Monday 23 January 2012

Profiting from Unemployment

The case of Cait Reilly suing the Government is surprising because it is surprising. She's the geology graduate going to the High Court for being forced to work for free in Poundland or face losing her Job Seekers Allowance.

It's surprising because so many people already think it's an unjust system. For me, I think it's outrageous that private businesses benefit from millions of pounds worth of labour, subsidised by the taxpayer. They're having their cake and eating it by taking on free, State-sponsored labour and boosting their reputation for doing so. There's no irony that Poundland last year bucked the struggling high street retail sector trend to announce record profits, up 30-odd percent on the previous year.

Of course, I'm all in favour of work experience as an invaluable means to prove a job seeker means business about employment. Clean Slate is founded on this premise but also on the deal that while you're proving yourself, you should also be directly rewarded for your efforts - by the beneficiary, ie, the employer. This demonstrates respect and forms the fundamental contract between the worker and the boss, and this cannot be artificially engendered without money changing hands.

Cait Reilly wouldn't generally qualify as a Clean Slate Temp Worker because she's not so disadvantaged in the labour market and is clearly well-motivated in herself, having lined up volunteering in a museum more closely alligned to her career of choice. That only shows how badly wrong Job Centre Plus are getting things.

I don't agree that as someone from a relatively privileged background she should 'get over herself' as some pundits have said - some of those pundits are commenting from an equally privileged position, probably more so. I think Reilly has a good point - one made privately by thousands of poorer people who wouldn't get a look in in the media, let alone have the stomach to take on the Government.

I had a bit of a barney with Business in the Community not so long ago. Why should private, profit-making businesses get free labour from homeless people just because they're homeless and because they should think themselves lucky enough to have something to add to their CV? Even if it leads to a job, it saves the company the cost of recruitment or at least the gamble of taking on an unknown.

Job Centre Plus is lining up similar placements for 50,000 job seekers. That's 3.5 million hours handed to employers for free. That's almost £25m of staff costs underwritten by Government. (And I don't buy the argument about employers' management time, as they'd have to provide that anyway to temp staff, they save on recruitment/ induction costs if they take on the job seekers, and it doesn't take much training for stacking shelves.)

Obviously I have an agenda. Oddly, it's quite a corporate one. Clean Slate is doing what Job Centre Plus fails to do: prepares people for work in practical skills and in attitude. We pump prime people to build their confidence. And, where people opt for work experience, work is matched 100 percent to their ability to make something of the opportunity and it's paid*. We also put in a whole load of legwork with the employers to ensure they fit the bill and negotiate what gaps we need to fill in if training or support cannot be offered on the job. (*Our Temp Workers declare their earnings, often losing money pound for pound, and work within the restrictive welfare thresholds to avoid being forced off benefits before they're ready.)

Hopefully, I've made Clean Slate's case well enough not to sound to arrogant but: When we're doing so much better, why should we have to compete with State-subsidised schemes that under-value job seekers and profit mainstream companies?

So, we'll be watching Cait Reilly's progress with interest. I doubt she stands much chance but I hope she gets plenty of attention - less reactionary and sensationalist than it's been to date, at that.

Tuesday 10 January 2012

One Percent Inspiration (99 Percent Aspiration)

As always, I'm working on the big leap forward. The idea for 2012 is to focus on the biggest area of concern for me, in all I'm working on: The worsening crisis for young unemployed people and families.

My projects, Clean Slate and Quids in! magazine, have a raft of ideas and everyone can get involved: Everyone following on Twitter, on Facebook, through networks and across towns and cities in England, Wales and, soon, Scotland.

I'm not going to waste time here moaning about their plight in the face of rising unemployment, benefit cuts and a society that would rather cast blame than look at itself and wonder how we came to this. In any case, I want to get on with the job in hand: Inspiring people to find their own way out of the crap they're in.

And maybe they don't consider themselves to be in the poo. A good friend of mine told me yesterday about her 16-year old stepson who's finished school and is happy now to stay out until four, sleep in until midday and let his mother keep him for at least another couple of years. Luckily, his Dad has other ideas. He recognises that once people, whatever their age, stop moving forward, they fall backwards. Opportunities close and they make do with a life where they don't reach their potential.

For many families, unemployment affects the kids, mums, dads and grandparents too. They're not necessarily the passive victims of unemployment that maybe that statement suggests, but they'll soon be the unwilling recipients of cuts to welfare payments that, when everyone in a household is affected, are gonna hurt. Economically, the balance may tip in favour of family members finding work but it's going to take more than starving people to break the culture of dependency, defeated (and self-defeating) attitudes, and the fact that there are fewer jobs.

Quids in! magazine already offers money management advice to people in social housing. We work closely with social landlords and the last issue reached over 160,000 households. We plan to launch in Scotland in March. We want to attend as many community events as we can, distributing Quids in! and new easy-to-read publications (designed like Take a Break, not your typical advice guides) on how to make ends meet as times get tougher. Which they will. Anyone who could use these publications with the people they work with can get involved. Contact me at jeff@cleanslateltd.co.uk

I'm working on new magazine titles for young people. We (ie, anyone who wants to combat youth disaffection and unemployment) need to engage 14-19 year olds on their terms. Commercial media do this everyday. It will be a challenge to be socially responsible when young people's interests might lie in shoot-em-up gaming, rap music and getting as much as possible in life for free, but these are our ways into their world view. I want to engage and inspire young people to aspire to more. If what we saw on the streets last year was anything to do with our society promising they could have it all and then failing to deliver, we can reposition that promise - they can have it but they have to work for it. If we can't make that point in Olympic year, we never will.

I'm developing a new service for schools. I don't believe they're set up to help students for whom the academic route is a non-starter. Our work with those furthest from the labour market translates directly by engaging with people's strengths and interests, raising their aspirations, and setting short and long-term goals and establishing realistic expectations about the real world and how its down to the individual to make things happen. Interested? Drop me a line.

Youth unemployment now tops one million in the UK. Job Centre Plus is not fit for the purpose of preparing job seekers for employment, its policing role is counter-productive in this, and the dehumanising experience of signing on is universal, something I've heard reported in EVERY project where I meet unemployed people. The possibility of an entire generation going to waste, as employers and the under-25s themselves buy into the myth that they're unemployable, is now too big a risk to leave to Government.

I'm calling on employers in London, the West of England and South Wales to stand up and be counted. I'm not asking them to take on risk, incur undue costs or cope with miles of red tape but I am asking them to take a small leap of faith by using Clean Slate as a temp agency, where they can 'try before they buy' for recruiting permanent staff or offer a few paid hours a week for Temp Workers that need to prove themselves and acclimatise to the world of work. (See www.cleanslateltd.co.uk)

The ideas are there. But we need to hook up with employers, teachers, parents and commissioners with a shared vision for doing something practical to tackle youth disaffection and the unemployment that's damaging families. Sign up to follow our progress. Get behind us on Twitter and Retweet. Get in touch to make the ideas above a reality.