Since its launch on June 1, 2024, Project DEEP (Delivering Excellence in Employability Practice) has steadily progressed as a groundbreaking collaboration between the IEP and Serco. This two-year initiative continues to deliver on its mission to elevate employability practices across the sector, ensuring tangible improvements in outcomes for both participants and practitioners.
“Stand for people. Not a product or service or metric or number. If we stand for real, living, breathing people, we will change the world.” – Simon Sinek
There are well-known challenges in the employability sector when it comes to attracting, developing, and retaining highly skilled frontline practitioners. Without these professionals, the industry would struggle to provide the level of service and outcomes that participants deserve. While this issue has been widely discussed, the question remains—are we truly addressing it in a meaningful way?
At Serco, we recognised this as a particular challenge for our Restart Scheme direct delivery offices. In 2023, our Job Coach attrition rate reached 45%, highlighting the difficulties we, and potentially others in the sector, were facing in recruitment, retention, and professional development.
The first step was to gather as much intelligence as possible to fully understand the issues leading to such low levels of retention. Data showed that only 7 out of 10 new recruits stayed beyond twelve months. An analysis of exit interviews pointed to some of the key reasons for such short tenure, including a mismatch between what they thought the job entailed vs the real experience, a lack of support for dealing with significant barriers to employment, low wages compared to other similar (or less challenging) jobs, a lack of training and limited opportunities for progression.
When we assessed this feedback against an honest appraisal of how we were supporting our staff, it was evident that there was plenty we could do to better recruit, train and support our frontline practitioners. It was critical to arrest the exodus we were experiencing and improve our delivery of services to our participants. Due to the reality of our caseloads differing significantly from early assumptions, we were not recruiting for the skills we needed. The role was more deserving so there was a gap in salary needs. Performance challenges meant that we expected too much of Job Coaches immediately following their induction program. And we weren’t investing enough in developing professional excellence as the standard.
A program of work was initiated to address these issues as a matter of urgency. We started with a brand new, extended induction course followed by a mandatory six-month Job Coach Development Program and slowed the performance ramp-up for new starters. Using REACT’s report ‘Maximising Adviser Impact’, a full review and update of our recruitment literature and interview questions was completed, aligning the way we attract and select candidates to the reality of the role of the Job Coach and the attributes required to succeed.
We quickly followed this work with a more fundamental shift in the reward and recognition structure, introducing 3 levels of Job Coach: Basic, Experienced and Expert. Movement through these levels would include a significant, permanent pay rise, and would be based on 3 criteria; length of service, outcome performance over a rolling 12-month period, and completion of further professional development delivered by IEP, and offered free to all Job Coaches.
So, what has been the impact of this work? Has Job Coach attrition fallen, and if so, why?
In 2023, attrition for the year sat at 45%, with attrition under 12 months at 29%. Following the initiatives described above, this fell dramatically in 2024 to 31% overall, and 19% under 12 months. This included a more dramatic fall in the second half of 2024 (some of our initiatives were not launched until Summer 2024), so early indications are that we will see a further, significant improvement in both measures for 2025.
The return on investment has also stacked up well. Despite spending more on recruitment, salaries and training, the savings from lower attrition rates have meant the project has more than paid back on the investment.
And what are our people saying about their reasons for staying with Serco? When Job Coaches were asked to rank a list of ten potential factors, more than half ranked the job coach levels and IEP professional development as either the most important, or second most important factor in their decision to stay.
“Standing for people” really does pay dividends, and we’re looking forward to supporting many more participants into good, lasting work as a result of having a stable, highly skilled employability workforce for years to come.
Upcoming Webinar: Future Forecast – ‘The Introduction of AI into the Delivery of Employability’
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming the way employability services are delivered, offering new opportunities to enhance support for job seekers and practitioners alike. To explore these advancements, join us on 12th March from 12:30-1:30 PM for Future Forecast: The Introduction of AI into the Delivery of Employability, an exclusive webinar showcasing how AI is shaping the future of employability support.
The webinar will feature insights from industry experts leading AI-driven initiatives:
- Matthew Ambrose FIEP, Project DEEP UK Project Lead, will discuss AI-driven dictation software that is revolutionising employability support by reducing administrative work, allowing practitioners to spend more time engaging with participants.
- Emma Williams FIEP, L&D Manager at IEP Learning Academy, will present a live demonstration using Co-Pilot to showcase AI’s role in career transitions, skills analysis, and overcoming employment gaps.
This webinar is an opportunity to:
- Gain first-hand insights into AI’s impact on employability services.
- Understand how AI can streamline processes and improve career support.
- Learn about the challenges and opportunities of integrating AI in employability practice.
Don’t miss this opportunity to engage in discussions on the challenges, benefits, and future possibilities AI presents in our sector.
Register here: https://members.myiep.uk/events/67a32cf0411d7d0008cd1dd5/description?ticket=67a32cf0411d7d0008cd1dd4
