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Employer engagement in active labour market programmes : The role of boundary spanners
Ingold, Joanne
Ingold, Joanne
Author
Abstract
The involvement (or engagement) of employers is critical to the success and effectiveness of active labour market programmes (ALMPs), yet little is known about how street-level organizations (SLOs) delivering them interact with employers. This article draws on interviews with ‘employer engagement’ staff in SLOs contracted to deliver the UK's principal ALMP, the ‘Work Programme’. Conceptualizing these staff as ‘boundary spanners’ who operated both within SLOs and at the physical boundaries between SLOs and employers, the study found that their day-to-day work involved three key types of activities. First, initial business-to-business ‘sales’ approaches to employers; second, a complex process of matching of clients to employers’ requirements through intra-organizational interactions; third, the building and maintenance of trusting inter-organizational relationships with employers. The strategies and tensions revealed emphasize the under explored, but critical, role of inter-personal dynamics, both within and at the boundary of SLOs, in the aim of assisting people into employment.
Keywords
active labour market programmes, street-level organizations, employer engagement, boundary spanners
Date
2018
Type
Journal article
Journal
Book
Volume
96
Issue
4
Page Range
707-720
Article Number
ACU Department
Peter Faber Business School
Faculty of Law and Business
Faculty of Law and Business
Collections
Relation URI
Event URL
Open Access Status
License
File Access
Controlled
Open
Open
Notes
© 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
For author manuscript: © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Ingold J. Employer engagement in active labour market programmes: The role of boundary spanners. Public Admin. 2018;96:707–720, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12545. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving. U
For author manuscript: © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Ingold J. Employer engagement in active labour market programmes: The role of boundary spanners. Public Admin. 2018;96:707–720, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12545. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving. U