WHERE
The Social Janitor project is managed in the City of Joensuu by the Finnish Red Cross district of Savo-Karjala in the province of North Karelia. The mission of the project is divided into helping two groups of people in a vulnerable position:
- The long-term unemployed are trained to support elderly people and the disabled in their own homes by providing so-called social janitor service 1-2 hours at a time. During their employment relationship, the social janitors are provided support and training to help them build paths to employment to the open labour market, to further training, or to some other meaningful goal.
- The quality of life of the elderly and the disabled is improved through the work input and social contacts provided by the social janitors.
Before joining the Social Janitor project of the FRC, the prospective social janitors attend a four-month labour market training on the subject of social janitoring. The training is part of general labour market training organised by the Finnish labour administration free of charge for unemployed jobseekers.
Effective guidance includes both coaching and counselling
The Social Janitor service has been developed in a project, but it is aiming at becoming an established operation. In the project phase, the permanent staff has consisted of a project co-ordinator and two part-time counsellors. In the established operations model, the permanent staff would be one co-ordinator with responsibility for work planning and personal guidance of social janitors. The number of social janitors has varied between 7 and 10. During the first two years of operation, the social janitors have had a total of 150 clients.
The Social Janitor project was a partner in the EQUAL Development Partnership Response.
WHY
Personal guidance aims at strengthening the life management skills and the opportunities to continue from subsidised employment as social janitor to the open labour market, training or some other meaningful goal, including pension. The persons are motivated to plan their own future and to adopt a change in attitude towards their own future, when needed.
Coaching is needed to help solve daily problems that come up in the social janitors’ work. It may also be needed to learn the ways and rules of the working life or to be reminded of them. In coaching related to customer relationships, the target is to ensure reliability in customer relations. A clear organisation of work and enhancement of skills required in customer service also support personal empowerment.
HOW
Work as a social janitor is a transitional job, in which the persons improve their capability to become permanently employed in the future. Guidance is provided for the social janitors to tailor the best possible employment options for the future. People may have had difficulties to become employed due to health reasons, lack of training and/or vocational skills, or because of obstacles created by the long period of unemployment. Tailoring the work options for the future starts already from choosing the social janitor with the right skills for each elderly or disabled client.
In addition to considering the employment options, the counsellor’s time is devoted to guidance to prepare the person for the working life. This process of guidance and creation of further paths includes five stages: 1) Initial interviews to evaluate the starting situation, 2) Motivating discussions between the counsellor and the person, 3) Intermediate interview (goal-setting and preparation of a concrete plan for the future), 4) Guidance discussions and motivating (directing the person to the relevant experts, seeking of potential employment or training opportunities), 5) Final interview (evaluation of changes and results).
Each of these stages has been described in more detail in the attached process chart. During the discussions, the persons also assess their own situation using a personal assessment form, the information of which is also used as source data in the social accounts of the Social Janitor service.
In this model of combined coaching and guidance, the counsellor has a dual role of directing the social janitors to their work tasks, acting as the closest superior and organiser of work, as well as supporting personal path-creation to the working life. The first part includes, for example, receipt of work assignments, specifying the needs and health situation of the customer, selecting the social janitor best suited for the customer, practical coaching of the social janitor and evaluation of work, and responsibility for the quality and implementation of customer service. The second part comprises listening to the social janitors, supporting in matters concerning their personal life, examining the future career or training possibilities, and directing to external services.
This model means that the matters relating to organisation of work and personal future are discussed with the same counsellor. At best, these different roles of the counsellor go well together and provide a feeling of security for the person under guidance.
The hopes related to future employment and the hindrances to find work arise more naturally in discussions related to work tasks than in separate, occasional meetings with experts, for example, from the labour administration.
The counsellor shifts smoothly from the role of work manager and superior to the role of career counsellor. In this holistic counselling, the parties get to know each other well. In a confidential relationship, the individual’s possibilities, difficulties to enter the working life and personal needs become more visible and thus guidance to suitable further measures is easier.
When the motivation to path-building has been established together with the counsellor, the person will find it easier to start planning further training with training professionals or become a client of the employment office.
In addition to guidance of individuals, the Social Janitor service has made an effort to create a positive and supporting working environment. Regular work meetings, work guidance, training arranged in working time, and recreational activities are means to support this aim. This social element also plays an important role in the personal empowerment process.
Experiences
In total 29 persons have worked as social janitors in the Social Janitor service between September 2004 and January 2007. So far, 17 of them (59%) have established a path to future employment or to some other solution related to employment. Seven social janitors are still in employment relationship with the Social Janitor service and their guidance and coaching is continuing. The service ends as a project in August 2007, but aims to become an established operation.
The amount of guidance and motivation needed varies a lot from person to person. Some need continuous guidance and motivation, while others are very independent. Indeed, understanding the individuals’ different needs is a key success factor for guidance.
In a full-time employment relationship, one counsellor can have a maximum of 15 to 20 persons under guidance and coaching, since the holistic approach requires close interaction.
Co-operation with the labour administration is especially important in order to avoid overlapping in planning. If a social janitor wants, the counsellor can be present in the meetings with the labour administration officials to discuss the employment and training possibilities. This is important when the obstacles to employment are lack of vocational skills, and social or health reasons. The authorities make the decisions about more detailed work capacity testing, re-training possibilities, and investigations needed for making a pension decision.
The counsellor helps put into practice what has been agreed together. The visits to the labour officials and filling out of forms are difficult without the counsellor ’standing by’ and providing support when needed. Reaching confidence, commitment and motivation require time. The counsellor’s aim is to reach a working relationship built on confidence with each social janitor and to get into the core, to the real obstacles to entering the working life. Each social janitor is in a different situation, so there is no general pattern or model that could be followed with everybody. Internal changes do not take place overnight. The working relationship between the counsellor and social janitor must be tight. The counsellor is available daily during office hours at the office or by phone if there is a need for advice, information or discussion.
One central principle of counselling is a holistic work approach. The goals related to improving the management of life and those related to work are equally important. In the guidance, the persons are directed to the services they need. The aim is to start a genuine internal development process. The more there are pressures for change, the more there can be resistance to change. Instead of forcing, the counsellor gives time and room for the development process according to the individual’s needs and pace of change. In this way, the results will be better on a long term, and the person is more committed to them. It is important to recognise and consider every individual’s personal strengths and resources. This will make it possible for the counsellor to give a thrust for a positive process of change.
The counsellor needs to have professional expertise of the field, teaching and guidance skills, and willingness to continuously learn something new. A good counsellor is attentive and easy to approach, unbiased and considerate. He/she does not provoke nor project one’s own feelings on the person under guidance.
Transferability
Counselling combining guidance and coaching is best applied to social enterprises or similar organisations in which the central goal is to promote the empowerment of individuals and their motivation and rehabilitation to allow access to working life. It is not suitable to workplaces where there is not enough time to focus on the personal situations of employees in addition to organising their work tasks.
Enclosure: Process of guidance and creation of paths to the working life, Social Janitor service
For more information: Jaana Huovinen, tel. +358 50 5352743, jaanahuovinen(at)luukku.com