Learning to Be Job Ready: Strategies for Greater Social Inclusion in Public Sector Employment

Abstract

Learning to be job ready' (L2BJR) was a pilot scheme involving 16 long-term unemployed people from a range of backgrounds being offered a 6-month paid placement within the care department of a city council in Northern England. The project was based on a partnership with the largest college in the city specialising in post-16 education and training for residents and employees. The college targeted people as potential candidates for the programme through their prior attendance on or interest in care courses at the college, rather than the council employing more traditional methods of recruitment. Surveys, focus groups and interviews were utilised to capture the views and experiences of the participants, project workers and line managers, and also evidence of the project's impact on service delivery in the care department. The article adds to our conceptual and practical knowledge of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the public sector in three distinct ways. From a social and business perspective, the findings of the research highlight a potentially more robust strategy for matching long-term unemployed citizens to training and job opportunities in the public sector than is otherwise possible through the more conventional route of the job centre. Secondly, through this approach and with appropriate pre-training, a greater understanding of and empathy for the service users can be developed in the new organisational members, strengthening the subsequent ethical delivery and quality of the service. Finally, a re-conceptualisation of Carroll's influential model of CSR, which also specifically incorporates the ethical and social inclusion duties of public sector organisations not only as service providers but also as potential employers, offers a more tailored paradigm for understanding this unique yet under-researched element of CSR theory and practice.

How Social Inclusion Promotes Sales: An Analysis of the Example of Employing People with Disabilities

“…Several studies show that the employment of PWD leads to an increase in creativity (Gröschl, 2007;Dibben et al, 2002), better decision-making processes (Dibben et al, 2002), improved ability to solve problems in companies (Lindsay et al, 2018) and stimulated innovations facilitated through the associated diversity in the teams (ODEP, 2009). PWD themselves are often innovative and creative in how they work with their clients (Bennett, 2011) and seem to have a positive impact on service quality and efficiency (Lindsay et al, 2018).…”

“…Some companies operate sheltered work centers or other separate employment opportunities for PWD or regularly place orders in sheltered work centers to promote the employment of PWD (Segovia-San-Juan, Saavedra and Fernández-de-Tejada, 2017). The idea of promoting social inclusion through CSR is largely absent in the literature, and there is only little empirical research on the concept and practice of CSR regarding social inclusion (Bennett, 2011). Also, the employment of PWD has so far received only little attention in the literature on CSR (Csillag, Gyori and Matolay, 2018; Pérez, Romeo and Yepes-Baldó, 2018; Markel and Barclay, 2009).…”

Employment of Persons With Disabilities as a Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative: Necessity and Variants of Implementation

“…This can be done through training and placement programs for PWD in entry-level positions (Sherbin & Kennedy, 2017). PWD can be made fit for work and return to the labor market after a long period of unemployment or disability by means of a temporary job or internship (Bennett, 2011). Internships and other employment opportunities are also important for graduates with disabilities to get started quickly (Kuznetsova, 2012).…”

“…The exclusion of disadvantaged groups from the value chain can be seen as a waste of resources on an individual, entrepreneurial, national and global level (Dyda, 2008). This is illustrated by the importance of both supply and demand factors (Crisp et al, 2009) in addressing unemployment and social inclusion issues of PWD (Bennett, 2011). It might be concluded that companies need legal regulations and monetary incentives to take responsibility for employing PWD (Győri & Ócsai, 2014).…”

“…However, further progress could be made by calling for CSR reporting, developing international CSR standards, or awarding particularly dedicated companies (Csillag & Győri, 2016). Unlike business organizations, public sector organizations tend to be "expected" rather than "favored" to employ PWD (Bennett, 2011). Employment of PWD extends social responsibility of corporate organizations (Samant et al, 2009;Schur et al, 2005) and is a real opportunity to take CSR seriously, both inside and outside the organization (Csillag & Győri, 2016).…”