Employer orientation in the German public employment service

Sowa, Frank; Reims, Nancy; Theuer, Stefan

doi:10.1177/0261018315601040

Cited by 13 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Maintaining good relations with employers is an important (although less studied) dimension of activating labor‐market policies. In the course of the Hartz reforms, the German labor administration increased its employer orientation (Sowa, Reims, & Theuer, ). Specific teams providing employer‐oriented services were established, the so‐called Employers Service ( Arbeitgeberservice ).…”

Section: Caseworker‐client Relations In the German Activation Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Practices of activation in frontline interactions: Coercion, persuasion, and the role of trust in activation policies in Germany

2018

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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.

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Section: Caseworker‐client Relations In the German Activation Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Practices of activation in frontline interactions: Coercion, persuasion, and the role of trust in activation policies in Germany

2018

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“…We suggest that these differences can be explained by various factors. First, the public employment service is known for its special tools for assessing refugees’ qualifications (OECD and UNHCR, 2018) as well as its preference of employers’ interests over jobseekers’ interests (Sowa et al, 2015; Torezani et al, 2008). Second, selectivity may exist among refugee jobseekers, which is, for instance, reflected in our finding that those who found a job via responding to a job ad have relatively high educational attainment.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Job quality of refugees in Austria: Trade-offs between multiple workplace characteristics

Ortlieb

Weiss

2020

German Journal of Human Resource Management: Zeitschrift für Pe

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Do employers tend to exploit refugees or do they offer them high-quality jobs? This article examines the job quality of refugees from Afghanistan and Syria working in Austria. It uses unique survey data of 316 refugees and cluster analysis to identify job quality profiles. Drawing on well-established job quality frameworks, it considers multiple dimensions of job quality, including pay, job security, overqualification in terms of level and content area, learning opportunities, at-home feeling and health aspects. The findings reveal four job quality profiles with considerable trade-offs or compromises between job quality dimensions. Furthermore, the job quality profiles are associated with the methods refugees use to find a job. The study enhances understanding of labour market integration of refugees and the associated role of human resource management.

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“…The way neoliberal welfare states treat poor populations has been extensively demonstrated by studies from the United States, where the increase in social inequality and poverty rates go hand in hand with a dismantling of welfare state benefits and an increase of state repression and prosecution in order to control people effectively (Wacquant, 2009), including police state surveillance of neighborhoods where predominantly low-income and black communities live (Goffman, 2014). However, in the German context, despite an active labor market policy, the conservative welfare state still allows its citizens to receive social benefits, which has a decommodifying effect (Sowa et al, 2015). However, the conditions of welfare change with the loss of housing and a registered address.…”

Section: Urban Figurations Of Social Control or How The State Deals W...mentioning

confidence: 99%

(In)Visibility and the smartphone: Experiencing homelessness as dictated by urban figurations of social control

Tissot,

Sowa

2023

Mobile Media & Communication

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This contribution sheds light on how people experiencing homelessness in Germany make sense of an app designed with them in mind and whether using it would be of benefit to them. However, it must be acknowledged that the app has yet to be developed. “Urban figurations of social control,” a term we use to refer to the social conditions of homelessness in Germany, give rise to a significant loss of trust as well as a state of vulnerability, feelings of loneliness, and limited agency for people experiencing homelessness. Drawing on a group discussion with 12 people experiencing homelessness that took place in Germany in 2019, our findings demonstrate that the respondents project particular fears and desires onto the use of the potential app. Whenever they fear surveillance and institutional control, they wish to be invisible to the app. On the other hand, their desire to access resources and information (food, places to sleep, housing) and to meet with peers in order to create meaningful social relationships requires their visibility. Thus, navigating between visibility and invisibility by way of a smartphone involves situationally and strategically constructing a safe environment for their digital participation, helping them to reduce their vulnerability and loneliness and restore their agency. Moreover, in that the app is used as a means of rendering assistance to homeless people (and highlighting the grievances associated with this) that is visible to others, the respondents challenge the current framing of homelessness. The supposed system of help is revealed to be the social problem itself.

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Employer orientation in the German public employment service

Cited by 13 publications

References 21 publications

Practices of activation in frontline interactions: Coercion, persuasion, and the role of trust in activation policies in Germany

Practices of activation in frontline interactions: Coercion, persuasion, and the role of trust in activation policies in Germany

Job quality of refugees in Austria: Trade-offs between multiple workplace characteristics

(In)Visibility and the smartphone: Experiencing homelessness as dictated by urban figurations of social control

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