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III. SETTING UP JOB RETENTION PROGRAMS
Some states, recognizing the challenges TANF recipients face in moving from welfare to work, are considering setting up job retention programs. The operational experiences of PESD offer valuable lessons to help guide state and local agencies in such efforts. This chapter focuses on six key questions that state and local agencies must consider as they attempt to provide job retention services to employed welfare recipients:
- Who to serve?
- What types of services to provide?
- How to deliver services?
- How much to promote services?
- When to provide services?
- Who will run the programs?
For all of these questions, agencies will have to make choices. In this chapter, we briefly describe how the PESD programs were set up with respect to each question, suggest key alternatives, and discuss the main features associated with each choice.1 Where relevant, we also provide operational suggestions for programs considering different choices.
Please keep two considerations in mind while reading the next six sections. First, the goal of these sections is not to provide a comprehensive listing of all possible choices that relate to each issue. Rather, the goal is to focus on some key alternatives and to point out trade-offs that will have to be considered. Clearly, the approach that makes the most sense for any particular agency will depend on local circumstances, the primary goals of the program, and available resources.
Second, these six questions are highly interrelated (Figure 4). The choice for any one of these questions has implications for the feasible or best choice for the others. For instance, a state may decide to set up a job retention program that provides case management services. This then has implications for the target population it can most easily serve. Alternatively, a local agency may decide that it wants to contract for job retention services. This then may have implications for the ease with which participation in the job retention program can be made mandatory, since contractors may find it difficult to enforce participation. Some combinations of choices go better together or can be implemented more easily, and we indicate these throughout the chapter.
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A. WHO TO SERVE
The PESD programs served JOBS participants who had recently found jobs, whether or not they continued to receive welfare after job start. The rationale for this decision was that recipients who find jobs, including those who leave the welfare rolls, are likely to face challenges of job retention.
One key question is whom the job retention program should serve. For instance, should services be provided to:
- All welfare recipients who find jobs, regardless of welfare status soon after job start?
- Only those welfare recipients who continue to receive welfare while employed?
- More narrowly targeted clients (those with certain individual characteristics related to education, work history, or other variables)?
Closely related to the question of whom the program should serve is whether or not the program will include case management services (Question 3) and how much the program wants to promote services (Question 4).
Summary: Who to Serve?
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Option 1: Serve All Welfare Recipients Who Have Found Jobs, Including Those Who Leave Welfare |
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Ensures coverage of all who might need job retention services. Many who exit welfare through work lose their jobs and return to welfare. Since individuals’ needs may not always be clear up front, providing job retention services to all who find jobs ensures that agencies are covering all clients who can potentially lose their jobs and are thus in a position to identify emerging problems and provide appropriate services. |
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Serving all employed welfare recipients can be fairly costly. Employed welfare recipients’ needs vary. To the extent that not all clients need assistance (or, at least, intensive assistance), it may be more efficient to focus available resources on those who most need assistance. |
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May be difficult to operationalize on a large scale. Setting up a job retention program for all recipients who find jobs may be logistically difficult. The staffing needs and other logistical support requirements are substantial, especially if case management services are being considered. Furthermore, some individuals may leave welfare without reporting employment. Such individuals may be unlikely to participate in any job retention program, especially if welfare agency staff run the programs. |
Option 2: Serve Only Clients Still Receiving Financial Assistance |
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Easy-to-identify group and more likely to be in need of services. Since they are still receiving public assistance, these employed individuals are more likely to have low-paying jobs and, in general, to need retention services. Furthermore, it may be easier to identify them and to provide certain services (such as group workshops). |
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Less costly. Since this group is a subset of all welfare recipients who find jobs, program costs will be lower than if services also extend to those who leave assistance. However, this cost advantage may not be very large if states have generous benefits or disregards policies that allow a large fraction of those employed to continue to receive welfare. |
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Providing services only to those on welfare may be shortsighted. While this seems to be a clear group to target, providing job retention services only to those still on welfare may lead to ignoring others who need services. For instance, past studies have shown that between 25 and 40 percent of welfare recipients who have found jobs and left welfare are back on welfare within a year after exiting. Moreover, who gets covered will vary widely by state, depending on the generosity of the state TANF program. It may be prudent to provide some assistance, at least to the least skilled or experienced welfare recipients who find jobs, to help prevent job loss, rather than to wait to provide them assistance until they lose their jobs and return to welfare. |
Option 3: Target Clients Based on Apparent Risk Factors, Regardless of Recipiency Status |
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Most efficient use of resources. Not all welfare recipients who find jobs will need job retention services. Targeting services to those individuals who seem most at risk of job loss, whether or not they still receive TANF, may be the most efficient use of agency resources. |
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Difficult to identify who needs and can benefit most from services. It is difficult to accurately predict who these individuals are, and additional research that evaluates the effectiveness of services targeted toward different groups of individuals is needed.2 The next page, however, provides some operational suggestions related to targeting. |
Hands On: Operational Suggestions Related to TargetingTargeting, if done correctly, uses limited resources most effectively. However, little evidence is available about who most needs services or might benefit most from them. On the basis of existing research and program staff perceptions, we list some ideas below for states that might want to target job retention services to clients: Targeting based on individual characteristics:
Other approaches to targeting:
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B. WHAT TYPES OF SERVICES TO PROVIDE?
Job retention programs can potentially offer a wide range of services to newly employed welfare recipients. Here, we provide brief sketches of the main types of services program planners could consider including:
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Job search assistance
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Child care, transportation, and housing assistance
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Resolution of benefit issues
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Counseling and support (including help with budgeting and contingency planning)
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Service referrals (including substance abuse/physical abuse/mental health)
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Support service payments for work-related emergencies
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Employer mediation
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EITC and tax information
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Career- and life-planning classes and workshops
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Information sharing through newsletters or other vehicles
Some of these services can easily be made available to all TANF recipients who find jobs. Other services that require a more intensive service delivery approach (such as counseling) may best be made available to selected individuals.
Summary: What Services to Provide?
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Job Search Assistance |
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| Given the high rate of job turnover, job search assistance must be an important component of job retention efforts. Immediate assistance needs to be given to those who lose their jobs or want better ones. These services can range from individualized job search assistance (such as specific job leads and general guidance on job search methods) to more structured activities (such as workshops and job search classes). Programs can also provide current and former TANF recipients access to resource rooms or one-stop career centers currently supported by U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and other employment agencies. These resource rooms are convenient locations where individuals can look for job leads, use telephones to call employers, use computers or typewriters to update their resumes, and consult with staff on updating resumes and filling out job applications. Programs should also provide payments or vouchers for child care and transportation for former TANF recipients who have lost their jobs or are looking for better jobs (rather than only provide these payments when they are back on TANF), so that these expenses do not form a barrier to looking for better jobs. | |
Child Care, Transportation, and Housing Assistance |
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| Child care, transportation, and housing are the three basic necessities that directly affect many welfare recipients soon after they obtain jobs. Retention programs should ensure that clients have stable and affordable arrangements in all three areas. Program staff could check basic arrangements, guide clients to available funding or subsidies for these expenses, provide referrals to agencies that deal with these necessities for low-income earners or employed welfare recipients, and ensure that clients have made appropriate back-up arrangements. Program staff should be trained so that they are fully aware of available resources and understand program eligibility issues. Program staff should also establish good communications with staff from these agencies so that problems can be straightened out in a timely way. | |
Resolution of Benefit Issues |
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| Soon after employment, welfare recipients can experience disruptions or errors in welfare benefits payments, as well as difficulty accessing transitional benefits they may need as they start working. Those working during standard daytime hours can find it difficult to take time from work to resolve problems with agency staff. Retention specialists or case managers can help clients apply for transitional benefits and resolve eligibility or benefit issues concerning welfare, food stamps, transitional Medicaid and child care, and housing. Again, retention program staff should be trained on eligibility issues and identify income maintenance or other eligibility workers who can help resolve issues in a timely way. | |
Counseling and Support |
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| Individual counseling and support is likely to be a valuable service; it is the one that PESD clients appreciated the most. For many welfare recipients, starting employment was a new experience, and they had to deal with many new issues at the same time. Counseling can cover money management and budgeting, contingency planning, workplace behavior and new workforce issues, and personal problems (such as nonsupportive families and friends). Staff members also can provide encouragement and moral support to clients and give them opportunities to discuss their frustrations and problems. | |
Service Referrals |
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| Clients may need assistance with a variety of services, including health care, child care, skill training, or education programs. Retention specialists should maintain a wide network of resources and provide clients referrals to child care providers and to training programs to supplement basic skills. They should also provide referrals to free legal aid and specialized individual or family counseling, including aid and counseling for substance abuse, mental health, and physical abuse. | |
Support Service Payments for Work-Related Emergencies |
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| Programs can offer payments for temporary expenses associated with starting work or with emergencies that can affect employment. Initial employment expenses include clothing, tools, shoes, and other work-related equipment that welfare recipients might need at job start. Onetime emergency payments may be made for such items as car repairs, car insurance, and assistance with rent. Such assistance can prevent small emergencies or crises (such as having a car break down or not being able to afford suitable work clothes) from leading to job loss. Programs should attempt to ensure, however, that these small payments do not count against participants' time limits on benefit receipt. | |
Employer Mediation |
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| While employer mediation may be a useful service that may have direct beneficial effects, the PESD experience shows that this service may be difficult to deliver. For instance, most PESD clients who found jobs did not want the case managers to call their employers, either because they did not want employers to know about their connection with welfare or because they did not want employers to assume that they needed external help dealing with their problems. This service may be somewhat easier to provide if welfare recipients have access to employee assistance programs or if the mediation is through an employment service than through welfare staff. | |
EITC and Tax Information |
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| Retention specialists and other tax workers can help clients extend their paychecks by helping them receive the advanced payment option of the EITC and giving them other tax assistance. These services can be provided by retention case managers (if they have adequate training) or by other specialized income tax staff. | |
Career- and Life-Planning Classes and Workshops |
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| Since many employed welfare recipients face similar experiences as they start working, programs can attempt to organize periodic workshops that relate to career and life planning and dealing with new workplace issues. These workshops (or peer group sessions) could cover topics of interest to newly employed individuals, such as appropriate workplace behavior, how to work with coworkers and supervisors, and the importance of showing up at work on time. The experience from PESD shows that those who attend workshops value them; however, many find it difficult to participate due to time and other constraints. Consequently, it may be useful for employers to conduct or to be involved in having these types of classes and workshops at worksites. Such workshops could be made available to all new or entry-level employees, not just TANF recipients. | |
Career- and Life-Planning Classes and Workshops |
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| Programs can create newsletters or other informational brochures that contain valuable information related to job retention. These publications can be mailed to all current and former TANF recipients who have found jobs and also be made available at resource rooms or job training and life skills workshops. | |
Information Sharing Through Newsletters and Other Vehicles |
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| Programs can create newsletters or other informational brochures that contain valuable information related to job retention. These publications can be mailed to all current and former TANF recipients who have found jobs and also be made available at resource rooms or job training and life skills workshops. | |
C. HOW TO DELIVER SERVICES?
Three main models for delivering the services are discussed here. One is the intensive and universal case management approach to delivering services used in the PESD programs. All welfare recipients who found jobs and were targeted for services were assigned to a case manager (a job retention specialist) who maintained contact with them and provided a comprehensive set of services. These services included counseling, service referrals, help with problem solving, and mediating with staff from other agencies on benefit and other issues.
A second, less-intensive approach is to provide clients with access to a resource room that focuses primarily on reemployment services. These resource rooms are convenient locations where clients can look for job leads, use telephones to call employers, use computers or typewriters to update their resumes, and fill out job applications. Individuals may work independently in these resource rooms or seek the assistance of a staff person. The rationale for resource rooms as the primary job retention service is that many individuals already have demonstrated an ability to find jobs and may need only minimal assistance to find a new job or upgrade their jobs.
Such resource rooms could be open after standard hours for the benefit of both job finders and employed individuals who are seeking job upgrading or advancement. Resource rooms would be similar to the one-stop career centers currently supported by DOL and other employment agencies. Retention programs can work with DOL programs and other employment agencies to try to integrate resources and tie in to these existing centers. While some of these existing sites may have an experienced worker orientation and may not be suitable for current or former welfare recipients, other sites may more easily be integrated for this population and should be used by job retention programs so as to maximize the number of such available centers available to current and former TANF recipients. These resource rooms should be available to all those who seek to find better jobs or find other employment, regardless of their TANF recipiency status.
A third, more integrated approach, could include both case management and resource room approaches, but select individuals for the more intensive services. Case management and other more intensive services can be provided to the clients who most need assistance, and the resource room facilities can be made available to all. Furthermore, resource rooms could include staff who have some links to the welfare agency and who may be able to deal with one-time emergencies and benefit resolution issues and other one-time emergencies that clients may face. In this section, we discuss the trade-offs among the three approaches:
Summary: How to Deliver the Services?
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Option 1: Case Management Approach |
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By maintaining regular contact with all clients, case managers can build up trust and a good relationship with the client. This will allow case managers to identify emerging problems and help clients act on them promptly. PESD case managers found that even clients who did not initially want any contact with the case managers often opened up over time, because they realized that these case managers were sincere and could provide valuable moral and other support. |
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Case management allows tailoring of services and an individualized approach. Case managers can maintain an appropriate level of involvement with clients and can make access to some services easier. This approach also allows the case managers to maintain flexibility and to not impose a uniform set of services on all. |
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Universal case management can be costly and hard to deliver on a large scale. For case managers to be able to reach and maintain contact with all their clients, and for case management services to be effective, case managers will need small caseload sizes. This is not always possible, however. For example, by the end of the PESD enrollment period, case managers had been assigned, on average, between 100 and 170 clients each. An average of between 40 and 70 percent of clients across the sites were active during any given quarter and the case managers had some service contact with them. This can become costly if a large number of clients are to be served. In addition, it may be difficult to find enough case managers who can take a flexible approach to service delivery by providing individualized services and by remaining accessible to clients by working evenings or weekends. |
Hands On: Operational Suggestions for Case Management Approach
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Option 2: Resource Rooms/One-Stop Career Centers |
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Job search supports and resources, with a little additional support, may be sufficient for many welfare recipients who find jobs. Not all clients need intensive assistance, and welfare recipients who are less needy or are capable of making it on their own with a little additional assistance may find that this smaller level of support is sufficient. For these individuals, ongoing case management might not be necessary, and the provision of such resource rooms will allow those who need assistance to help themselves. |
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Will be less costly to provide this level of support on a large scale to welfare clients. Programs will not have to spend a lot of resources, either monetary or human, on providing these services to all welfare recipients who have found jobs. |
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Can ensure wide coverage. By having resource rooms or similar facilities in a wide range of locations, programs can ensure that clients who need these services can easily access them. Such resource rooms can also remain open longer (such as during evenings and weekends) to facilitate job advancement among those already employed who are seeking better jobs. |
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Some clients may need more intensive services than resource rooms offer. Others may not know how to use the services the resource rooms offer. Moreover, these resource rooms only deal with one or a small number of dimensions of the problems that are faced by welfare recipients who find jobs. Thus, job retention programs that provide only resource rooms might not be adequate for many individuals. |
Hands On: Operational Suggestions for Enhanced Resource Rooms
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Option 3: Integrated Approach: Case Management and Enhanced Resource Rooms |
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Combines the best features of the two separate approaches and provides the most appropriate set of services for different individuals. Not all clients need intensive case management-based services. By making some minimal level of job search support and other assistance available to all, and case management services available to those who most need them, this integrated approach may best meet clients' varied needs. Programs that want to ensure broad coverage can more easily provide these services to employed welfare recipients who have lost their jobs or want better ones. By staffing a resource room with one or two case managers from welfare agencies, the programs also can ensure that other one-time needs of clients can more easily be met. In addition, welfare agency staff in these resource rooms can refer clients they perceive as needing more intensive and ongoing services to other job retention staff who are providing case management services. Finally, by allowing people to help themselves to available resources, programs are fostering independence. |
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More moderate costs. This approach takes a middle-ground approach with respect to costs. It will be less costly than providing case management services to all employed welfare recipients. |
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Success depends on programs’ ability to track people into different service paths. Programs will have to determine which clients need services and who can benefit the most from different types of services. Programs can then assign clients to the more-intensive case management services track or to the resource room track. Issues discussed in the targeting discussion still hold; if people who need services are not identified for intensive services, they may fall through the cracks. |
D. HOW MUCH TO PROMOTE SERVICES?
Agencies that want to provide job retention services will have to decide how much to promote them. Two related questions arise: (1) Should participation be mandatory or voluntary? (2) Should outreach be passive or active?
The first question involves whether job retention programs should require some people to participate or whether individuals can decide for themselves. With mandatory participation, programs can require certain individuals to participate. For this approach to be effective, programs need some tools (such as sanctions) that they can use to influence these individuals’ decision to participate. With voluntary participation, programs can offer a set of services and let individuals decide for themselves whether or not they want to use them.
The second question relates to whether programs should make some services available to clients and have them access services when they need them (the passive approach), or whether programs should make an active effort to reach out and deliver services to individuals (the active approach). Passive outreach can be done through informational mailings to remind clients of available job retention services (such as resource rooms). Individuals can also be informed of the availability of these services while they are still receiving welfare (for example, while in the job placement component). Active outreach can be done by attempting to set up telephone or face-to-face meetings with clients, informing them about the availability of services, and continuing to maintain periodic contact with them. Such periodic contact can be useful for developing a relationship over time between the case manager and the client and enable the case manager to more easily detect potential problems that might affect employment.
As in other key decisions, program goals and local circumstances will determine whether program participation should be voluntary or mandatory and what the amount of outreach should be. Only programs that serve individuals still on assistance exclusively can require mandatory participation. If states or local agencies target case management services to a selected group, programs may want to aggressively reach out and deliver services. However, if programs are providing universal coverage, active outreach may be too expensive or simply not feasible.
Summary: How Much to Promote Services?
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Participation Option 1: Mandatory |
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Can achieve high participation rates. Mandatory programs usually ensure higher participation rates than voluntary programs for similar groups of individuals. If welfare agencies or job retention programs can identify individuals who can benefit from job retention services and can also identify effective services, mandatory participation requirements will lead to high participation rates and programs' serving more people who need and can benefit from services. |
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May foster dependence. In the current environment, where the goal is to help get welfare recipients off assistance, “requiring” some program participation, especially as individuals are making their transition to employment, might be counterproductive. |
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Difficult to ensure compliance of all. Programs can only use mandatory participation requirements effectively if they have a tool, such as cash assistance sanctions, that can help ensure compliance. This suggests that, at best, programs can attempt mandatory participation only among those who find a job but continue to receive welfare benefits. Furthermore, monitoring and ensuring compliance with programs can also consume case management time and other resources, and can be costly. |
Participation Option 2: Voluntary |
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May be less costly. If participation is voluntary, and only those clients who feel they need services participate in the programs, program staff will not have to spend resources tracking and monitoring participation. |
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May not serve everyone who needs services. Many individuals who need and could benefit from program participation may not choose to participate. Then individuals may easily lose their jobs and end up back on welfare. |
Outreach Option 1: Passive |
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Less costly; easy to implement. Mass mailings and other forms of passive outreach can be less costly and less time-consuming than face-to-face or telephone meetings with clients. Face-to-face meetings may be difficult, since not all clients may have the time or desire to meet program staff. Telephone meetings may be easier, but not all individuals will have telephones or be willing to talk over the phone. |
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May not serve everyone targeted. Merely providing information on available services at an early point in time or sending periodic reminders may leave clients without a real sense of what the services being provided are and relatively unmotivated to use them. |
Outreach Option 2: Active |
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May enable programs to serve a larger fraction of those they want to serve. Experience from PESD shows that even clients who did not initially want to be bothered by case managers realized their value and warmed up to them after a while. Active outreach may be easier to conduct if clients are still on welfare and the program can require their participation, or if the agency providing services has a good reputation for being a service-oriented agency. |
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Will be more costly and time-consuming. PESD case managers spent a fair amount of time calling clients and setting up meetings with them to learn more about them, to explain available program services, and to maintain regular contact with them. Some working clients can only meet during the evenings or weekends, since they work during the day; this can also take additional resources. |
E. WHEN TO PROVIDE SERVICES?
States or local agencies setting up job retention programs or services must consider two questions related to when to provide services:
How soon after job start should services be provided?
For how long should services be provided?
Summary: When to Provide Services?
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When to Start? |
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Programs should provide services to employed individuals as early as possible and integrate some job retention services into job preparation and job placement activities. Most individuals face the greatest challenges to job retention soon after job start, and their needs are most intensive at this time. Early preparation and integration of job retention strategies before job start may help employed TANF recipients be more prepared for the world of work. For instance, job clubs and job training workshops could include sessions on getting along with supervisors and coworkers, finding child care and transportation and making back-up arrangements, and budgeting. Finally, discussing these issues early on may in itself lead to better job placements or job matches and better chances of job retention. TANF staff should inform welfare recipients of universally available job retention resources prior to job start (when clients are informed about time limits and other program rules and services). Those targeted for special services should be made aware as early as possible of what additional services will be available and any requirements to participate. Providing early information on job retention services can ensure that welfare recipients have full information on potentially available services prior to job start and can also minimize the amount of individual outreach needed after welfare recipients find jobs. Not all clients will go through job placement programs or other TANF components, and it will be important to reach these clients soon after they find jobs. The PESD programs showed that, with some effort, it is feasible to establish quick contact. Even though the PESD programs were new, and individuals had no prior knowledge of the existence of job retention services, case managers managed to establish contact with sample members quickly. More than half the clients were contacted within three weeks of being referred to the demonstration, and more than 80 percent were contacted within six weeks. Such early contact was possible because staff outreach occurred soon after identification and referral of clients to the demonstration. By establishing early contact, program staff can more readily determine clients’ needs and identify best strategies to follow based on clients’ strengths. For instance, it may be useful to conduct assessments on all recipients who find jobs to establish service goals for clients. However, program staff may not want to provide too much structure (especially for those assigned to case management) because clients may resent it if they are taking their first steps toward self-sufficiency. Finally, some clients will be hard to reach, and persistent effort may be needed to contact them. Program staff will have to determine if these hard to reach clients are high-risk clients who should be contacted or if they are likely to be able to manage on their own. |
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How Long to Serve? |
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While many problems occur at job start, clients continue to experience problems over time. It is important to maintain contact to promptly detect job-threatening problems that may occur over time. The first six months after job start is critical to determining individuals’ ability to sustain employment. Studies show that exit rates from jobs are very high during the early months after job start (Rangarajan, Schochet, and Chu 1998). Job retention programs serving clients should try to ensure that those who need ongoing services are served for at least six months or until there is clear evidence that an individual has overcome major hurdles. Therefore, programs may want to follow an aggressive outreach strategy, at least for the first few months after job start. |
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Hands On: Operational Suggestions for Establishing and Maintaining Contact in a Case Management Approach
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F. WHO WILL RUN THE PROGRAMS?
Job retention services for employed welfare recipients can be provided directly by welfare agencies or contracted out to other agencies/organizations. The PESD programs used a variation of the first approach: they set up their job retention units as an extension of their JOBS programs, but they attempted to maintain some separation from welfare by establishing job retention units as new programs. In this section, we discuss three ways of providing job retention services:
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Directly, as part of welfare agency services (perhaps as part of job placement)
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Through welfare agency staff (or staff hired by welfare agency), but as a separate unit
- Contracted out to other local or community agencies
Each approach has advantages and drawbacks. Ultimately, what an agency chooses will depend on the resources available and its ability to provide services. Furthermore, the ability of the welfare agency to engage clients may depend to some extent on the agency’s reputation with clients. Increased work requirements in the past few years have given many welfare agencies a reputation for “pushing people into work.” As part of the evolving changes, states will need to retrain income maintenance workers and other program staff to help welfare recipients find and keep jobs by identifying emerging needs and providing appropriate assistance. Providing postemployment services could be one way of telling welfare recipients that they are responsible for their move toward self-sufficiency by finding employment, but that states will provide additional services to help them attain their goals.
Summary: Who Will Run the Programs?
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Option 1: Provided Directly as Part of Welfare Agency Services |
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Agency staff already know the clients and their histories, and this might lower one barrier to communication. Having job placement or other agency staff provide services maintains some continuity. It also enables retention staff to use assessments and other material already collected as part of job placement efforts. In addition, this approach allows for easier integration of services provided before and after a job is found. |
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If job retention programs are part of welfare agencies, program staff may more easily be able to use participation requirements and program mandates imposed by welfare. The threat of sanctions may increase participation among those targeted clients still receiving TANF who do not want any job retention services. |
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If job retention programs are part of welfare agencies, they may be able to more easily correct TANF benefits problems or deal with transitional benefits eligibility issues. By being part of the welfare system, job retention staff can more easily work within the system to correct payment errors and to deal with problems related to accessing transitional benefits. |
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Many clients resent welfare agency staff and may not want to work with them. PESD sample members often complained of the pressures welfare agency staff applied and said they wanted no contact with them. Ensuring that individuals, particularly those who have left welfare, will participate in job retention programs will be difficult. |
Option 2: Part of Welfare, But with Some Separation |
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Not directly part of "welfare" and the associated stigma attached to it. PESD programs found that many newly employed welfare recipients did not want to have anything to do with welfare. For instance, to get individuals to use program services, one of the PESD programs changed its name and established a distinct identity with its own logo and stationery. After doing so, it found that more clients were willing to participate. PESD case managers also indicated that it was easier to gain clients' trust, since the case managers were not also directly making benefit payments and controlling welfare checks. |
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Easier access to agency data. Retention case managers can more easily access case histories of clients and other information from welfare system data or other tracking data. They are also more likely to be able to correct benefit errors and deal with other transitional benefits issues since they are part of the system. |
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Greater flexibility in service delivery is possible. Because PESD was set up as a separate unit, these case managers could be more flexible in their approach to service delivery than under regular welfare and job placement programs. Furthermore, by having access to all the same job placement and other resources as welfare case managers, PESD case managers could deliver a wide range of services. |
Option 3: Contracted Out Services |
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Can have specialized employment agency and other staff provide services. If welfare agencies lack staff or want non-welfare-related professional staff to provide these services, they can contract out for services. The agencies may then more easily be able to impose performance measures in terms of desirable outcomes, by tying financial payments to performance. |
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Can avoid stigma. Some welfare recipients, as they move toward independence from welfare, may want no contact with welfare agency staff. Furthermore, welfare recipients who find employment typically do not want their employers to learn of their past reliance on welfare; consequently, job retention staff from welfare agencies usually are not able to provide employer mediation. Clients might be more likely to allow individuals from employment agencies to mediate with their employers. |
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Requires clients to work with different staff. Contracting agencies will have to establish new communications with clients. These agencies might not have access to assessments or other personal information collected by welfare agency staff, or they may be unable to effectively use such information. |
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May be difficult to get high participation rates. Welfare recipients who have found jobs may be reluctant to seek assistance from contractors they do not know, and take-up rates may be low. This problem may lessen after the contracting agency gains a reputation among welfare recipients for serving employed individuals. Moreover, this problem may not exist if the contracted agency has a positive reputation within the community. |
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Tracking clients and providing certain services may be difficult. Welfare agency staff can use the agency data-tracking systems to determine earnings changes. Furthermore, as more agencies are integrating data systems across different public assistance programs, the amount of information available to welfare agency staff can be large. Private contractors who do not have access to these systems might find it harder to track current or former welfare recipients who have found jobs. They may also find it more difficult to deal with benefit resolution and other issues, which are more familiar to welfare agency workers. |
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May be difficult to ensure accountability unless some performance-based measures are imposed. Private contractors typically are paid a fixed dollar amount per client, and welfare agency staff usually have little control over what the contractors do to promote job retention. States may have to consider financial incentives to ensure accountability. |
Hands On: Operational Suggestions for Separate Unit of Welfare Agency
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Hands On: Operational Suggestions for Contracting Out Services
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