Emerging needs - the impact of COVID-19 on the delivery of employability services

Description

Background: The rapidly changing situation associated with COVID-19 presents challenges for the delivery of support, with the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2020) stating, in August 2020, that there is ‘much more to learn about the transmissibility, severity, and other features associated with COVID-19 and investigations are ongoing’. Objective: The purpose of this paper is to explore the experiences of organisations delivering Employability Services in the United Kingdom Participants and Setting: Research was conducted with organisations, delivering Employability Services, for vulnerable people in Northamptonshire. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were analysed with a thematic analysis approach with practitioners (n = 15) delivering Employability Services. Thematic analysis led to the identification of four core themes: emerging needs for participants; delivering support in a pandemic; managing stress and well-being; and adaption and innovation. Results: Findings illustrate that practitioners delivering Employability Services experience pressure to adapt services to address participants needs. This pressure is not always negative, with practitioners referring to opportunities and innovation. Developing effective and innovative support is critical for alleviating the inequatilies that impact on family, work and communities. Conclusions: Unemployment and job-insecurity had negative consequences on the financial situation of the programme participants, especially lose from low-income households. This, in turn, impacts on their well-being (Blustein et al. 2020). Understanding the emerging needs of individuals experiencing unemployment and economic inactivity allows organisations to develop effective and sustainable support that help individuals enter the workplace.

Period	24 Jun 2022
Event title	Work-Family Justice: Practices, Partnerships & Possibilities: WFRN 6th Biennial Conference JUNE 23-25, 2022 in NYC
Event type	Conference
Location	New York, United States, New YorkShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International