Switching to online delivery
When COVID-19 restrictions were put in place, we knew we had to act quickly to ensure ‘business as usual’ whilst ensuring the safety of our customers and colleagues. In the short term we knew that COVID-19 had the potential to seriously impact our existing customers’ search for employment and we wanted to make sure we were doing everything we could to support them.
Unable to deliver our services face to face so we set ourselves the target of delivering as much as we could via digital platforms. We planned for a range of circumstances including the potential increase in referrals to our service.
Within five weeks we had converted all our training and support services to a digital environment:
- Employment support – our employment coaches needed to stay in touch with their customers, with venues locked down we had to adapt quickly. We maintained contact via regular emails and telephone calls before introducing 1:1 sessions using Microsoft Teams, to ensure we could continue to connect and support our customers with their employment journey
- Employability courses – content including building CV’s, how to make your job application stand out and interview skills went online. We recorded webinar sessions so customers could watch these in their own time.
- CREATE – our self-employment programme was converted to five live sessions delivered through Microsoft Teams. Our initial concerns that course attendees may not gel as they normally would in a training venue were soon eased, as WhatsApp support groups were quickly initiated between trainees. We also moved our Business Support Clubs online and noticed an immediate increase in attendance. We have since converted all our additional business support training to virtual workshops covering topics such as social media, tax and accounting.
- Wellbeing – a new addition to our training portfolio we introduced virtual sessions to our CREATE course. Modules include coping with social isolation in lockdown, managing anxiety and healthy eating
- Work with schools – we wanted to ensure we could continue to meet the objectives set out at the beginning of the academic year; supporting young people with careers advice and guidance so that every year 11 student we work with would leave school with an ‘intended destination’. We worked in partnership with our school network to set up virtual provision to connect with students, offering digital appointments via Microsoft Teams. We also developed resources to support customers with home schooling.
- Skill up Somerset and Cosmic – our community partners in the West, have also worked with us to adapt their services. This has included What’s App job cafes and offering 1:1 advice for customers to build confidence using digital platforms for job interviews.
Acting quickly
We had to act quickly making use of Microsoft Teams and engaging with our customers to ensure a smooth transition has been key. It was important that customers could interact with us in a safe environment and that we could continue to deliver our services and support. It’s been a real combined effort, where working together has meant we can achieve more.
Customers have had to adapt too
There is always a concern that customers may not be on board with changes to how we work. We’ve received a lot of positive feedback on our virtual services, with many of our courses being busier than ever. Our customers have been fantastic, adapting very quickly to this new way of working. The services are as popular and, in some circumstances, more so. We are conscious of those without access to digital and this is an area we will be working on once the restrictions have been lifted.
We have also had to consider that in some cases, customers are not in a place where they have felt able to focus on job seeking. Lack of childcare, health struggles, even a lack of motivation has prevented some from engaging as normal. It’s been important to adapt to what our customers have needed at this time, so we’ve been sending video, telephone, and e-mail guidance as well as providing regular wellbeing calls.
Looking to the future
COVID-19 and the digitalisation of our services has also coincided with the launch of Radian’s new Community Strategy, which sees our organisation commit to creating new pathways into sustainable employment, training and careers for at least 2,000 people over the next 5 years. Converting to digital platforms has made our services accessible to a wider audience, in our strategy we have committed to develop this further. The shift to digital has been enlightening, it’s been extremely successful and, in some cases more effective than face to face. For example, the Business Support Clubs, people can join from anywhere across our geography, we have less travel time and we have reduced our carbon footprint.
As restrictions begin to lift, we will look to create a balance between virtual and face-to-face contact. We are committed to getting safely back into schools and our communities where face-to-face contact is a vital aspect of our service offer. We also know that some of our customers miss the face-to-face element, and so do we. It’s also important that we continue to help those who do not have digital access or possess the skills to join us online. We will focus on how we can help bridge that gap through training and support.
While it’s been vital to maintain our services during #COVID19 we know that many of our customers will face further challenges as we enter the recovery phase. Job losses combined with a lack of available employment is a challenge that our Community Strategy seeks to address. The strategy will also see us working in partnership with local employers, schools, colleges and universities for training, upskilling and the creation of jobs. Everything we have learnt in these last few months will inform our recovery planning to support our customers and communities in these challenging times.