Employers and the Long-term Unemployed

Author(s): Maura Sheehan and Mike Tomlinson
Document Type: Book chapter
Year: 1999
Title of Publication: The Unequal Unemployed: Discrimination, Unemployment and State Policy in Northern Ireland
Editor(s): Maura Sheehan and Mike Tomlinson
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing Ltd
Place of Publication: Aldershot
ISBN: 1 84014 319 3
Subject Area(s): Employment
Client Group(s): Employers, Unemployed

Abbreviations: LTU - Long-term Unemployed, T&EA - Training and Employment Agency

Research Approach

  • The supply-side emphasis of government labour market policies has led to a neglect of labour demand in policy debates with respect to both unemployment and inequalities in unemployment. This summary presents the findings from interviews with human resources/personnel managers of major employers in the West Belfast area. Fourteen employers in the area were interviewed, of which, six were locally owned, five multinationals, two British owned and one publicly owned. Four of the companies were in the service sector and the remaining in manufacturing. Approximately two thirds of the companies employed 30-150 people, the remaining employed over 150 people.

  • Two methods were used in the study of employers. Once an employer agreed to participate, a questionnaire which asked for basic data on employment and recruitment levels and personnel policies was sent, and each employer was subsequently interviewed about more qualitative and sensitive issues. The interviewees were asked detailed questions about their recruitment practices, their attitudes to, and experiences of, hiring the long-term unemployed, their assessment of the usefulness of the government's training and employment schemes, and their attitudes towards different types of policy interventions.

Main Findings

Recruitment Practices

  • All employers interviewed appeared to have highly professional recruitment procedures, were very knowledgeable and interested in fair employment issues.

  • There were very similar methods of recruitment across firms or across employee categories. All employees reported that they placed advertisements in newspapers for each category of employee (although not for every employee recruited). Private employment agencies and backfiles were used only for managerial/professional workers and for some clerical office staff/sales personnel. Job Clubs and T&EA's pre-employment programmes were used to recruit semi- and un-skilled manual workers and some skilled workers. None of the employers reported that they used word of mouth, personal contacts or unsolicited applications.

  • Several employers commented that whilst newspaper advertisements assured very high numbers of applications, several dozen of these would be 'token' applications, whose sole intentions are to demonstrate that the person is 'actively seeking work' so that s/he may receive benefits. Such applications also contributed to the problem of people not turning up to interviews.

  • In the recruitment of skilled, semi-skilled and 'unskilled' manual workers, employers identified 'experience' and 'stable employment record' as 'very important'. Personal characteristics/qualities, 'skills', 'references', 'qualifications' and a 'history of previous unemployment' were all identified as 'important' to the recruitment decision.

  • Several employers commented that the unemployed, especially the LTU, 'don't really have a lot to talk about' during interviews and that it was often 'difficult to keep a conversation flowing'.

Attitudes to the Long-term Unemployed

  • Nine of the employers had recently employed LTU people. The responses varied considerably by sector and industry, and the age of the firm. The types of jobs for which the LTU were recruited were sales, skilled manual and semi- and un-skilled manual. In the manufacturing sector, a high percentage of the LTU were recruited for temporary jobs.

  • All of the employers said that the length of time that an individual had been unemployed affected their attitude towards hiring the person. The explanations fell into two broad categories: 'motivational' and 'ability'.

  • Six of the nine employers who had recently recruited LTU people said that there was 'really no difference' between the LTU and other workers in terms of work performance. Three of these employers considered the LTU recruits, especially men with children, to be their best and most loyal workers. The three employers who found differences in performances between the LTU and other workers identified poor time-keeping and high rates of absenteeism as the most significant problems.

Increasing the Recruitment of the Long-term Unemployed

  • Approximately half of employers said an improvement in the job applications, skills, presentation, motivation and attitudes would encourage them to recruit more LTU. Other factors identified included evidence that unemployed applicants had recently received some training or work experience through a government scheme. Few employers felt that a shift towards more jobs requiring low skills would increase recruitment of the LTU. Three out of four employers also said that a greater willingness on the part of the LTU to work for lower wages would not encourage them to employ more LTU.

  • One employer was opposed to the introduction of a national (or European) minimal wage set at around £4.00 per hour.

  • Many employers said that more help should be given to the LTU with filling in applications, CVs and improving their motivation.

  • In general employers did not believe that training and employment schemes were helpful either in terms of increasing participants' chances of being hired or in improving skills. Indeed, a few employers said that they would not consider hiring anyone who had been on either the Job Training Programme or the Youth Training Programme. One important exception cited by employers however, was a customised training service run by the T&EA which is available to multinationals. Employers noted that since the skills learned on the programme were customised, they were directly relevant and of a high quality. In addition, several employers said that it gave them the opportunity to hire unemployed people.
 

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