a long-standing partnerships with employers. In this regard, a joint employer engagement programme managed by public, private and non-profit employment services can be very effective in delivering a consistent message and engaging with employers. In some localities, employer demand remains depressed as a consequence of the economic crisis. Shared intelligence could identify which employers would consider hiring staff in advance of real demand given the right assistance and incentives for example wage subsidies, pre-employment induction programmes, traineeships or on-the-job training. Partners could collaborate on developing a more tailored offer in order to un-lock additional vacancy opportunities within the local labour market. Sustainability of employment is crucial for all labour market actors. Employment services should work in partnership with employers in order to enhance the sustainability of employment and to minimise the re-cycling of people into/out of jobs. Employment services can provide valuable support to local businesses, for instance, through contract support centres that provide advice to SMEs (who often do not have Human Resources department) on how to retain staff and avoid

9 turnover. Similarly, employment services should communicate with employers about services that they can benefit from (e.g. subsidies and financial incentives for disadvantaged groups) and make the business case for employing target disadvantaged persons (e.g. people with disabilities often have a lower turnover rate than people without disabilities). Agencies can also provide postemployment support to individuals to help them stay in employment; for example, mentoring or coaching services to help individuals cope with personal issues or crises that may affect their ability to retain a job or assistance to employers to provide additional training or modifications to the work environment to enable a person to be fully productive. As with jobseekers, providing the opportunity for employers to provide feedback on services received and how they could be improved is essential. Employers can also be invited to participate in the design and content of both pre- and post-employment support, e.g. the range of, and modules in, vocational training. Employers or their representatives could be members of the partnership itself providing direct in-put and acting as a channel to communicate the work of the partnership to their members; alternate models include setting up an employer panel for regular consultation by the partnership; piloting of service innovations for employers and evaluating outcomes; or, at a minimum conducting employer customer satisfaction surveys. Recommendation The customer journey concept as a planning tool can be applied in the context of employer services to identify the mechanics of delivery including partnership roles, client contact and communications, transition points, management systems and operational procedures to ensure a consistent and seamless service. To connect with the demand side of the labour market, partnership should deliver services to meet the needs to employers. This means placing employers in the centre of the process, including, when appropriate, involving them in the design and delivery of training modules. A joint employer engagement activity should encourage the sharing of current and future labour demand, increased understanding of the practicalities of particular businesses, and the effective tailoring of services to meet employer needs. Active engagement has the potential to generate a wider variety of opportunities, e.g. access to more vacancies and placements, more effective matching, and high employer satisfaction. Partners have an important role to play in working with employers to overcome barriers to entry for those furthest from the labour market, including making the business case for employing them. Partnerships can provide better holistic wrap-around support for people in work (e.g. housing, debt advice), which can reduce staff turnover, lowering costs for employers.

10 SMEs are a crucial driver of job growth in post-recession Europe but often lack dedicated training and HR functions. Partnerships with a wide range of services can provide basic HR support, e.g. in recruitment and absence management, to help SMEs reduce business costs, increase sustainability and improve productivity.