Concluding
report on the first stage of activities within the Support for Strengthening of Labour
Market Organisations Phare Twinning Project
The first stage of activities performed by
the seven Working Groups took place
between the beginning of October 2000 and April 2001. For most of them the aim was to
analyse current practices and procedures, prepare proposals for improving business
processes, prepare methodology for monitoring and evaluation and define concepts for the
implementation of pilot models at the Employment Service of Slovenia.
Study visits to Great Britain and Sweden
enabled the ESS to learn about the experience of other countries and see examples of good
practice and helped the ESS to adapt them to situation in Slovenia. Through this process
some interesting comparisons and findings emerged, but most important a basic foundation
was laid for the performance of activities in the subsequent stages of the project, which
will bring about concrete changes and improvements to the functioning of the ESS.
The
seven working groups:
Improvement to Internal and External Control and Monitoring Systems
- Improvement
of Job-Broking Services
- Elaboration of the Concept for Establishing a Special Pilot Unit in
a Local Employment Office
- Improving ESS Working Processes and Setting up Quality Standards for
Service Provision to Clients
- Establishment of a Centralised System for Payment of Unemployment
Benefits and Other Types of Assistance
1st
Component – Strengthening the Operational Capacity of the ESS
1.
Improvement to Internal and External Control and Monitoring Systems 
In the first stage of activities the
Working Group identified developmentally-oriented objectives in four separate
areas: the system of work monitoring, the management information system, the system of
external control and the system of internal audit. For each individual field an analysis
of the current situation was carried out and proposals for improving the systems were
put forward. The Working Group made good use of the new ideas and experience acquired
during study visits to Great Britain and Sweden.
Improvements to the system of work
monitoring include development of a general model for work monitoring in the
ESS and a pilot model of the monitoring system in the field of working with
employers in one of the three Local Offices. Working with employers and job-broking
services are among the priority assignments of the ESS.
Establishing the management information
system will provide the ESS management with an easier and more complete monitoring of
ESS operations, support in the preparation of business plans and in the business
decision-making on the basis of quality, and accurate information systematically organised
into coherent units by specific subjects, which in the past was only available to a
limited extent.
The improvement of the external control
system is aimed at achieving more effective control over the fulfilment of
obligations by the unemployed and external providers of employment programmes and ensuring
integrated information support and mechanisms for monitoring the process of external
control. Proposals for improvement will be tried out on labour funds and sheltered
companies.
The improvement of system of the
internal audit entails improvements in the functioning of internal control and
controlling of business risks. This calls for a definition of the accountability and rules
of achieving targets at the entire ESS level, every regional office, local offices and for
each employee as well as setting up of mechanisms for planning, evaluation and assuming of
risks.
2. Improvement of Job-Broking Services
In the first stage of activities the
Working Group defined the objectives for improving the job-broking system, which is
one of the key ESS activities. An analysis of the job-broking services was carried
out in the three pilot Local Offices and proposals for improving job-broking have
been put forward. Training was delivered for ESS staff on successful negotiations
with employers.
The fundamental objective of improving
the job-broking procedure is to increase the proportion of unemployed people finding
employment and to shorten the response time to the registered job vacancies. It is also
important to attract the cooperation of as many employers who wish to use the ESS
job-broking services as possible.
3.
Elaboration of the Concept for Establishing a Special Pilot Unit in a Local Employment
Office
In the first stage of activities the
Working Group defined a concept of a special pilot unit with the online services
for different groups of clients. The minimum standards have been set for the pilot
implementation of a system based on self-service provision of information in the Local
Office Novo mesto.
The self-service unit provides the users of
ESS services with the information on job vacancies and employment, education and
training programmes. An access to the worldwide web is available, to printed materials and
CD-roms, tools for more successful job search, computer programmes for self-assessment and
independent planning of career paths and information and counselling assistance.
The self-service unit is intended
equally for job seekers, redundant workers, pupils and students, employers and others.
All users will be guaranteed full access to reliable and current information. Among the
more important anticipated results of the self-service unit will be greater active
involvement of the unemployed in dealing with their problem.
4. Setting up
Quality Standards for Service Provision to Clients
In the first stage of activities the
Working Group prepared a proposal on quality standards for service provision to clients.
The instruments for monitoring of set standards were defined in the pilot Local
Office Koper. The Working Group has focused on two services: registration of
unemployed persons with the ESS register and job placements.
The objective of introducing quality
standards is to improve the quality of services, make them uniform and achieve greater
clients’ as well as staff satisfaction. The proposals on quality standards for
service provision to clients are intended to reduce the waiting time for clients,
simplify the registration procedure, improve the way the ESS staff introduce themselves to
clients, set up Local Offices signage, achieve accuracy and speed, make the supplied
information comprehensible and accessible to all, and display the ESS performance.
5.
Establishment of a Centralised System for Payment of Unemployment Benefits and Other Types
of Assistance
In the first stage of activities the
Working Group carried out a survey of the current system for payment of unemployment
benefits and other types of assistance to the participants of employment programmes and
organisations which are contractual partners of the ESS. The focus of attention was on
the very extensive related legislation and on the procedure of making the payments to
beneficiaries itself.
The results of what was a very thorough
analysis were used in the formulation of proposals for improving and centralising the
system for payment. The proposals are mostly directed towards standardising the
payment procedures, achieving more consistent verification and monitoring of the
fulfilment of conditions for paying unemployment benefit or assistance to the unemployed,
prevention of payments to people not entitled to payments and other types of abuse,
reducing the possibilities of ESS staff making subjective errors, and achieving more
efficient supervision of external providers of employment programmes.
3rd
Component – Increased Involvement of Non-Public Bodies in the Provision of Labour Market
Services
In the first stage of activities the
Working Group analysed the implementation of active employment policy programmes with
regard to the targets, target groups, programme providers, funding, results, monitoring
and evaluation of programmes. The purpose was to quantify the targets of individual
programmes better, set up indicators, to make monitoring and evaluation uniform, and set
up standards for external providers of employment programmes.
A review of legislation governing the
implementation of employment policy programmes showed that these programmes are laid down
by as many as 21 different laws, eight regulations and five other documents which the ESS
must all take into consideration.
4th
Component – Preparation for Participation in the European Social Fund
Slovenia will be eligible for assistance
from the European Social Fund once it becomes a full member of the European Union. By that
time preparation for participation in this Fund has to be carried out at the national,
regional and local levels.
In the first stage of activities the Twinning Working Group
familiarised itself with the regulations concerning the European Structural Funds. It
elaborated a survey of the employment programmes compliance with the regulations on
structural funds and the European Social Fund operation. The survey will serve as a
foundation for preparing ESS staff for the successful implementation of the activities
financed by the European Social Fund, managing the funds and financial monitoring.
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