Evidence for Community Employment Services
About
In the face of complex and unpredictable labour markets, clients with multiple barriers and limited resources, there has perhaps never been a time when an efficient, innovative and impactful employment service was more needed. Funders want to know that they are getting a strong return on investment and frontline employment services want the best possible outcomes for their clients, but current data management systems and professional support tools are limited and a culture of evaluation is not firmly established. From the perspective of frontline services, their data “goes into the ether” with no analysis coming back to them to inform their practice.
Governments across Canada are increasingly recognizing that more data is needed, both for the benefit of funders and employment services. Such data could capture indicators of client progress toward employment/training, uncover trends in client needs, highlight those interventions linked to the most positive outcomes and help create evidence-based refinements to the areas of service that are not resulting in desired outcomes. Such data could serve to inform policy and practice and, in the end, create stronger journeys to employment for citizens of Newfoundland and Labrador.
This project will enable employment services to provide tailored and timely interventions that result in the best employment outcomes for clients, communities and government.
Primary Research Questions
- What interventions, in what contexts, with what client profiles produce what result?
- How can this data be used to create system efficiencies and ensure services meet priority client needs and result in the outcomes clients and funders want?
Who
Research led by Collective Interchange Co-operative, in partnership with Canadian Career Development Foundation.
Where
Research to be conducted across agencies within the Avalon region of Newfoundland and Labrador.
When
June 2018 – March 2021 *This research project is completed.
Research Project Deliverables
Deliverables include a tailored PRIME tool, which is now being used across Canada and profiled by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) as a best practice. The data from PRIME demonstrates significant positive changes in clients across a robust range of employability indicators and outcomes as they progress through career/employment services.
This project has been transformative, demonstrating the dramatic impacts on the use of PRIME on clients served, on practitioners, their organizations and the broader service ecosystem in NL.
This slide deck was presented at a Stakeholder Briefing on March 25, 2021.
This video was presented at the NL Workforce Innovators Roundtable 2021 on October 5.
