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.
Showing posts with label employers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label employers. Show all posts
Tuesday, 10 January 2012
Monday, 7 June 2010
Careful What You Wish For
Now the pressure's on. That saying 'Be careful what you wish for because it might come true' is constantly in my mind. Clean Slate has, to an extent, being playing the long game, and just maybe it's going to come off. But all at once.
There's still only a core team of three - soon to be three and a half, courtesy of the Bath Abbey money. But last Thursday a commission was confirmed for us to start a schools outreach programme, employing, training and supporting an ex-homeless person as a public speaker to up to 5,000 15 and 16 year olds. And Friday, a call came in from a key employer confirming their Board's approval to help us create 10 paid work placements for our Temp Workers across their business. The heat is on.
So, the idea remains to place so-called unemployable people into paid work with mainstream employers. We act as a temp agency. We match unemployed people, based on their interests, strengths and job goals, with the placements available. But unlike Reed and Manpower, we act as an extra pair of hands overseeing the placement, supporting supervisors through hiccups that may inevitably come up and providing training and development opportunities behind the scene. Of course, there's a mark up between the workers pay and the charge we make per hour but that won't be money for nothing. The premium will be well-earned but there's no doubt we're asking employers to take a leap of faith.
When I worked at The Big Issue, we found most new readers of the magazine bought it originally out of support both for the vendor and the organisation. Even my own mother said: 'But once you look inside, it's actually quite good, isn't it!' The hope is that Clean Slate will open doors the same way.
When we say 'mainstream employers', a lot of our contacts breathe a sigh of relief thinking we mean 'private sector'. But it's the public and third sector we're looking to first - they're still employers. (Public sector bodies are often the largest in local areas.) So we've had an in principle 'yes' from one local authority, a housing association and a local faith-based organisation. Between them pledging 14 placements. Now we have to convert these pledges to action.
I'm imagining each of those placements bringing their own challenges but with Clean Slate in the background each individual gets two managers. Sounds intensive but when people have been set adrift with only the Job Centre for support and guidance, there's potentially a whole lot of work to be done before workers feel trusted and trusting, confident and competent. And that will apply to many of our customers too, when it comes to getting the best out of workless people.
In theory, if each placement enjoys the full support of two managers and two organisations, and if the Temp Worker can find the wherewithal to make all that support work for them, the hourly rate will be justified in spades. Our small team should find itself complemented by the efforts of our workforce of Temp Workers - some 40-50 strong. And added to by the staff teams at each of our customers workplaces. So, rather than feel daunted by the opportunities, we should soon be able to feel less like a unit of three and a half and more like a team of dozens.
There's still only a core team of three - soon to be three and a half, courtesy of the Bath Abbey money. But last Thursday a commission was confirmed for us to start a schools outreach programme, employing, training and supporting an ex-homeless person as a public speaker to up to 5,000 15 and 16 year olds. And Friday, a call came in from a key employer confirming their Board's approval to help us create 10 paid work placements for our Temp Workers across their business. The heat is on.
So, the idea remains to place so-called unemployable people into paid work with mainstream employers. We act as a temp agency. We match unemployed people, based on their interests, strengths and job goals, with the placements available. But unlike Reed and Manpower, we act as an extra pair of hands overseeing the placement, supporting supervisors through hiccups that may inevitably come up and providing training and development opportunities behind the scene. Of course, there's a mark up between the workers pay and the charge we make per hour but that won't be money for nothing. The premium will be well-earned but there's no doubt we're asking employers to take a leap of faith.
When I worked at The Big Issue, we found most new readers of the magazine bought it originally out of support both for the vendor and the organisation. Even my own mother said: 'But once you look inside, it's actually quite good, isn't it!' The hope is that Clean Slate will open doors the same way.
When we say 'mainstream employers', a lot of our contacts breathe a sigh of relief thinking we mean 'private sector'. But it's the public and third sector we're looking to first - they're still employers. (Public sector bodies are often the largest in local areas.) So we've had an in principle 'yes' from one local authority, a housing association and a local faith-based organisation. Between them pledging 14 placements. Now we have to convert these pledges to action.
I'm imagining each of those placements bringing their own challenges but with Clean Slate in the background each individual gets two managers. Sounds intensive but when people have been set adrift with only the Job Centre for support and guidance, there's potentially a whole lot of work to be done before workers feel trusted and trusting, confident and competent. And that will apply to many of our customers too, when it comes to getting the best out of workless people.
In theory, if each placement enjoys the full support of two managers and two organisations, and if the Temp Worker can find the wherewithal to make all that support work for them, the hourly rate will be justified in spades. Our small team should find itself complemented by the efforts of our workforce of Temp Workers - some 40-50 strong. And added to by the staff teams at each of our customers workplaces. So, rather than feel daunted by the opportunities, we should soon be able to feel less like a unit of three and a half and more like a team of dozens.
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