Transcript Effective practices in program

EFFECTIVE PROGRAM
PRACTICES
Key Operating Principles
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Provide a focus on retention from day one
Create an atmosphere of employment
Smooth transitions from core, intensive, and
training services to placement to retention
Set high expectations and offer lots of support
 Maintain
a close relationship before and after
placement
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Adopt a “whole person” philosophy
Include employer contact
Create an Environment of Employment
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Provide services that model work.
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Create a virtual workplace, maintain a culture of
employment for participants during any and all interactions
including training or orientation prior to job placement. For
example, participants may be expected to:
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Attend classes/workshops 8 hrs a day 5 days a week
Dress for work
Punch a time clock/ Sign in and out
Use only workplace vocabulary and manners
Maintain clean, well organized, professional looking
facilities.
Promote staff understanding of retention as a “bottom
line” business concept.
Smooth Transitions from Core, Intensive and
Training Services to Placement to Retention
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Use Labor Market Information to help clients
succeed.
Establish a strong personal bond between
client and Career Center staff during program
and this will help during follow-up.
Improve client to employer match.
Keep in touch with employer to identify and
solve early retention challenges.
Strengthen the agency/employer relationship
by offering supervisor training support.
Set High Expectations and Offer Lots
and Lots of Support
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Develop and regularly update Individual Employment
Plan to obtain the skills, education, and experience
needed to obtain employment and advance in the
workplace
Maintain frequent, systematic contact after job
placement. For example:
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Contact each day via a phone call before or after work for
the first 5 days of employment. Talk over everything that
happens at work.
Contact once a week for the next 6 months of employment.
Contact once a month after the first 6 months of
employment unless a personal crisis requires more
intensive contact.
Adopt a “Whole Person” Philosophy
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Maintain a network of services that support the whole personupdate/enhance local resource directories/engage community
partners
Identify emergency support services networks
(transportation/childcare)
Help clients plan efficient and inexpensive transportation routes
Prove bus passes/tokens for commuting to work (for at least 3
months after starting a job).
Pay initial employment expenses (clothing, tools, etc.).
Provide support payments for one-time emergencies (such as initial
rent deposits, car repairs or care insurance) interesting but
financially challenging
Establish non-traditional schedules for staff providing follow-up –
very important!!!
Management by Outcome
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Hold staff and managers accountable for
results
 Set
goals for each staff member’s caseload: tie
goals to the local office staffing pattern, for
example:
 Place
90% of participants in jobs and or education
 Retain 80% of the participants who were placed in
jobs or education
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Ensure that your MIS system tracks before
and after placement.
Include Employer Contact
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Practices:
Retention services are designed to incorporate job
retention services into the rhythm of the workday and
avoid disrupting the job. (Contact clients for business
lunch or during scheduled break) Talk briefly with
supervisor at time he/she has identified as
convenient.
 Offer retention topics in employer friendly workshops
on a regular basis- Use local champions: Employers,
chambers, professional organizations
 Establish contact schedule for employer and
employee from beginning of employment
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Include Employer Contact (cont.)
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Practices:
Job developers call employers 2 or 3 days after job
starts to make appointment to meet the employer or
supervisor. During the meeting, leave phone number
and beeper number for use as needed. Demonstrate
problem solving skills.
 Job developers call the employer at the end of the 4
to 6 weeks of employment for an update. Contact
periodically as needed thereafter. Establish this early
on for any system placement.
 Negotiate this as appropriate if independent job match
occurs. Make this customer friendly, not agency
convenient!
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Managing Staff Resources
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Create a “Career Center Demand Curve” and
assign staff to provide services when and
where they are needed.
Triage . . . Ask basic questions up front assign
services “path,” individual/group functional
teams.
Create an Integrated Service Model with
Functional Teams (Core A, Core B, Intensive
Training, Placement, Job Development . . .)
Managing Staff Resources (contd.)
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Institute a regular “Case conferencing” . . . Be
strategic about enrollment and exits
Look at staff/client rations to manage Core,
Intensive, and Training caseloads
Develop sound and effective follow-up practices
First 3-4 weeks, set an appointment to call or visit
every week.
 Weeks 5-8, set an appointment to call or visit biweekly
 Always have 3-4 job referrals ready to offer
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Integrated Services Model
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Provides a framework for organizing work and
client flow, based on 3 levels of services
(Core, Intensive, Training).
Organizes WIA staff into “functional teams.”
Teams are “fluid” and overlap.
Integrated Services Model (contd.)
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Teams are designed to rotate among levels of
service (i.e., Team “A” provides Core A/B
services for 3 months, then rotates to provide
Intensive then Training).
Most staff engage clients in “initial
assessment” and basic up-front stage
All clients are shared
Group A: Career Exploration
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No significant work history; work history with long absences from
the labor market
Who:
Youth
What kind of services
work:
Program/Partner
Resources:
Disabled
OJT
Displaced
homemakers
Skills Training, but not
stand alone
WIA Plan Managers
(Training Services)
Recently released from Work experience
combined with skills
jail/prison
training
Long term welfare
Volunteer work
recipients
combined with skills
training
Wagner-Peyser
Employment
Counselors
TANF
Rehab Services
Group B: Career Advancement
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Work history, but inconsistent, not showing advancement, not
immediately career ready due to skills mismatch or skill level does
not indicate ability for career growth
Who:
Job seekers who do not
consider themselves
“job ready”
Do not have a
job/career goal
Have limited ability to
create/use job
search tools
Have poor/limited work
history
Lack basic skills
Can’t define job match
to skills
What kind of services work:
These customers are sorted into
two categories of services
categories (Core Services)
grouped by common barriers so
that strategies are appropriate
to the groups:
Not job ready (lack/mismatch of
skills)
Not job ready due to work history
issues (none, poor, multiple jobs
in short time, dead end, etc.)
Fast tract to training following initial
assessment;
Need “Retention” services
Training and part time work
Program/ Partner
Resources:
WIA Plan Managers
(Training
Services)
Wagner-Peyser
Employment
Counselors
TANF
Rehab Services
Group C: Employment Express
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Working, or not working but job ready as indicated by only needing
job search tools and/or information
Who:
Consider themselves
job ready
Have a job goal
Have or can easily gain
job search skills/tools
Only need “brush-up”,
i.e., updated resume
Only request
information, i.e., job
listings or application
Recent academic
achievement
What kind of services
work:
Program/ Partner
Resources:
Full-time job
Wagner-Peyser
Employment
Counselors
Skills training, but not stand
alone
Full-time job w/part-time
training w/or without
Career Center financial
assistance
Job Developer
(WIA/W-P)
Instructors (WIA)
Triage Approach
Managing
performance
begins at the
Core Services
level
Determining the Appropriate
Mix of Service Levels and
Activities
1. Are you currently
working?
Example
Yes
Sorting
Customers by
Service Needs
2. When did you last
work? (timeframe will
predict level/intensity of
services provided)
No
12+
Months
Group “B” or “C”
2
weeks
Group “A”
Group “B” or “C”
3. What type of work have you done?
4. Do you want to go
back to the same job?
Yes
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Group “C”
No
Group “A,” “B,” or “C”
Group “B”
Summing it all up . . .
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Ensure all staff understand that performance
standards matter by continually emphasizing
the importance of work before and after
placement.
Develop clean, efficient and easily accessible
data that can tell the team what’s happening
with the client.
Create an environment that is highly focused
on results.
. . . Summing it all up
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Develop partnerships and promote teams.
Emphasize the “core mission” . . . WORK,
WAGES, ADVANCEMENT.
Get organized and offer lots of support.
Train and continually communicate service
expectations.