The front page story in yesterday's Guardian (Unemployed bussed in to steward river pageant) and leading this morning's BBC London news may snowball to become another mess requiring the Government to consider a U-turn. It's claimed that unemployed people were coerced, under threat of losing benefits, to work as stewards at the Jubilee weekend and were forced to sleep rough and change into uniform in public, and had no access to toilets.
The story gave me goosebumps. Clean Slate is recruiting homeless people to work as stewards through this summer and beyond. And we work across Bristol, Bath and London. But we have nothing to do with the employer, Close Protection UK, or the Government’s Work Programme.
Clean Slate acknowledges our duty of care for the 40 plus stewards we're currently recruiting. In liaising with Green Stewards, who will take them on for paid work, we've covered ground like access to facilities, breaks and the usual entitlements employers must provide. Our candidates also did an unpaid NVQ weekend (ironically, taking people from London to the West Country) but Clean Slate ensured there was food, good accommodation and a tangible outcome that was more than the promise of paid work in future. What's more, there was no coercion at all. By contrast to the Jubilee weekend, our stewards found the weekend hugely beneficial as they became part of a team, overcame the challenges of a new environment and mixing with new colleagues, and learned about the job they would be doing. Working with Green Stewards and homelessness charities, in the wings to provide more pastoral support, we ensure there's a positive outcome for everyone.
For us, involving job seekers is about carrot more than stick, which is essentially ‘if you don’t prove what you have to offer, you’re unlikely to be offered work’. We have an honest partnership with job seekers about our needing them to do well. Our social enterprise is ostensibly a temp agency that recruits long-term unemployed people and places them in paid work with employers. We work in partnership with support agencies but our focus is on re-activating people who have been systematically switched off by their experience of unemployment. We look for the light switch and by focusing on all the potential they possess, and proving it to them by offering job ready people paid work, they become motivated and self-confident, ready to be part of the solution to their own unemployment.
Now I'm worried the flaws of a Government scheme, married with the drive for private sector profit, has sullied our own scheme to re-activate people, who are only too used to being treated without respect or dignity. It could pull the rug from underneath us. Our supporters, employer partners, funders and temporary workers now all need reassuring that we weren't involved in this weekend's debacle.
As seen in previous blogs, Clean Slate is opposed to mandatory work placements - forcing unemployed people to work for free or face losing their benefits. A day's productive work in a profit-making business must be paid for, otherwise it is state-sanctioned exploitation. Volunteering has a place for job seekers when it honestly provides training and valuable experience and, most of all, when it really is voluntary.
Having worked with people facing barriers to employment for the past 19 years - people who have been homeless, offenders, mentally ill, refugees or chronically socially excluded - I know how many can benefit from simple opportunities to get involved. They often jump at the chances and some will move on from there. But there has to be ethical guardianship in the mix to ensure this goodwill is not exploited.
Most unemployed people I speak to feel victimised by the state, stigmatised by the media and generally considered undeserving of benefits. They fear employers either won't be interested in them or will treat them badly. So it is totally counter-productive when a prospective employer like Close Protection UK drops the ball this way. Whichever agencies were supporting the volunteers also let them down.
This morning we'll be contacting all our stakeholders to distance ourselves from this appalling story. We will also write to all the job seekers on our books as Temp Workers to reassure them about our promise to look out for their wellbeing and how to blow the whistle if they feel they're being mistreated.
No doubt more details about, and repercussions from, the Jubilee story will emerge - good and bad - but Clean Slate must set out its ethical stall. While there are uncomfortably close similarities between this story and the opportunities we lay on for job seekers as stewards, we will always put the wellbeing of our workers first. We won't always get things right, and we have scant resources to be omnipotent, but we will never be part of mandatory work placements or leave people feeling exploited.
Showing posts with label unemployment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label unemployment. Show all posts
Wednesday, 6 June 2012
Thursday, 23 June 2011
Torch - part 2 (Generating Energy)
I met Shirley when she came to help me out about a year ago. I was hosting a visit from a homelessness charity from the Midlands. I hadn't had a chance to talk to her beforehand, so I was taking a bit of a gamble but what she said blew me away:
"I turned up at the Clean Slate office after 13 weeks on a job centre programme. I didn't even have a CV. And I had no idea what I wanted to do. I explained to the worker there that I've got no skills and no experience, I've been raising a family for 20 years.
"They said 'Are you kidding? 20 years raising a family? You have loads to offer.' And within two sessions I realised I had so many transferable skills and I set my sights on working in the care sector. Not working with kids, mind," Shirley had a proper Bristolian brogue. "I'm going to work with older people. And my CV proves it."
That's one light re-lit.
Clean Slate's job is to reactivate. To find the 'on' switch for all those systematically de-activated not only by unemployment itself but the systems and mechanisms supposedly designed to support them. We help them find their worth. You don't have to dig very deep. It's not rocket science. It's all there. As readily available as the weather.
So, I'm stood in front of a group of people already excited about Bristol becoming a net exporter of energy by harnessing the elements. I'm stood on the stage brandishing an imaginary torch. And the room is wondering where this is going.
The battery may be flat but it's not dead. Clean Slate helps the light flicker on. Then we need to charge it up.
We do this by providing people with paid work. Just a few hours a week, placed with employers through our temp agency or working directly for us delivering leaflets or packing condoms into sexual health kits, for example. It starts the motors stirring. Even rough sleepers and current drug users come away thinking: 'So I CAN work'. Our temps who we've placed soon want more hours, even if they lose out on their benefits. The guys (gender non-specific) using our walk-in centres get focussed, motivated and active in job search.
Lights go on.
And on.
And stay on.
"Can we directly link how we reactivate and re-energise job seekers to the vision of you environmentalists?" I ask.
What if our temps are delivering easy to read publications to people on low incomes (and everyone else for that matter) on ways to reduce utility bills? What if they spread the word in their own communities? What if we train up 50 job seekers in the skills required to help households install low energy products? What if they're available to do the lugging and hauling to get the solar panels to the rooves? What if some have the technical skills to fit the kit?
Lights go on across Bristol.
In communities. Within families. Within people.
"I turned up at the Clean Slate office after 13 weeks on a job centre programme. I didn't even have a CV. And I had no idea what I wanted to do. I explained to the worker there that I've got no skills and no experience, I've been raising a family for 20 years.
"They said 'Are you kidding? 20 years raising a family? You have loads to offer.' And within two sessions I realised I had so many transferable skills and I set my sights on working in the care sector. Not working with kids, mind," Shirley had a proper Bristolian brogue. "I'm going to work with older people. And my CV proves it."
That's one light re-lit.
Clean Slate's job is to reactivate. To find the 'on' switch for all those systematically de-activated not only by unemployment itself but the systems and mechanisms supposedly designed to support them. We help them find their worth. You don't have to dig very deep. It's not rocket science. It's all there. As readily available as the weather.
So, I'm stood in front of a group of people already excited about Bristol becoming a net exporter of energy by harnessing the elements. I'm stood on the stage brandishing an imaginary torch. And the room is wondering where this is going.
The battery may be flat but it's not dead. Clean Slate helps the light flicker on. Then we need to charge it up.
We do this by providing people with paid work. Just a few hours a week, placed with employers through our temp agency or working directly for us delivering leaflets or packing condoms into sexual health kits, for example. It starts the motors stirring. Even rough sleepers and current drug users come away thinking: 'So I CAN work'. Our temps who we've placed soon want more hours, even if they lose out on their benefits. The guys (gender non-specific) using our walk-in centres get focussed, motivated and active in job search.
Lights go on.
And on.
And stay on.
"Can we directly link how we reactivate and re-energise job seekers to the vision of you environmentalists?" I ask.
What if our temps are delivering easy to read publications to people on low incomes (and everyone else for that matter) on ways to reduce utility bills? What if they spread the word in their own communities? What if we train up 50 job seekers in the skills required to help households install low energy products? What if they're available to do the lugging and hauling to get the solar panels to the rooves? What if some have the technical skills to fit the kit?
Lights go on across Bristol.
In communities. Within families. Within people.
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.
Monday, 17 May 2010
Praise Indeed!
The good people of Bath Abbey raised £20,000 for Clean Slate on Easter Sunday. I received a call on the Thursday before Easter to ask if I could link what we do to the Christian message and it didn't take long. Being 'Clean Slate', and all. So, I wrote down a few lines about putting the sins of the past behind and new beginnings, and handed over to the Rector. I didn't think any more of it until I got the phone call to say not only how much had been pledged but that it had been done in 90 seconds. What an endorsement.
Something chimed with the congregation louder than just the neat link between the Easter theme and how we give people the opportunity to put their past behind them and prove their worth through honest work.
Whatever our beliefs, we're not immune or removed from the world around us. A sense of impoverishment descended on us with the so-called 'Credit Crunch' way before hardship hit most people, except those affected by redundancies in the first wave. Now we know it's going to get harder, it's like waiting for the bomb to drop - only we know who it's going to hit first. What Clean Slate did was give people in Bath an opportunity to help us build the first air raid shelter. I won't glibly suggest there's something of the spirit of the blitz about it but there was an outpouring of goodwill that gave us an adrenaline boost like nothing else could. We have to channel that now to show we can provide the means for individuals to overcome unemployment and poverty.
We acted quickly: We've found an office and a coordinator to get us started part-time. We have three employers in Bath pledging us 14 placements of paid work for our Temp Workers there. And last week we uncovered the opportunity to pilot a project we've wanted to do since before we even started trading: Clean Slate TalentShop.
I'll come back to TalentShop but I wanted to place a marker against this support in pockets of our community. We're all affected by the recession and many of those lucky enough to have more protection against the ill effects have empathy towards those who do not.
Clean Slate's job is to galvanise this support and turn it into opportunity. We can also utilise it to strengthen our voice when it comes to where public spending gets cut. We have to ensure the will of the public, and their belief in second chances and the power of individuals to help themselves, is reflected in Government policy.
Something chimed with the congregation louder than just the neat link between the Easter theme and how we give people the opportunity to put their past behind them and prove their worth through honest work.
Whatever our beliefs, we're not immune or removed from the world around us. A sense of impoverishment descended on us with the so-called 'Credit Crunch' way before hardship hit most people, except those affected by redundancies in the first wave. Now we know it's going to get harder, it's like waiting for the bomb to drop - only we know who it's going to hit first. What Clean Slate did was give people in Bath an opportunity to help us build the first air raid shelter. I won't glibly suggest there's something of the spirit of the blitz about it but there was an outpouring of goodwill that gave us an adrenaline boost like nothing else could. We have to channel that now to show we can provide the means for individuals to overcome unemployment and poverty.
We acted quickly: We've found an office and a coordinator to get us started part-time. We have three employers in Bath pledging us 14 placements of paid work for our Temp Workers there. And last week we uncovered the opportunity to pilot a project we've wanted to do since before we even started trading: Clean Slate TalentShop.
I'll come back to TalentShop but I wanted to place a marker against this support in pockets of our community. We're all affected by the recession and many of those lucky enough to have more protection against the ill effects have empathy towards those who do not.
Clean Slate's job is to galvanise this support and turn it into opportunity. We can also utilise it to strengthen our voice when it comes to where public spending gets cut. We have to ensure the will of the public, and their belief in second chances and the power of individuals to help themselves, is reflected in Government policy.
Saturday, 7 November 2009
Blog 2 - No 10
People who know me know I’m not someone to crow about accolades. I’ll happily big up projects I work for and the difference they make but other things come less easily. But friends have persuaded me to get out here about the invitation I’ve received to 10 Downing Street to celebrate Social Enterprise Day with the Prime Minister and a large cohort of other leaders in the field.
And I’m looking for your help.
Most people might be single-mindedly thinking about what they could make of the opportunity. I’m mostly expecting either that I’ll get struck down by swine flu or some international disaster will put paid to the event altogether. I have form on the latter point.
At The Big Issue we spent the first year of my time in London planning its tenth anniversary. It became a focal point for each department in the organisation, pulling together after years without cohesion or much of a shared vision. I banked a lot on it. We lined up a series of three special editions, organised the launch of a Midlands edition and won the favour of news outlets both local and national. The BBC had promised a news segment every night of the week we reached double figures.
There was a real buzz but we feared something would screw it up. What was the killer headline we had to avoid? It was 2001 and the weekend before festivities, every member of staff was under instruction to pray for the good health of the Queen Mum, who’d just turned 101. In fact, we were so concerned, the Big Issue editor asked a respected news journalist whether there were whispers of her demise... which in turn launched a rumour there were fears for her health.
By the date of the anniversary, the Queen Mum was fine. September 10th went tremendously but, for obvious reasons, from the next day on, the rest of our celebrations were somewhat subdued.
So, canapés with Gordon...
While I’m assuming the worst about getting there, I’m not assuming for a moment I’ll have any kind of audience with the PM. But what if? Surely everyone in the room will want to make an impression even though it’s unfeasible any business can be done except between the entrepreneurs in the room. But what if?
How do you think I would make an impression? I’m imagining a 60 second window to reply, profoundly, to one of a number of killer questions. It’s a short list of possible enquiries: What do you do? How did Clean Slate come about? What is the single thing the Government could do to make the biggest impact on social enterprise?
The conversation is a fantasy scenario but I’m intrigued about what YOU think. I think I have the first two covered but what would transform the lot of those of us in business to make a difference? Or for that matter, to change the lives of the people we work with?
Answers on a postcard please, click COMMENT below. Lines close on the 18th November.
And I’m looking for your help.
Most people might be single-mindedly thinking about what they could make of the opportunity. I’m mostly expecting either that I’ll get struck down by swine flu or some international disaster will put paid to the event altogether. I have form on the latter point.
At The Big Issue we spent the first year of my time in London planning its tenth anniversary. It became a focal point for each department in the organisation, pulling together after years without cohesion or much of a shared vision. I banked a lot on it. We lined up a series of three special editions, organised the launch of a Midlands edition and won the favour of news outlets both local and national. The BBC had promised a news segment every night of the week we reached double figures.
There was a real buzz but we feared something would screw it up. What was the killer headline we had to avoid? It was 2001 and the weekend before festivities, every member of staff was under instruction to pray for the good health of the Queen Mum, who’d just turned 101. In fact, we were so concerned, the Big Issue editor asked a respected news journalist whether there were whispers of her demise... which in turn launched a rumour there were fears for her health.
By the date of the anniversary, the Queen Mum was fine. September 10th went tremendously but, for obvious reasons, from the next day on, the rest of our celebrations were somewhat subdued.
So, canapés with Gordon...
While I’m assuming the worst about getting there, I’m not assuming for a moment I’ll have any kind of audience with the PM. But what if? Surely everyone in the room will want to make an impression even though it’s unfeasible any business can be done except between the entrepreneurs in the room. But what if?
How do you think I would make an impression? I’m imagining a 60 second window to reply, profoundly, to one of a number of killer questions. It’s a short list of possible enquiries: What do you do? How did Clean Slate come about? What is the single thing the Government could do to make the biggest impact on social enterprise?
The conversation is a fantasy scenario but I’m intrigued about what YOU think. I think I have the first two covered but what would transform the lot of those of us in business to make a difference? Or for that matter, to change the lives of the people we work with?
Answers on a postcard please, click COMMENT below. Lines close on the 18th November.
Saturday, 10 October 2009
Good Vibrations
It seemed like a good idea at the time. It is a good idea. But sometimes you have to be careful what you wish for.
What we’re wishing for is two or three employers to take on a couple of unemployed people. This has been a long time in the planning. Six years or more during which we’ve piloted one business that employs people who are homeless, in recovery, ex-offenders or just long-time out of work. We’ve raised the funding, written the plan, done the research. In that order. Arse upwards. It’s what social entrepreneurs call ‘organic’.
Anyway, the research meant we could prove that we knew what we were talking about. We gathered responses from people with so-called workless backgrounds in the Bath area. We know about their job aspirations. And we know what is holding them back. (Download the report, Aspiring to More, at http://www.cleanslateltd.co.uk)
Our big idea is to be a temp agency for unemployable people. So we need to know what employers think. Would they ever in a million years take someone on with a history of offending, homelessness or drug misuse? Or in what circumstances? We really believe many jobless people will step up to the mark once the opportunity is placed before them.
The feedback was encouraging and a couple of possible employers emerged and, slightly greedy for more, we asked those contacts to ask their contacts.
It was difficult to tell whether one email response was apologetic, sympathetic but frustrated or a simple ‘no’. It was a shame because warehouse work is probably a good place to start for some of our guys. And it would be great to have our first employer placement in the hard-nosed, no-nonsense private sector. Someone to stand on a pedestal and sing our praises. But the UK Sex Toy Superstore?
It’s not what I imagined.
Luckily or unluckily, the ‘no’ was still a ‘no’. It turns out that not only would they not want to take someone on with a criminal record, they were still smarting after their own robbery a year ago. ‘Thieves create a buzz’ was the headline after burglars swiped ‘six boxes of used sex toys’. I know, I know, that’s too much information but the salient point I wanted to make is that it goes to show that employers are already contending with the issues that some of our Temp Workers will have. This one may not be the best example but how many businesses already unwittingly employ ex-offenders, problem drinkers, and staff with mental health problems. Why does it seem like such a leap to knowingly take someone on with any of those issues, especially if it’s confronted and dealt with?
What we’re wishing for is two or three employers to take on a couple of unemployed people. This has been a long time in the planning. Six years or more during which we’ve piloted one business that employs people who are homeless, in recovery, ex-offenders or just long-time out of work. We’ve raised the funding, written the plan, done the research. In that order. Arse upwards. It’s what social entrepreneurs call ‘organic’.
Anyway, the research meant we could prove that we knew what we were talking about. We gathered responses from people with so-called workless backgrounds in the Bath area. We know about their job aspirations. And we know what is holding them back. (Download the report, Aspiring to More, at http://www.cleanslateltd.co.uk)
Our big idea is to be a temp agency for unemployable people. So we need to know what employers think. Would they ever in a million years take someone on with a history of offending, homelessness or drug misuse? Or in what circumstances? We really believe many jobless people will step up to the mark once the opportunity is placed before them.
The feedback was encouraging and a couple of possible employers emerged and, slightly greedy for more, we asked those contacts to ask their contacts.
It was difficult to tell whether one email response was apologetic, sympathetic but frustrated or a simple ‘no’. It was a shame because warehouse work is probably a good place to start for some of our guys. And it would be great to have our first employer placement in the hard-nosed, no-nonsense private sector. Someone to stand on a pedestal and sing our praises. But the UK Sex Toy Superstore?
It’s not what I imagined.
Luckily or unluckily, the ‘no’ was still a ‘no’. It turns out that not only would they not want to take someone on with a criminal record, they were still smarting after their own robbery a year ago. ‘Thieves create a buzz’ was the headline after burglars swiped ‘six boxes of used sex toys’. I know, I know, that’s too much information but the salient point I wanted to make is that it goes to show that employers are already contending with the issues that some of our Temp Workers will have. This one may not be the best example but how many businesses already unwittingly employ ex-offenders, problem drinkers, and staff with mental health problems. Why does it seem like such a leap to knowingly take someone on with any of those issues, especially if it’s confronted and dealt with?
Still, I think we got off lightly. The sex toy warehouse might not have been the most advantageous first placement. But still, I can’t help feeling we got told where to stick it.
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