Glasgow: Accommodating environmental initiatives in a framework of job creating

Abstract:

Long-term unemployment is one of the social and economic challenges in European cities and across Europe various approaches to the problems have been taken. The combination of new employment and community-based work and environment-related activities is one of the new fields of initiative for Glasgow Works, a special unit within the Glasgow Development Agency. The traditional approach of government schemes is extended by focusing on local needs in the social, cultural and environmental fields. The criteria of additionality forces projects to develop new sustainable concepts which benefit the people themselves as well as the city as a whole. Project are administered and supported by Glasgow Works, but initiation and implementation is managed by local voluntary groups or initiatives. This programmatic approach can be regarded as an example of good practice in urban development for the following reasons:

• community-oriented planning;
• inclusion of criteria of economic viability into environmental projects;
• support and guidance by a major economic institution;
• exploitation of new fields of environment-related activities;
• access of long-term unemployed to useful work without conducting a selection process which can be characterised as 'creaming'.

Background and Objectives

Glasgow is a city with a major long-term inter-generational unemployment problem. The city has only 12% of Scotland’s population but almost a quarter of its long-term unemployed. In addition to all those registered as unemployed for a year or more, many more are actively seeking jobs but are ineligible for benefits. In total, there are an estimated 30,000 people in addition who have been unemployed for a year or more and are looking for work. The problem is further compounded within Glasgow by the geographical concentration of long-term unemployed in specific locations, most notably in the peripheral housing estates and certain inner-city areas. There is, therefore, a danger that these areas will be caught in a downward spiral of poverty and unemployment, with the establishment of another vicious circle which unemployed people will struggle to break.

The combined effect of these issues has repercussions for the economic and social development of Glasgow. For the city which is progressing towards regeneration, it has become imperative that the issue of long-term unemployment is tackled in a new, constructive and effective way. Following the model of the Wise Group (cp. case studies on Heatwise and Landwise), Glasgow Works is a new initiative which helps individual projects for the long-term unemployed by supplying a pro-active partnership. Like the Wise Group, Glasgow Works pursues the policy to employ people while they are taking part in projects. In contrast to the sector-oriented Wise Group approach, the projects at Glasgow Works offer a wider range of varying social, cultural and environmental activities. Similar to the Wise Group philosophy, the projects are chosen to offer real benefits to the city of Glasgow as well as to the individuals participating in the project.

Workers at Glasgow Works are predominately long-term unemployed who have been out of work for more than one year. 40% have been without work for over two years. Of the Glasgow Workers that participate in the programme 63% are male and 71% are in the 25-49 age group. 60% of the workers live in regeneration areas. While employed on a project, most Glasgow Workers spend around 60% of their time working on site, 20% in vocational training and 20% in non-vocational personal development with a minimum of 30 hours overall. The personal development component is an important part of the Glasgow Works package because it is then that the individuals develop learning skills in the area of their choice. By the end of their third month each Glasgow Worker embarks on a job-finding programme which assists them to find a full-time job or to join further education.

All projects must therefore go through a rigorous selection process before being deemed eligible for inclusion in Glasgow Works. Selection criteria state that every project must fulfil the following requirements:

• it must be additional, i.e. not be established at the expense of other businesses or jobs;
• it must develop market skills that are in demand by employers;
• it should incorporate an exit strategy so that it can survive independently if possible;
• it should provide work and services that are of benefit to the city of Glasgow.

Implementation

Project date and status

Glasgow Works was started in 1994 as an initiative on behalf of the Glasgow Development Agency.

Strategy

The biggest single obstacle facing long-term unemployed people in their search for work is the very fact of their unemployment, since employers seem to choose those in employment to fill vacancies. Therefore, Glasgow Works' first priority is to remove the stigma attached to the long-term unemployed. This key client group has to be equipped with ‘new’ core skills that on the one hand are transferable (e.g. personal communication, ability for team work, use of innovative technology, language) and on the other hand have the beneficial side-effect of boosting individual self-esteem and motivation.

Jobs in Glasgow Works are advertised like any other job in Job Centres and newspaper recruitment pages. An initial assessment determines the individual’s suitability for the job and the project’s suitability for them. Many people will be better served by an alternative initiative, and they will be given advice on the best option for them. Suitable applicants are then interviewed before a choice is made and the best candidate hired. For the duration of the programme, each individual is given support by a counsellor in a ‘mentoring’ role. This relationship extends beyond the duration of the programme. In the aftercare phase the ‘graduate’ is supported for at least six months.

Like the recruitment and the elaboration of individual training curricula, this task is centrally performed by the Glasgow Works team which has a staff of five and can be characterised as a 'free- standing' unit within Glasgow Development Agency. Glasgow Works is organised as a central team that contracts out projects to small local partnerships (e.g. voluntary bodies, colleges, companies). The central team of Glasgow Works is responsible for the selection of projects, putting together funding packages, arranging payments to the projects, creation of local partnerships, entry of transitional workers to the programme, providing training, counselling and guiding the transitional worker over a twelve month period in the projects.

In addition, the transitional worker has the support of his project. Each project has its own project management which is supplied by the local voluntary body, the college or the company that has been granted a project. This project management is responsible for the recruitment of the workers from the Glasgow Works' pre-selected workforce, the management of work and the payment of wages, the achievement of training and job outcomes and administering the project budget.

Activities

Glasgow Works has initiated a whole range of 25 projects (e.g. job 'coaching' for disabled people, sports coaching for young people, child care, heath action for ethnic minority groups, market research for local communities, youth work with school and work drop-outs, theatre work etc.). Four of the current projects give special attention to environment-related issues.

1. A landscaping project which is run by Gorbals Initiative offers work for 24 workers. The main goal of the project is to improve the quality of the built environment through 'hard' and 'soft' landscaping measures. This includes upgrading walkways and school play-grounds. The project was established with high material costs in the first two years, however, the current business is carried out on a commercial basis, with clients paying for all design and materials. The project has established a high quality of work and has won two awards for landscaping from the British Association of Landscape Industries. The current job outcome of the projects amounts to approximately 60%.
2. The Environmental Centre was initiated by Community Service Volunteers. Currently 14 people provide advice and coordinated environmental information. The Environmental Centre provides information via an eco-line telephone enquiry service and an environmental library. 60% of the transitional employees made a positive move to the first labour market, one person stays on a permanent basis.
3. City Centre Representatives, which is managed by East End Management Agency with assistance from Glasgow City Council, is a project that deals with clean-up matters mainly in Glasgow city centre. 40 uniformed wardens are on patrol in order to report graffiti, fly posting, litter or damage, to the appropriate authority. Frthermore, the staff provides information and general assistance for visitors, shoppers and tourists. A clean-up squad removes fly posters and maintains street signs. The project has a high job outcome of 75% and two permanent jobs have been created.
4. The Rehab Remanufacturing Services (RRS) runs a project in the field of re-use of electrical goods with a staff of 26 people in an area with more than 3,000 unemployed. The annual turnover is about 10,000 items and rebuilt white goods are sold with a one year warranty. Training in electrical engineering, warehousing and manufacturing skills has proven highly transferable, resulting in a high turnover and 77% of the transitional workers moved to a new job. So far ten workers have obtained a permanent job in the business.

Partners

Glasgow Works has been set up as a pilot programme of Glasgow Development Agency, the local enterprise company sponsored by national government, in order to test the benefits of the intermediate labour market in a wide range of fields of activity. A small central team at Glasgow Works is responsible for the development of project ideas and the compilation of funding packages. Furthermore, this team is responsible for creation of local partnerships, provision of guidance and operating rules, arrangement of payments to projects and for monitoring and evaluation. In addition, there is a small central job finding and aftercare team. The projects are put into practice by local voluntary organisations or private companies. These local partners are responsible for recruiting the workers, managing work and paying wages. Furthermore the central team controls the training and job outcomes, provides personal counselling and supports and administers the project budget. The local project managers are responsible to Glasgow Works which finally reviews the project on an annual basis and decides on continuation if the target of job outcome has been met.

Due to the comprehensive approach in different local sectors, Glasgow Works has developed organisational links with a number of political and commercial players, namely Glasgow City Council, Scottish Enterprise, employment services, the Scottish Trades Union Congress, Strathclyde European Partnership, local regeneration companies and housing associations. Furthermore, relations exist to the Wise Group in fields of common activities.

Financing and resources used

The financial package of Glasgow Works underlines that projects are mainly financed by European money and funds from the business community. The intention is to achieve greater room for manoeuvre in order to create a great variety of projects and avoid dependency on one main funder.

Sources of funding for Glasgow Works 1996/97

Source: Neil Ferguson (development manager at Glasgow Works)

Expenditure is on wages and tax (50%), project costs (28%), training and personal development (14%), and staff and management (8%).

Participants are paid according the level of customary wages which on average is between £ 120 and £ 160 per week. The payment is the result of a funding package which makes use of benefits from the national Transfer for Work (TfW) allowance which is levered by European money and local authority funds. The matching of funds is vital in order to secure a rate of payment that substantially improves the motivation of the trainees. In consequence, the number of drop outs is at a relatively low rate of 27%.

Results and impacts

Currently, Glasgow Works has approximately 290 places in its projects which amounts to 430 people per year. By January 1997, over 800 people had benefited from participation in Glasgow Works. In total Glasgow Works’ projects had succeeded in stimulating their workers' direct progress in the first labour market or full time education. In October 1996 an evaluation of the first two years had the following key results:

• 62% enter employment after leaving;
• 69% of all leavers had a job at survey date;
• 3% move on to full-time education;
• 53% of the very long term unemployed (more than 3 years) move on to a job when leaving;
• 84% of these jobs are full time;
• 82% of the jobs are permanent.

These satisfactory outcomes underline that the exit strategies of projects had been fulfilled and that employers considered a reference from a Glasgow Works project to be as good as from any other employer. The latter fact is particularly relevant as the survey also revealed that only 65% of the employers would normally take on someone who had been unemployed for twelve months. A successful work history in Glasgow Works’ projects can, therefore, be regarded as a key factor for departure to the first labour market.

Barriers and conflicts

Regarding the good performance of Glasgow Work projects there is little criticism of the existing system. As most projects will not reach the end of funding until 1998 there is little information on their likely performance in a free market or as nonprofit undertakings.

Lessons learned and transferability

The outcomes of the programme demonstrate that the new organisational approach to the intermediate labour market has proven to be successful because it paid attention to the following aspects of programme management.

Glasgow Works' business policy is inextricably linked to the development of strong local partnerships which are the key to a suitable concept that addresses the local needs and combines local expertise with the ‘central’ expertise of Glasgow Works. The small core group of Glasgow Works is a non- bureaucratic unit that ‘injects’ the right dosage of ideas and funds to the local initiative and also controls and guides the projects according to the criteria of job outcomes. The quality and the outcome are continuously reviewed by Glasgow Works managers.

On the project level the most important feature is the creation of real jobs that are well recognised by the local community as well as the business community. Projects have therefore to deliver a high standard of service. In addition, there exists a wide range of job types and skills which are to a great extent transferable.

Concerning transitional workers, the first priority is that the job seeker really wants a longer term job after a period of absence from work routine. The selection by interview has proved to be an appropriate procedure in order to get dedicated workers without conducting recruitment that could be characterised as creaming.

The number of new projects demonstrate that the model is flexible and suitable to be transferred to new initiatives.

Source of Information

EA.UE (ed.) 1997: Job creation in the environmental sector. Local employment initiatives in Europe, Berlin

Contact:

Cities:

Glasgow :

Glasgow is Scotland's largest urban centre. It has a long standing role as an industrial and commercial centre and has the infrastructure necessary to support its role as a significant European city. Glasgow has an international airport, is a hub of the national road and rail network, has a significant concentration of higher education institutions and substantial assets in the leisure, entertainment and tourism industry. The city has five institutions of higher education, 45 research institutions and 11 colleges of further education with around 105,000 students and £ 53 million of basic and near-market research, some 36 % of the Scottish total. Glasgow is also of significance in the TV and media industry some of which have their headquarters based there.

The city’s role is crucially important to the Scottish economy: Glasgow provides 18 % of the employment, 20 % of Scotland’s service sector employment and 25 % of jobs in the growing business services sector. The city maintains 14 % of its employment and gross value added in manufacturing, with key activities in food and drink, non-motor vehicle and instrument engineering.

Population:

Project was added at 27.02.1998
Project was changed at 27.02.1998

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