Employer engagement in active labour market programmes in the UK and Denmark : Final report

[Extract of Summary] This report presents findings from a comparative mixed methods study of employer engagement in active labour market programmes (ALMPs) in the UK and Denmark. The report focuses on findings from 103 in-depth semi-structured qualitative interviews with employers and organisations delivering (ALMPs) (‘providers’) in the UK4 and Denmark.
• Employers in both countries were positively disposed towards unemployed candidates but were critical of ALMPs, which they considered unsuited to their needs.
• Employers felt that benefit conditionality and ALMPs could ‘tarnish’ candidates and were dissatisfied about receiving large numbers of job applications as a result of conditionality and entitlement conditions, particularly in the UK.
• UK employers were discouraged from engaging in ALMPs due to the large number of programmes and providers, lack of knowledge and clarity about their value and how to access them.
• Danish employers were more knowledgeable about ALMPs and positively disposed towards them but felt that they were not focused on hiring individuals into sustained, permanent employment.
Employers considered themselves to be engaged when they felt committed towards ALMPs. In the UK, 23% of employers considered themselves to be engaged on an ‘instrumental’ (ad hoc) level and 33% on a ‘relational’ (in-depth, sustained) level. In Denmark the figures were, respectively, 35% and 40%.
• Danish employers had greater institutional trust in government policy and programmes. This translated into stronger inter-organisational trust (between employers and providers). Inter-personal trust (between individuals from employer and provider organisations) could augment this but was not crucial to employer engagement.
• By contrast, in the UK institutional trust was extremely weak, leaving more ‘gaps’ to be filled by providers through the development of inter-personal relationships with employers. However, although these relationships were critical to employer engagement, they were also fragile.