I’m Rachel Bryan, Homeless Link’s National Workforce Ambassador; a new role designed to: attract people to the field, create guidance and resources addressing the range of workforce challenges faced by services and staff, and support in the workforce development of our sector.
Working previously as a Partnership Manager for both the South East and South West, I saw that challenges concerning the workforce fell within the top four categories of intelligence heard from members every month. Staff reported a lack of upwards mobility in services they hoped to stay in and a lack of respect from external services concerning their skill level. Services struggled to recruit qualified staff with the salaries they could afford and with staff retention, reporting burnout or a lack of upwards mobility.
This isn’t a sector-specific issue: the UK’s unemployment rate unexpectedly increased to 5% in March while the number of job vacancies fell to its lowest level in five years, and employer investment in training continues to fall, now down 36% per employee since 2005. This is particularly affecting young people: over one million 16- to 24-year-olds are not in employment, education or training - a group also known as NEETs, one in ten of which are graduates. NEETs account for 13.5% of all young people in the UK, the likes of which the UK has not seen since 2011 following the 2008 financial crisis.
To get ahead, employment gurus promote using AI to write applications, but as many of our members will know, AI use has exacerbated challenges around recruitment, with services receiving hundreds of applications per posting. I experienced this first hand: when I recently sought work, rejection emails all reported 150-200 applications per posting, with one even reporting receiving over 600 applications! But each applicant is a real person seeking work, with young people reporting applying to over 200 roles without success.
The recent Keep Britain Working review states that tackling this problem should be a "shared responsibility" between employers, employees and health services. But when all services and candidates are at capacity, how is this possible?
This is where my role as National Workforce Ambassador comes in.
Members! Let me know about the workforce challenges you have been facing, either as a service or as someone who works in the sector. Our aim is to create the guidance and resources you need to tackle these issues.
So whether it’s:
- hiring and managing volunteers;
- supporting people with lived experience into pre-paid or paid positions;
- recruitment;
- retention;
- personal development;
- upskilling staff;
- creating employment pathways;
- best practice; or
- other…
– I want to hear it all! We want to create the guidance you need. Get in contact today putting your thoughts into an email or to set up a short call.
