Following on from last month’s IEP Digital Technology Conference, one take away that stood out, is the need to embrace digital technology within the employability sector, but not to the detriment of the human interaction.
Dr Jo Ingold FIEP FRSA Associate Professor from Deakin Business School, Melbourne, covered the results of her recent study; looking at the UK vs Australia employability sector and how they have embraced digital employment services. The findings supported something we have always said is paramount. Employability must remain a human service with two people interacting. Digital technology is a great enabler and can make both the advisors and the job seekers life easier; but the active ingredient to success is the trust between two humans.
We understand that employability by its very nature, has to evolve, as the labour market it supports also evolves.
From its origins in Welfare-to-Work programmes of the 90’s and noughties to now looking at a post-Covid era, which has seen 1 in 10 people employed before the Covid-19 crisis losing their job. According to the Office of Business Responsibility (OBR), there were approximately 1.55 million unemployed people in the UK in the 3 months to July 2021. With furlough coming to an end last month this figure is set to rise. This will mean a large increase in newly unemployed; yet employable workers as well as the underlying long term unemployed, and this will require a fundamentally different approach.
Welfare to Work’s fundamental purpose was to support long-term unemployed people find work and come off unemployment benefits.
Generational and health-based unemployment that was founded in the late-70’s, meant many families and communities had never been to work. These programmes co-existed with the public employment services of the time and later provided by Jobcentre Plus (JCP).
Developing digital services, systems and processes that can ensure advisers add value to the hardest to reach and manage high caseloads effectively, will be crucial. Self-service, paperless onboarding, remote support, vacancy matching and other online resources will provide the infrastructure, but highly trained personable advisers as always are the key!
CogniSoft has built a reputation over the last 35 years, for supporting employability providers; to manage client caseloads and deliver data driven programme excellence. Whilst also supporting the advisor in their role to build and maintain a relationship with the people they are supporting effectively and accurately. Our 20 years of experience in employability, working across multiple programmes has meant we have evolved in line with the needs of the sector and our digital case management system offer a best-in-class solution.
If you would like CogniSoft to help you with your employability programme please contact us here today.
