The frontline delivery of activation: workers’ preferences and their antecedents

Abstract

This article intends to contribute to the increasing body of academic literature on the frontline delivery of activation policies. In line with the broader literature on frontline work, this literature focuses attention on frontline delivery practices and preferences and how these can be explained. Activation work is an interesting case in this context, because activation workers' jobs designs vary considerably and workers have a diversity of educational backgrounds (including but not limited to social work) in the many countries that have implemented activation policies. This article looks at workers' preferences rather than actual delivery practices. It analyses how job design and educational background are related to workers' preferences concerning servicing clients, managing activation workers and spending time on various activation-related activities. Although the findings of the research that are presented in the article show that educational background and job design play only a modest role as antecedents of workers' preferences, future research into this issue remains interesting. For it may help to increase our insights into the optimal match between what activation aims to achieve and how the provision of activation is organized on the one hand, and workers' skills/qualifications and job design on the other hand. SAMENVATTING Dit artikel draagt bij aan het toenemende academische onderzoek naar de wijze waarop activeringsbeleid in praktijk wordt uitgevoerd. Dit onderzoek richt de aandacht op handelingspraktijken en voorkeuren van uitvoerders (in Nederland 'klantmanagers' genoemd) en op de vraag hoe die kunnen worden verklaard. Activering is een interessante casus omdat taken en verantwoordelijkheden van uitvoerders heel divers zijn, en omdat uitvoerders in de landen waar activeringsbeleid is ingevoerd zeer diverse opleidingsachtergronden hebben. Onder de uitvoerders bevinden zich sociaal werkers, maar zij domineren dit werkveld zeker niet. Dit artikel richt zich op de voorkeuren (en niet zozeer de praktijken) van uitvoerders. Het analyseert hoe de taakomschrijving en de opleidingachtergrond van uitvoerders samenhangen met hun voorkeuren ten aanzien van de dienstverlening aan klanten, de wijze waarop uitvoerders gemanaged willen worden en de tijd die ze wensen te besteden aan diverse activiteiten in het kader van activeringsdienstverlening. Hoewel we tot de

Hva gjør individuell tilpasning av aktivitetskrav utfordrende?

“…Praksis påvirkes også av bakkebyråkratenes kunnskap, opplevelser og preferanser, samt deres alder og kjønn. Derfor er det også viktig å inkludere trekk ved den enkelte i analysene av hvordan aktiveringspolitikk implementeres (McDonald & Chenoweth 2009;Sadeghi & Terum 2020;van Berkel & Knies 2018;Winter 2012).…”

Making welfare conditional: A street‐level perspective

“…A study in Norway, a country with a strong social work tradition in municipal activation, showed that social workers are somewhat more critical about conditionality than non‐social‐workers, but differences were quite small (Sadeghi & Fekjær, ). A Dutch study compared several professional groups (rather than social workers with non‐social‐workers: Van Berkel & Knies, ). This study revealed some differences between these groups, but no clear differences in dealing with sanctions were found.…”

Practising professionalism in activation work: Developing and testing a questionnaire

“…Various empirical studies used social work as a ‘proxy’ of the profession being practised in activation work. But this is problematic as, in a considerable number of countries, many activation workers are not trained as social workers (Ohls, 2020; Van Berkel & Knies, 2018). Taking the practising professionalism approach as our starting point allowed us to elaborate on the issue of professional activation practice while abstracting from specific social professions.…”