Following Michael Lipsky's well‐known argument that policy is made in the daily encounters between street‐level bureaucracy and citizens, a growing body of research emphasizes that actors and organizations delivering social and labor‐market policy play a crucial role in welfare‐state politics. Using qualitative data collected at three local employment agencies in Germany, this article explores worker‐client relations as a crucial mechanism through which activation policies are translated into practice. The analysis investigates how caseworkers define their role and their relationships with clients. The findings show that it is essential for caseworkers to achieve client compliance. In such a context, building relationships of trust is a strategic instrument in overcoming possible barriers to co‐operation in the caseworker‐client interaction. Caseworkers develop strategies to create the impression of trustworthiness and to motivate both unemployed clients and employers to become trust‐givers in the caseworker‐client relation. While research has often stressed the dichotomy between disciplining and enabling elements of activation policies, our explorative study shows that persuasion and trust‐building are a further important dimension of the frontline delivery of activation policies. These strategies reflect the importance of emotional aspects of frontline work.

Employees of the public employment services (PES) are street-level bureaucrats who shape activation policy on the ground. This paper examines how PES staff use enhanced discretion in an innovation project carried out by the German Federal Employment Agency. Applying a bottom-up perspective, we reconstruct PES employees’ logic of action and the dilemmas they face in improving counselling and placement services. According to our findings, placement staff use enhanced discretion to promote more individualised support and an adequate matching of jobseekers and employers. The use of discretion is framed by organisational norms and reward mechanisms and by the current labour market situation. Our analyses are based on qualitative interviews and group discussions with placement staff.

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Das neuartige Arbeitsmarktinstrument »Soziale Aktivierung« versammelt Maßnahmen, deren Wirkungen über die dominierenden Ziele der direkten und zeitnahen Integration in den Arbeitsmarkt hinausgehen sollen. Anhand von Fallbeispielen wie Kung-Fu-Kursen oder Theatergruppen rekonstruiert Carolin Freier, wie Langzeitarbeitslose und andere arbeitsmarktferne Personen hierdurch »sozial aktiviert« und zur sozialen Teilhabe befähigt werden sollen, u.a. durch das (Wieder-)Erlernen von Alltagskompetenzen. Die Studie zeichnet nach, wie diese Maßnahmen in der täglichen Praxis der Arbeitsvermittlung entstanden, auf welche Strategien sie sich zurückführen lassen und welche Folgen sich für die Arbeitslosen ergeben.