Helping Social Services Organization in Getting People Employed

"Unemployment" can be understood as one of the most dangerous ailments that can affect a society owing to the fact that despite the "presence" and "willingness" of the population to work and earn, no such provisions are available

Consequently, the productivity of the nation slides down and the economic state gets "destabilized". The negative effects that flow in are from various directions. This is because not only the government has to provide "employment allowances" to this section of society but also "absence of taxes" from these people add to the burden. So, it goes without saying that a constant vigil on the spread of this "economic disease" should be in place to keep it from affecting the otherwise healthy state of the nation.

Social Services Organizations hold an important place in this regard in helping people get suitable "job opportunities" to earn their livelihood. These groups arrange for funds from various sources to be distributed to the unemployed lot of section. Some of the ways are- arranging for training sessions to increase the skills for making people more apt in carrying out the tasks assigned to them at workplace and psychological workshops for building the mental make-up of the individuals.

The roles played by such organizations include that of- implementer (as such groups, in co-ordination with government carry out the training programmes) and pioneer (as an informer to divulge the necessary details about the vacancies and people who are wishing to work). Also, such organizations carry out surveys and studies to keep track on the unemployment levels of various areas. This is to gauge the difference being made by the attempts of these organizations.

However, there are several challenges faced by these organizations in tackling the issue. For instance, arranging for funds can give tough times due to lack of donations and government support. This makes it of immense importance to prudently utilize the funds. For drawing maximum benefits, one should follow the "sources" and "application" of funds closely. Moving on, the assessment of the efforts also calls for suitable tools to be implemented for this purpose. Further, a number of target groups are catered by these organizations. So, presenting tailored solutions is yet another "slippery patch".

This chapter relating to "challenges" however, can be closed by bringing "BSC" into the picture. This concept was introduced by Norton and Kaplan in 1990s to help organizations move beyond the "short term financial goals". The areas whose tracking can help are- Financial, Strategy, Internal Operations and Success Evaluation.

Financial Perspective can be assessed with indicators such as- Training expenses Incurred, fund utilization ratio, research share and number of funding sources. Internal Operations can be assessed using KPIs- frequency of surveys, employment time lag and number of factors considered for deciding the pay scale. Strategy perspective comprises metrics like- policy alignment, number of target groups, percentage increase in "full-time" and "part-time" employed workforce. Lastly, the success evaluation is possible with KPIs percentage increase in number of registrations and funds and cost of living meeting ratio.