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Spreydon-Heathcote Employment Needs Research

Summary Document

BACKGROUND


This research was carried out by the Strengthening Community Action Plan (SCAP) "Employment" sub-group and funded by the Spreydon-Heathcote SCAP Core Group. The SCAP Employment sub-group comprises representatives from the following community organizations:

Rowley Resource Centre, Strickland Street Community Gardens, Manuka Cottage, Waltham Community Cottage, Kingdom Careers Plus, and the Community Development Advisor, Christchurch City Council.

The aim of the research is 'to gain an insight into perspectives on work/employment from the people on a range of benefits, non-beneficiaries, and low income waged workers'. It is anticipated that the members of SCAP will utilise the findings to base future planning/action pertaining to employment needs in the area in order to improve integration of services and resources.

The research involved extensive reference to the 1996 Census of Population and Dwellings, other research into employment issues, face-to-face interviews with community organisation representatives and key organisations working around employment in the area, including Department or Work and Income, and a series of face-to-face interviews and focus groups with a total of 63 local residents, most of whom utilise the community organisations represented by SCAP.
 

DEMOGRAPHIC


Spreydon-Heathcote ward is in many ways, 'a slice of Christchurch'.  However, the ward is also characterised by a divergence in population of the areas where each community organisations (represented by the Employment Steering Group) is situated.

Sydenham, Waltham, Addington and Rowley are characterised by lower incomes, more Maori and Pacific Island peoples, high ratios of beneficiaries and residents who hold no qualifications and high unemployment. The 1996 registered 'unemployment' rate in Christchurch was 8.0%; Spreydon-Heathcote was only 7.0%; but for Addington the rate was 11.0%; Rowley was 11.6%; and Waltham was 12.0%; Sydenham’s unemployment rate was 7.0% but Sydenham has a very high population of  'non labour force', particularly superannuitants. While the Maori population of Spreydon-Heatcote ward is in keeping with the rest of the city, Addington, Waltham and Sydenham have high Maori populations. One fifth of the population of Rowley is Maori one tenth is Pacific Islands, one of the highest Pacific Islands' populations in the city. According to the Rowley Primary School Board of Trustees, 10.0% of the school population is European, 40.0% are Maori and 40.0% are Pacific Island.

In 1996 34.0% of Spreydon-Heathcote residents received some form of income Support payment. In Addington, Waltham and Rowley the ratio of residents receiving Income Support was nearly half and for Sydenham, over half (51.2%). 30.0% of Spreydon-Heathcote residents in 1996 held 'no qualifications'. In Sydenham, over one third of residents held 'no qualifications' and in Addington, 38.0%; Waltham, 40.9%. In Rowley, 44.5% of residents held 'no qualifications'. All of these areas have a much lower than city average of access to telephone and car ownership.

Spreydon-Heathcote ward also has a high population of the city's residents who suffer from psychiatric/psychological/serious mental illness [1998 'Poverty and Hardship in Christchurch' Study Christchurch City Council].
 

WHO THE COMMUNITY ORGANISATIONS CATER FOR


Because of these demographic trends, Rowley Resource Centre, Manuka Cottage and Waltham Community Cottage cater very specifically to their immediate local neighbourhoods, those who live within walking distance of these community organisations. The catchment for Strickland Street Community Gardens is somewhat wider, mostly from the Sydenham area, but several come by car from around the area. Kingdom Careers Plus identifies that about half of their clientele live in the Spreydon-Heathcote ward and the other half from around this city. Kingdom Careers Plus caters to a range of individual profiles, including women returning to the workplace, school leavers and people experiencing redundancies.

Those who use the community cottages, Resource Centre, Community Gardens are mostly those on Unemployment, Sickness, Invalids or Domestic Purposes benefits or regular ACC payments; or low income paid employees; mothers whose partners are employed; and in some cases, superannuitants. Usage by Pacific Islands peoples, youth (under 19) and Maori does not necessarily reflect the demographics of the areas surrounding each of the community organisations, however this varies between each organisations.
 

TRENDS AND ISSUES


While the issues varied across focus groups, depending on the key variables of age, caregiver status, current employment status, type of benefit, and ethnicity; the following issues pervaded the findings of the study:

1. Sense of uncertainty and insecurity experienced by all individuals around employment. This applied to every individual profiles involved in the research:
 


Those in employment and the underemployed felt uncertain about job security (in terms of either receiving low wages, preferring full-time to part-time employment, the meaningful nature or work and hence, identity).

Those not in paid employment felt uncertain about the prospects of ever finding meaningful paid employment with a secure future.

2. Rigid definitions around employment and associated expectations (by employers, DWI, trainers, and society in general).

Many residents facing unemployment and feeling isolated from society because of this, do not see long term full-time employment as a goal but still have aspirations to contribute to meaningful activity in order to engage in society. Perhaps ‘workforce’ needs to be distinguished more clearly from ‘labour force’, whereby ‘labour force’ entails the energy from paid work of New Zealanders, which collectively contributes to the gross national product. ‘Workforce’ is a wider definition of human activity, entailing the range of unpaid activities that New Zealanders are engaged in.

3.  Calls from research contribute for both local and national employment-related support (from DWI, community organizations, Christchurch City Council, employment advisors and agencies) to consider holistic ‘stepping stones’ approaches. This would acknowledge the range of support necessary for many individuals in the ward area to overcome isolation and take the first steps towards meaningful participation in ‘work and activity’, whether the long term goal to achieving this participation is full-time paid employment or some other form of activity along the ‘work and activity’ continuum.

Individuals feel powerless against the system to define and determine how they would like to contribute in a meaningful way to the workforce. The majority of training options and paid employment options are structured to fill low paid, sometimes part-time or short-term positions that many individuals feel lack ‘human’ meaning – eg keyboard operation.

The other key issues/barriers around employment include:

For those in employment

1. Uncertainty about job security.

2. Low wages.

3. Work not meaningful.

4. Understanding that the marketplace is very competitive and therefore, despite dissatisfactions, one holds on to a job, particularly for those over 40 years olds who fear they can be easily replaced by younger workers.

5. The lack of jobs and hence competitive feel of the job marketplace means a perception that employers hold more power than employees and there is little room for voicing dissatisfaction – people are disposable.

For those out of employment but actively seeking

1. Dealing with DWI – inflexible policies, particularly around standdown periods and around the types of jobs/training that individuals feel pressured to pursue – short-term, low paid, requiring keyboard skills.

2. Confidence, particularly for those over 40 years old, caregivers returning to the ‘workforce’, those on long term Unemployment benefit, Sickness, Invalids benefit, or regular ACC payments. Confidence is an issue in a variety of settings: skills: for those over 40 years of age – feeling like a dinosaur in a rapidly changing employment marketplace.

3. Benefit/Low wage disparity. Essentially, this is the recognition that with wages so low, often one is better off financially on a benefit and this acts as a disincentive to come off a benefit for paid employment.

4. Lack of meaningful work out there. Everything is short-term, information or service sector. What happened to working with one’s hands or working in caring professions and why doesn’t DWI support the necessary longer term training to re-skill into meaningful work?

For Caregivers

1. Anger around a cultural shift in which mothering/caring for the family is not valued. Caregivers take pride in this role and view it as their primary role. Therefore employment options have to fit around family commitments. Mothers want to be with their children, not put them into care in order to work.

2. Why don’t employers value motherhood on a CV?

3. Lack of meaningful, well paid jobs available. In order to take work that is flexible around family commitments it is usually low paid, working late hours – service industry or office administration

4. Difficult to choose long-term training options (cost and time involved) when family commitments have to be considered first.

5. Lack of parent-friendly work environments/workplace polices.

For those on Sickness or Invalid’s Benefit or Regular ACC Payments

Perceptions by employers, DWI staff and the community around people with mental illness. Generally, there is a desire to be in paid employment but confidence and flexibility or work environments/schedules need to be addressed.
 

HOW ROWLEY RESOURCE CENTRE, STRICKLAND STREET COMMUNITY GARDENS, MANUKA COTTAGE, WALTHAM COMMUNITY COTTAGE AND KINGDOM CAREERS PLUS CAN ASSIST SPREYDON-HEATHCOTE RESIDENTS WITH BARRIERS / ISSUES AROUND EMPLOYMENT


What came out very strongly is the need for “Stepping Stones” approaches that will see the community organisations offering support at one end of a ‘work / activity’ continuum, several steps further away from the direct employment-related advice and training offered by Kingdom Careers Plus.

The ‘stepping stones’ analogy can also be carried through to requests by residents for Department of Work and Income to offer more ‘staged’ and follow-up support for individuals coming off a benefit and moving into employment.  It has been identified that a ‘stepping stones’ approach to these ‘work’ transitions will reduce the many risks, both for individuals and for the system, ensuring a smoother transition and improving the chances for individuals to stay in work for longer periods.

WHAT THE COMMUNITY ORGANISATIONS CURRENTLY OFFER TO SUPPORT THE INDIVIDUALS AROUND THEIR EMPLOYMENT ISSUES:

1. Welcoming local enviroments where individuals can move from their own homes and into a sense of participation/engagement in community, before considering full-time employment or where this is not nessarily a goal.

2. Confidence. Simply taking the first step from feeling isolated and alone (for caregivers, unemployed and those receiving other benefits) to coming into these community organisations constitutes a large 'step' towards gaining confidence to think about oneself as a member of the 'workforce' community.

3. Access to friendships and support networks with others who use the community organisations and with the staff, thereby developing social skills.

4. Possibilities for volunteer work. For example Strickland Street Community Gardens offers the opportunity to work within the field of horticulture within established patterns of work ethic and teamwork, with development of both social skills and specialist vocational skills.

5. Advice on issues including: dealing with DWI, entitlements, budgeting, life skills, anger managment, referrals to training or employment providers.

6. Training - keyboard skills, administrative skills. These options have been made available by the Kingdom Resources and community cottages for local residents.

7. Kingdom Careers Plus offers confidence building, 'Taking the First Steps' Woman's Course and career consultation with respect to job searching, training options, CV preparation, interview techniques with post placement support. The support for the services by indivduals who have used these was obvious. Individuals appreciated the personal, one-on-one approach that is both professional and neighbourly, and called for more services to be tailored this way (including DWI).
 

WHAT THESE COMMUNITY ORGANISATIONS AND SCAP NEED TO CONTINUE TO OFFER LOCAL RESIDENTS IN SUPPORT OF THEIR EMPLOYMENT NEEDS/ISSUES

These organisations must continue to offer these opportunities for local residents to take the necessary first steps to overcome isolation and to feel productive members of their community 'workforces'. These community organisations provide the necessary intermediary step between individual isolation and the employment marketplace. They must continue to offer the services they currently offer.

Many of the issues voiced by contributors are national, historical, political and economic issues facing all New Zealanders around employment. The community organisations, SCAP and Christchurch City Council have a role to play in advocacy and lobbying to raise the awareness of city and national policymakers, employers, DWI staff and the public around the entrenched barriers to meaningful employment for local people: lack of jobs, low wages, DWI policies and cultural, employer policies and attitudes, perceptions about age, perceptions around caregiving, and perceptions around mental illness. Current rigid definitions and perceptions around employment, labour force, and workforce meaning need to be explored, openly discussed and challenged.
 

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