Published on:
11
November 2005
A new project is being hailed as a success after it helped five local unemployed people find work.
The Clackmannanshire JobRotation Project, which was launched in May, has also helped five companiesto up-skill their existing staff.
Project managed by the Workers' Educational Association (WEA) and funded primarily by Clackmannanshire Council along with the European Social Fund and in association with Learning Connections and Communities Scotland, JobRotation is an innovative programme designed to both assist local employers, their employees and unemployed people at the same time.
Clackmannanshire JobRotation enables small businesses, which would not normally have the resources in terms of staff, money or skill-time, to get their training programme kick-started while simultaneously helping local unemployed people get essential work experience.
The project offers small businesses in Clackmannanshire the opportunity to release staff for training, while productivity is kept up by employing an unemployed person from the local community as a substitute. This person will have been trained, through the JobRotation project, to ensure that they are job-ready.
The flexibility of JobRotation can be seen in the spread of the five companies currently involved - a care home for the elderly, a sheet metal manufacturer, architectural partnership, digital legal transcription services and community recycling company.
Cathy Moncrieff, Depute Scottish Secretary WEA Scotland said: "We have been involved in the development of JobRotation since 1995. The programme has proved to be an extremely cost-effective method of supporting economic development while increasing the employability of workers and the unemployed. JobRotation provides a fantastic solution to both unemployment and staff development by combining the two and achieving successful results for both parties involved."
In addition, each participating company will benefit from the development of a mentoring system to support employees in the workplace.