Today’s UK Employment data reveals that 8.78 million working aged people are currently economically inactive. That’s around 1/5 of the total working age population.
There are so many reasons for this huge number. The surge in long-term sickness is a key factor alongside the inexorable growth in people not seeking work because they have care commitments. The new data indicates that many young people are unavailable for work due to mental health concerns.
For solutions the government focusses mainly on sanctions and changes to benefits, whereas NGOs and lobby groups focus on the support needs of the individuals.
But a large part of the solution sits with employers. They, after all, are creating the jobs. Sadly, not enough focus is put on the needs of the employer. So often I hear experts airily say employers should change their culture or change the way they employ people. Too little consideration is given to what it actually takes to manage a workforce and what resources a typical small business has available.
Let’s look at unemployment and inactivity through the other end of the telescope and ask ourselves what help an employer would need to get more people back into work.
Almost all programmes will provide some sort of funding support for necessary adjustments. The best support programmes recognise that in the initial stages of employing someone from a background of long-term unemployment there is a high additional cost of supervision and support.
But no programme has yet recognised the need for on-going access to pastoral support for employees with more complex non-work-related issues. These are typically well beyond the ability of an employer to deal with, but the fallout can consume an inordinate amount of time and effort to deal with.
How for instance would you expect an employer to help when a young person is assaulted by their partner in the workplace for their wages? Or a recovering addict who is being hit on outside work by his ex-dealer? Or the young person with mental health issues who randomly starts shouting at customers because he’s not taken his medication?
If we want to see successful long-term employment of people with complex issues, we will need to support the employer with accessible, empathetic, pastoral care that can help them resolve these issues or at least help contain them, so they don’t enter the workplace.
If we’re going to significantly reduce economic inactivity, we must understand that complex needs need long-term support, and both the individuals and their employers need access to on-going pastoral care and help when issues arise.