On July 1st 2015 ‘Jobactive’ replaces ‘Job Services Australia’ as the means for folk who are out of work to find employment.
A quick look at the recent purchasing results suggest that a number of previous JSA providers are sadly to become no more.
What did they do wrong?
The answer is; not much.
The measurement tool used by the funding body delivers scores across a range of results and throws up scores from 1-5 across a bell curve. Changing the players redistributes the remainder also across a bell curve and the ratio of results essentially remains the same so 5% will always be at the highest end of the score and 5% at the lowest with the bulk of results in the middle – in this instance 3 ‘Stars’.
There’s a lot of words used to justify this process and central to the argument is that the process differentiates between ‘high performing services’ and ‘poor performing services’ – the language is clearly designed to prejudice the casual reader against the latter.
It is difficult to imagine that employment service providers actually make much difference to the labour market in which they operate – employers are influenced by micro and macroeconomic events and policy but do not of themselves have the ability to overly change demand.
So the market for vacancies and placements equals XYZ and that’s the market and there you go – employment service providers may assist employers to access incentives, workplace modifications provide training to their clients to meet local labour market demand and not much more. It would be difficult to imagine a recession ending due to the efforts of even the ‘highest performing’ providers.
What about the unemployed users of such programs?
These are by definition, members of a marginalised group, ‘the unemployed’ and as such lack much access to the powers that determine their fate – they are generally poor or on their way to a poorer lifestyle, they are not necessarily going to be able to find their own employment (otherwise, for the reasons already noted, they would have), instead they are reliant upon service providers who operate in the market described above.
They may have made a choice and picked a provider they feel most able to meet their particular needs and the most disadvantaged amongst these, the long term unemployed frequently truly value the relationships they form with the staff at their chosen provider.
The employment service staff are also an important consideration in the process – many have decades of experience, long term relationships with job seekers and equally long term and valuable relationships with employers.
Despite noises to the contrary these workers do not simply migrate to new providers (and you rightly ask, if they did then the point about ‘higher performing services’ is surely questionable?). Instead they leave the industry, disillusioned and their experience is lost and has to be regained by the new provider.
The gap between the loss of knowledge and its recreation forms part of the ‘lost opportunity costs’ that bedevil employment provision – by the time the new ‘you beaut’ service picks up the staff required to service their new contract, train them, make themselves known to employers, settle in the required management practices etc… the possibility of genuine gains are lost.
These are the facts that the evidence supports – numbers of people placed into meaningful employment by providers remains at a fairly poor but consistent level and actually goes backward when these ‘improvements’ take place.
There are solutions and some have even been used in the past and shown to be effective.
The constant threat of essentially arbitrary business reallocation and loss of contract/employment needs to go. It can be replaced by a market driven response that rewards providers for actual outcomes that make a difference to the unemployed – if you can afford to stay in business on the basis of a bounty hunter system that only rewards actual outcomes then you should be allowed to do so; for profit, not for profit – anyone that actually makes a difference.
Letting the marketplace decide who stays and who goes will drive up the quality of service to both employers and the unemployed.
You can scroll back through previous blogs to see a range of suggestions for improvement that centre on one thing; putting the people that benefit from service, employers and the unemployed, at the heart of service delivery rather than the needs and ease of the system.
My commiseration to those providers and their staffs leaving the field, knowing you did nothing wrong is no consolation.
Would you like a face-to-face meeting with Martin via Skype? Click the button below to make an appointment
Subscribe to this Blog - blog.novaemployment.com.au Copy the link above and paste it into your favourite Reader to subscribe to an RSS feed of this blog. To watch a short video explanation of RSS and how it helps you save time reading the web click here
Your Comments There are currently no comments on this article
Previous Posts
They Don't Count Gaining or holding formal qualifications can set a person up for a lifetime career. Holding appropriate qualifications that can lead to lifelong careers, tradespeople generally make a good income and enjoy well deserved respect....
Benchmarks To access NOVA Employment or any Disability Employment Service (DES), almost everyone is required to be assessed by the Services Australia Services (Centrelink) to determine their "Benchmark" hours: Benchmark hours are the pay point for service providers; being the minimum working hours required for the DES provider to bill the Government and the assessed maximum hours a person is deemed capable of working with DES support....
International Day of People with a Disability
International Day of People with a Disability
It's IDPwD and we have a 1 hour 'special' screening on SBS from 4.30 this afternoon.
Our Ryan Goodwin has done a great job of selecting some of the great entries from NOVA's 'Focusonability' short film festival - we love the Festival and hope that you'll love these films, gathered from around the world....
2020 - the first half When the going gets tough, the tough get going
Good! - Now they've left us, let's look at reality - when the going gets tough, many people suffer and dis-proportionally, people with disability suffer more....
Countdown Clock II
What's the countdown clock all about?
It's our closing time and a countdown to the end of a truly remarkable month of extraordinary effort by my staff....
Countdown Clock Regular viewers will have noticed a countdown clock ticking away (above)
What's that all about?
Can't say - you have to wait till 4.30pm (a little earlier for staff)
...
Just the best 3 One thing we all love is a winner which is why there's a smile on my face it will be pretty hard to shift.
There's a nightmare pandemic sweeping the world (carried off my mum), the economy has tanked in a never before seen disaster that's left more than a million Aussies unemployed and the only news seems to be bad news....
More than Money!
If asked, most of us would say we went to work for the money, to pay our bills or support our family.
All true, and yet work means so much more:
Prior to finding a job with NOVA employment Glenn* struggled to keep jobs for more than a few months and was generally working as a dishwasher in restaurants which he found to be quite unsatisfying work....
Life Changers II
How are you in the mornings (or evenings, or nights)? NOVA is an 'old school' Disability Employment Service - we find work in the general community with identical pay and conditions as those enjoyed by people who dont have a disability....
Life Changers Required! Received yesterday:
I was unemployed for 24 years because of my disability. I was looking for a job for the last 2 and half years. With the help of (NOVA Staff) I found suitable job and working in the law company for last one year....
Try us!
Don't know about you but I have felt pretty bruised from all the horrible stuff brought upon us by this damn virus - seeing so many folk losing their jobs is particularly awful and the uncertainty generated for everyone, particularly for workers who have a disability is dreadful to see....
Best Ever II
Following from last post:
NOVA Employment has operated for 30 years. Comparing all results from previous years, February 2020 has been our most successful to date - Following on from January that's 2 in a row and every indication March will also be a record breaker....
Best Ever
NOVA Employment posted another 'best ever' result for the first month of 2020.
Despite the most dreadful natural disasters and with many businesses closed for the holidays, the NOVA team delivered more new workers than in any previous January results, beating past 5 years average by 25% and previous (2017) 'best ever' numbers by 5%....
Depressing cracked record!
A good friend will occasionally pull me up with the reminder that I have a tendency to rant, 'rave on slop jaw' if I remember correctly....
Big Win! Saturday night saw a big win for the NOVA team and for people with disability when our Podcast partners NOVA Entertainment- no relationship other than mates - received the following:
BEST ORIGINAL PODCAST - BRANDED
Focus On Ability; Nova Employment & the Nova Entertainment Podcast Team , NOVA Entertainment
BEST ORIGINAL PODCAST - UNBRANDED
Hamish & Andy; Hamish Blake & Andy Lee, PodcastOne Australi
Taken from the web: https://www....
Good Result!
Received the following yesterday morning:
Hi Nova, just wanted to give my feedback in regards to my mother getting a job through you guys and the amazing impact it has had!! The job that mum has received has changed her outlook on everything! She is now much more confident in her self and her abilities....
Welfare Benefits and Health
It is said that power corrupts, but actually it's truer that power attracts the corruptible. The sane are usually attracted by other things than power: David Brin
DES providers don't need nor should they have been given the authority to suspend welfare benefits (see above)....
Disgusting!
Disgusting!: https://probonoaustralia.com.au/news/2019/07/ndis-data-drop-reveals-severe-employment-gaps/
I have spoken previously on, to quote former President Bush, 'the soft bigotry of low expectations' - if you are a member of a marginalised group the public don't expect much and are surprised when anything much is achieved!
I've been in this game for more than 30 years and have been privileged to see literally thousands of terrific men and women leave NOVA To gain (and retain) great jobs....
Goodness me!
Goodness me!
Read this article: https://www.smh.com.au/national/no-lights-no-linen-how-alex-survived-for-six-years-on-newstart-20190717-p5284q....
Changing Attitudes
One of the hardest things to do is change a person's attitude - if they are favourably disposed to you, all's well and good - if someone holds a contrary view it's an uphill battle to change a mindset....
Subscribe to this Blog