By DUANE M. ELLING
When Shirley-Ann Watson left the tranquil beaches of her native Caribbean island of Barbados in early 2008 for the bustling streets of Brooklyn, New York, she took with her a limited set of skills in accounting and bookkeeping, and an intense desire to work and succeed in her adopted homeland.
Upon arriving in the U.S., however, this vivacious 40-something soon found herself alongside countless other unemployed persons trying to find jobs.
“Day after day, I filled out applications and sent out resumes,” Shirley-Ann said. “And every day ended the same way – nothing.”
After several desperate months, she opened her phone book in January 2009 to the listings of temporary employment agencies around Brooklyn and found
FirstSource Staffing.
Alternative staffing organizations are demonstrating success in connecting low-income workers to the labor market. |
FirstSource is one of about 50 alternative staffing organizations (ASO) across the country that integrate the business goal of mainstream temporary staffing programs – connecting employers and would-be workers – with the social mission of helping low-income, low-skilled people find and maintain jobs.
ASOs, which often are operated by community-based agencies, also offer struggling individuals such as Shirley-Ann a range of supportive services – including access to reliable transportation and child care – to help break down barriers to employment.
In 2003, the Mott Foundation launched a multi-phase national demonstration to explore, in depth, the ASO model as a workforce development strategy. In 2009,
findings released from formal evaluations of the demonstration’s first two phases suggested that ASOs can effectively help many low-income individuals address their obstacles to employment and enter the labor market; improve their ability to find and maintain good jobs; and provide employers with a skilled and reliable workforce.
The demonstration’s third phase, expected to be completed in 2011, is tracking the employment and earnings of ASO clients, and will compare them to the performance of low-income workers served by conventional staffing firms.
Françoise Carré notes that having a positive impact on several fronts is at the heart of the alternative staffing model. She is research director at the
Center for Social Policy (CSP) at the University of Massachusetts Boston’s John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies. CSP and Philadelphia-based
Public/Private Ventures are leading the Mott-funded evaluations.
“Alternative staffing brings into focus the specific needs of both the hard-to-place, entry-level worker and the potential employer,” Carré said.
The alternative staffing model focuses on meeting the needs of both workers and employers. |
“And, by charging employers a fee that is comparable to traditional staffing agencies, ASOs also generate revenue to help cover their operating costs.
Such a structure essentially offers a market-based approach to workforce development.”
ASOs currently participating in the national demonstration are FirstSource;
EMERGE Staffing of Minneapolis;
Goodwill Staffing Services of Austin, Texas; and
Suncoast Business Solutions/Goodwill Temporary Staffing of St. Petersburg, Florida.
The alternative staffing model also is taking root, with Mott support, in Louisiana’s Gulf Coast region. A five-year project, started in 2007, has launched three ASOs to serve local workers whose lives and job prospects were rocked by hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. Those programs are
Community Staffing Services in New Orleans,
Options Staffing Solutions in Houma and
StaffUp Resources in Baton Rouge.
Mott support for the field of alternative staffing, including its national membership association, the
Alternative Staffing Alliance, has totaled nearly $6.5 million since 2003.
As the model continues to demonstrate its potential, the country’s struggling economy has highlighted the challenges, as well as opportunities, for practitioners.
For example, the manufacturing, construction and retail sectors traditionally have offered unskilled individuals important opportunities for entry into the labor market. In recent years, those and other industries have curbed significantly their hiring of new staff and, in many cases, have shed jobs, creating even greater competition for available positions.
This has prompted many programs, including Suncoast in St. Petersburg, to re-evaluate their approach with a critical eye.
“High quality support services and job training in sectors with career potential are the linchpins for successful employment and retention of low-income, low-skilled workers,” said Cordelia Hinton, director of Suncoast.
“We’re focused on expanding those strategies and continuing to demonstrate real value to employers, which will ultimately help us to better position our clients to succeed in the labor market.”
Alternative staffing is quickly becoming recognized as an important workforce development strategy. |
Newell Lessell, alliance director and president of the ICA Group in Brookline, Massachusetts, agrees with that plan. In uncertain business climates, employers often turn to temporary labor as new positions open up. And the availability of supports to help workers stay ready and reliable makes alternative staffing programs a particularly attractive resource, he says.
Gregory Favret, alternative staffing manager at Community Staffing Services, says the model offers an employment testing ground of sorts, providing workers “the chance to demonstrate their skills and work habits, and try out a job while earning a paycheck. It also allows businesses the opportunity to try a potential employee before making a permanent hire decision.”
Carré says such lessons are helping inform discussions around the country about the role of alternative staffing in effective workforce development systems.
“ASOs offer employment options and opportunities that can ultimately spark economic growth for businesses, individuals and communities,” she said. “That flexibility is key to strengthening the impact of workforce development strategies across local, state and national levels.”
As for Shirley-Ann, she called FirstSource and, with the help of staff, soon was receiving short-term clerical assignments. In May 2009 she took a temporary job in the mailroom of a major accounting firm near Brooklyn and, just four months later accepted a permanent, full-time position with that employer. Today, she continues to do well at work and is preparing to take another step on her career ladder by pursuing a college degree in accounting.
And she is quick to point out that she could not have made such progress alone.
“These are difficult times for anybody to find work,” Shirley-Ann said. “The people at FirstSource helped me to stand up to the challenge. They kept me working and helped me to believe that I could make it. And that is what I am doing.”
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES