Maximising the impact of employment advisers through workforce development: research from the ReAct partnership

Blog posts

19 Sep 2024

Emily Kramers, Research Fellow
Meenakshi Krishnan, Principal Research Fellow

Employment advisers, also known as job coaches or employment coaches, play a critical role in supporting people in getting back into work. Advisers need to have high skills and capability to deliver a successful and quality employment programme. Restart is an employment programme introduced by the Department for Work & Pensions to support people in getting and keeping a job in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. It focuses on helping benefit claimants who are long-term unemployed by providing them with up to 12 months of intensive and tailored employment support. As with all employment services, recruiting, retaining and developing a workforce of advisers with the necessary combination of skills to support Restart participants is essential to the programme's success.

With Restart being extended through to 2026, harnessing the talent of staff to continue to deliver this programme successfully is of critical importance. The ReAct Partnership, an industry-led collaboration of eight employment service prime providers, aims to support the continuous improvement of the Restart workforce. They seek to do this through action research, shared and iterative learning, and the development of applied evidence-based resources. The partnership’s latest research examines the workforce development of employment advisers working on the Restart programme. It examines this issue through three key areas:

• Understanding and articulating the skills needed to be a successful adviser.
• Identifying best practices in supporting the recruitment, retention and progression of advisers.
• Understanding the role of line managers in development and retention of advisers.

The ReAct partnership is managed by the Institute for Employment Studies (IES), working with the Institute of Employability Professionals (IEP) and the Employment Related Services Association (ERSA). IES designed and led the research using a mixed-methods approach, which consisted of analysing management information from provider organisations, interviews with HR leaders, focus groups with line managers, and a survey of more than 450 employment advisers. The research team then worked with all the Restart organisations to co-design a set of actionable recommendations. This was done through sense-making workshops that added energy and clarity to operational and HR leaders on how to further develop the adviser role. Thus, working closely with ReAct members, IES created a shared suite of creative approaches that organisations can adopt and adapt for developing capability and enhancing the recruitment and retention of advisers.

The adviser role is complex due to a diverse range of skills required to deliver it. The survey revealed a high level of agreement among advisers on the skills they thought were most important for their role, with more than 90% saying that communication, customer service skills and interpersonal skills (or the ability to build rapport) were very important. Between 75% and 80% of participants also thought the ability to handle and hold difficult conversations with participants, diary and time management, and resilience were very important. Interestingly, participants of the Restart program have become more complex and diverse over time since the immediate aftermath of COVID-19 when Restart was conceptualised. This shift was noted in our interviews with HR leaders and the survey responses which emphasised the need for a greater focus on listening skills and a coaching approach.

Successful recruitment of advisers who demonstrate or can develop this variety of skills presents an ongoing challenge for HR leaders of employment service providers. The research showed that a key to successful recruitment is having job descriptions that reflect the rich and diverse set of skills required, along with clear communication of the day-to-day experience of being in an adviser role. One way to avoid a mismatch between expectations and reality for new advisers is to be transparent throughout the recruitment process about the breadth and variety of the role. The research revealed examples of good hiring practices across organisations, such as pre-screening calls, videos demonstrating ‘a day in the life of an Employment Adviser’, role plays, and scenario testing, among others. These are all great ways to ensure that candidates are aware of and well-prepared for what the role entails.

Strikingly, more than 75% of the survey respondents felt that they were strongly motivated by the social impact of their work. This means acknowledging and highlighting the opportunities for making a positive difference to the community through this role can help to attract candidates who share that motivation. 72% of advisers also reported that the company values are very important to them. This means organisations must centre company values and positive culture of the workplace in their recruitment ads and job descriptions as it is an important part of the job offer. The research also underscored the importance of celebrating on-the-job successes through a wide variety of ways by which organisations can make sure that positive stories of impact are widely shared and acknowledged by everyone.

Once an adviser has been recruited, the focus moves to looking at their ongoing performance, retention and progression. A person’s first six months in the role are crucial, so induction is important. We asked about formal and informal induction experiences – both training programmes that are vital to prepare advisers as well as peer-to-peer learning support mechanisms that advisers found to be so useful. Juggling the multiple demands of an adviser’s workload and hitting their monthly job targets is the most challenging aspect of the role. 79% of survey respondents agreed or strongly agreed that peer-to-peer support was very important in helping them perform their roles better. The induction period offers a great opportunity to create communities of new starters as well as link them with experienced staff members in the same role. One of the recommendations of the research is to develop buddying schemes and peer learning forums at regular intervals. Transparent communication of career progression routes and experimentation with flexible working approaches emerged as additional recommendations that providers can consider offering to support advisers in delivering high performance while also taking care of their well-being.

Being an employment adviser on Restart is a complex and challenging job, and the research aimed to explore and share the different ways in which people are supported by their organisations. Line manager support is especially seen to be a critical factor in developing and retaining good quality staff, with two-thirds of our survey respondents reporting it to be their preferred avenue of support. A further three-quarters of survey respondents agreed or strongly agreed that their manager understands and is sensitive to the challenges they face in their role. A similar proportion said line managers take a positive interest in their health and well-being. This key relationship was explored further through focus groups with line managers in the field, revealing a complex picture of their role in supporting and developing front-line staff, sometimes described as ‘spinning multiple plates’. Therefore, a recommendation of the research is to encourage opportunities for greater peer-to-peer support for line managers to share learnings and good practices among themselves. This mechanism can be offered either internally or between organisations to help line managers develop their own support strategies.

To conclude, employment advisers play a vital role in the development of Britain’s workforce by assisting those most marginalised in the labour market to get back into work. Given the current political and economic climate in the country, employment advisers must be maximally supported to develop their skills and expertise in delivering on a challenging but deeply satisfying role.

Subscribe to blog posts

Any views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Institute as a whole.