Easy Ways to Add Value and Keep in Touch with Employers

Even when I did a bit of job development as an Employment Specialist, we’ve tried to maintain regular contact with a short list of major employers on a quarterly basis, beyond the day to day of getting clients hired. I wanted to provide them with something useful for our clients and remind them that we’re good partners that they can count on. I also needed a quick and cost effective approach. We’ve gotten good feedback and, over time, a couple of employers have indicated that they have come to rely on the information we provide.

Here are some of the things we’ve done:
• Send a brief email with translated notices about daylight savings time changes to be posted in staff areas. This helps all of their employees be on time to their first shift after the change goes into affect

• A quick list of language and cultural resources, including a local workplace ESL provider, Burmese and Arabic IPhone apps and a great movie about the situation in Myanmar (Burma VJ) that was showing in town.

• Early in the year, provide a list of dates of non-Christian holidays that might affect requests for days off or levels of concentration – like Ramadan and Buddhist spring holidays. We include World Refugee Day and the dates that we will be closed and unavailable to respond to client support requests, as well.

• Deliver posters with translations about valuable community resources that can help all of their employees. For example, Caritas collaborates with a community tax service that helps low-income residents file and claim refunds for free. Sharing this information helps our clients, strengthens employer relations with us and with all of their employees.

• Especially for smaller employers without dedicated Human Resources staff, we have provided information about the Work Opportunity Tax Credit, for which most of our clients can help employers qualify. You can get handouts and information at http://www.doleta.gov/business/incentives/opptax/employer.cfm

We’re really excited about our most recent offering targeting hotels. One hotel requested a picture guide for items found in guest rooms so guests could indicate what they want rather than wait for our clients to bring someone who spoke English. We think this will also be great continued ESL reinforcement and a subtle advertisement for Caritas since we’ll include our logo and a blurb. We now have it in Burmese, Arabic and Spanish and are working on Nepali and Swahili. Some hotels are requesting that new hires bring their copies and a couple have expressed interest in procuring them for their non-Caritas employees.

Expanding Resettlement to Where the Jobs Are

I just read an evaluation study by Lifetrack Resources (St. Paul, MN) that looks at the services they provided to Karen refugees who moved to Worthington, MN for a better paying entry-level job. The study suggests that Lifetrack provided both sustainable employment outcomes and additional services that helped newcomers get established in the small community of Worthington, even though Worthington is 185 miles from Lifetrack's office in St. Paul.

Most interesting to me is the section of the report that discusses the supports provided by the main employer, JBS. JBS is the largest employer in Worthington with about 2,300 employees. Roughly 80 employees of Karen origin were placed there through Lifetrack Resources over a 3 year period from 2007 to 2010. Lifetrack set up a Memorandum of Agreement with the company so that temporary housing is provided at a hotel and then $500 is available toward a longer hotel stay, first month's rent, or a deposit on an apartment. This investment demonstrates the company's interest in retaining qualified and reliable workers.

Read the full report here. Does anyone else have partnerships set up like this with employers who are outside of your traditional servive area?