Welfare Reform Bill
5:30 pm
Professor Gregg: I agree with what you are saying but I would broaden it slightly. Employers can also come with significant prejudices—against disabled people or people with mental health problems or people with young children who they think are going to take days off all the time. They come with a set of “priors” and are often resistant to employing the kind of people that we are looking at, partly for legitimate reasons such as that they do not have the skills or attitudes, but also for some we might not think appropriate. They have certain prejudices or “priors” and we have good evidence of that. What can you do about it? We need a process for the providers delivering this kind of thing to engage with prospective employers. That could range from work trials to intermediate labour markets or transitional jobs, giving people a mix of work experience but also allowing employers to see the people to challenge some of those prejudices.
A related point is that we need more employers saying that their “priors” were wrong about this group—that they have taken on people who have had sickness or with disabilities, or have taken on lone parents. Bunches of employers will stand up and say that was the best thing they could have done—that these are the kind of workers who stay; they are not the ones who bugger off to the job down the road that pays more, because stability is important to them. We need more employers—we need a campaign—to articulate what is valuable about these workers. So it is partly about getting the employers engaged with the providers so that there is an ongoing relationship and providers learn what employers want and need. It is also partly about getting the people in front of the employers so that they can see them and realise that some of their prejudices are unjustified, and it is also about employers openly speaking about the benefits. I have tried to articulate that. We have a range of work experience, job trials, and transitional job-type models to put people in front of employers before they take that hard decision, so they get to know the people and that helps a lot.