The ICA Staffing Initiative
ICA’s Staffing Services Initiative is an
important focus of our Community Jobs work. ICA established this
Initiative in 1996 as a strategy to link unemployed and underemployed
individuals with limited work experience and education to entry-level
jobs that offer prospects for advancement and longer-term stability.
Recognizing temporary help as the fastest growing segment of the
American workforce, ICA pursued a model that would charge market-rate
fees and deliver value to employers while helping marginalized job
seekers succeed in the workplace.
Temporary
employment offers entry-level workers a way to build their resume,
develop skills and self-confidence, and experience an occupation while
demonstrating their value to potential employers. Unfortunately, less
skilled and otherwise disadvantaged job seekers are poorly served by
conventional staffing agencies that often lack the capacity and market
incentive to provide the worker supports they need. Individuals without
substantial work experience frequently find themselves caught between a
staffing agency that employs them and a client company that essentially
rents them, with neither business invested in the worker’s long term
success. ICA’s
staffing companies take a different approach, providing individuals
intensive pre- and post-placement support services to help them retain
employment and upgrade their job opportunities and wages.
Collaborating
with community-based partners, ICA has helped establish staffing
ventures in Boston, New York, Washington, DC and Providence, Rhode
Island. During
the past decade, these businesses have helped thousands of low-income
individuals formulate career goals, find work, and realize their
aspirations. In 2006, this Initiative served some 2,500 job seekers and
entry-level workers. Individuals placed in temporary and temp-to-perm
job assignments had average earnings of almost $13 per hour.
The Initiative’s market-based strategy leverages
charitable support with fees charged to employers making it a highly
cost effective and sustainable approach to workforce development. Fees
from employers cover 90% of operating costs for the ventures. Charitable
support enables ICA to provide technical assistance and strategic
guidance to these ventures and pursue opportunities to launch additional
sites.
A
number of other community based organizations and workforce
intermediaries have recognized the potential of the staffing model to
connect disadvantaged individuals to the workforce. As a result, an
alternative staffing sector is emerging comprised of staffing ventures
developed by not-for-profit organizations targeting their services to
disadvantaged workers. ICA’s
experience in the field has positioned us to play a leading role in
organizing this sector and promoting the alternative staffing model
nationally. With funding from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, ICA
has launched a national Alternative Staffing Alliance, designed to
support and strengthen social-purpose staffing practitioners and promote
and expand the sector. For more information about this effort please
visit
www.altstaffing.org
For more information about the alternative
staffing ventures ICA has helped develop, visit:
WorkSource
Partners, Brookline, MA www.worksourcepartners.com
FirstSource
Staffing, Inc., Brooklyn, NY
www.fssny.com
Enterprising
Staffing Solutions, Washington, DC
www.ess-dc.com
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