Work coaches set to tackle long-term unemployment

The plans allows for work coaches to provide intensive support to around 65,000 sick and disabled people who have been unemployed long-term. The aim is to help them to break down barriers to work, and drive growth.

Work coaches are to provide support such as tailored employment recommendations, and help with CV writing and interview techniques.

The new plans are a part of the government’s ‘Plan for Change’ which aims to grow the economy by helping people who are economically inactive due to long-term sickness, into work.

These changes will impact the work of HR in a number of ways, according to Georgina Huntley, people and culture director at workforce solutions provider, Manpower Group. Such schemes will place more importance on inclusive hiring polices and reasonable adjustments in the workplace, she said.

Huntley told HR magazine: “The scheme will initially shift towards more inclusive hiring policies and procedures with employers and HR professionals. It will challenge them to play a more active role in these individuals’ success. We would then hope to see access to work grow, with a greater understanding among employers of reasonable adjustments.”

Deploying work coaches to assist unemployed people into work should also allow HR professionals to focus more on skills-based hiring over formal qualifications and flexible working models, Huntley added.

Yesterday’s initial results from the Department for Work and Pensions’ Perceptions Survey, which hasn’t yet been published in full, shows that 44% of disabled people and people with a health condition don’t trust the DWP to help people reach their full career potential.

Lucy Myers, founder of therapy and coaching provider Therapeutic Coaching Consultancy, emphasised the importance of exploring the nuances and assumptions of the government programme, and stressed that people who are coached should be supported, so that they are able to use work coaches to their benefit.

Myers told HR magazine: “By its nature, coaching requires a ‘partnership of equals’. It is built on the premise that ‘coachees’ have the physical and emotional resources to engage in a process that requires a certain amount of energy to create actionable change.”

Describing the government’s plan as an encouraging step, Vicky Walker, group director of people at health and wellbeing services provider, Westfield Health, stated that employers still have an important role to play.

Walker told HR magazine: “Employers have a crucial role to play, by fostering wellbeing-first work environments and offering support that’s tailored to their workers’ health needs.

“Workplace health and wellbeing must be at the centre of any response to the long-term sickness crisis. Wellbeing training for managers is another key area for businesses to invest in. No matter the size of the business, line managers should have the skills and confidence to identify mental and physical health challenges, so they can signpost to first-line support and reduce the long-term impact.”