Step2Work

Achieving economic independence in just one year? For many job-seekers this is a tough target. Step2Workers have gone through a period of unemployment and are generally unaccustomed to structure.

Coaching these youngsters to take on permanent employment has been successful thanks to the step-by-step approach. With attention being paid to permanent learning, working and personal coaching. The Step2Work programme offers work experience placements in administrative, commercial, technical fields and in logistics/facilities. The work experience placement is relevant, not too specialised and available for one year.

Participants

We focus on long-term unemployed youngsters of 18 to around 30 who have no appropriate minimum qualification and no prospect of work in their locality. They have been registered as unemployed with the CWI for at least six months. They are people who for a variety of reasons, such as no diploma, handicap, refugee and all manner of personal obstacles, are unable to find permanent work.

We look for candidates for a work experience placement, not the other way round. We recruit participants in collaboration with municipalities, the Centre for Work and Income (CWI) and the Work and Income Agency (DWI) in all regions where Nuon operates.

Programme

After they have been selected the participants start the preliminary phase, during which they retain their unemployment benefit. In this preliminary six to twelve-week process the participants gain the knowledge and skills they needed to take on the work experience placement.

After successfully completing the preliminary phase the participants get a one-year contract with Nuon for a work experience placement. Under their on-the-job training contract they are obliged to take a nationally recognised training course in the area of expertise of their work experience placement. Nuon is recognised as an on-the-job training company by bodies such as the trade associations Kenteq and Ecabo. Even before their first day, participants are assigned a coach and mentor. These are Nuon employees who have been specially trained for this role. An integral part of Step2Work is Step2Change. This is a method that is oriented to permanent results through self-management.

With the end of the contract in sight the participants are given job application training and courses on presentation skills. An exit interview is held to review the participant’s personal development plan. As Nuon wants to assess the extent to which the labour market position of the participants has improved sustainably, we stay in contact for at least a year after the placement has terminated.

Why Step2Work?

In 2005 the government called on the 'social partners' to take action to put an end to youth unemployment. This call was elaborated further at the Participation Summit in May 2007. It is still a theme of current interest in 2010, partly because of the effects of the present decline in the economic situation. Nuon dedicates itself to being an active social partner.

At the same time, it is important to Nuon to develop its potential labour capacity in view of, among other things, the greying population. For example, we get young people interested in technical jobs so as to prevent a shortage of technical personnel. But in other areas of expertise Step2Work brings participants up to the minimum required level. In addition, the subsidiary project Step2Save has proved that the Step2Work programme can fruitfully be combined with strategic goals such as energy saving.

With our knowledge and experience we create the potential to give an opportunity to candidates that are more difficult to place, such as the occupationally disabled and refugees. This is important because diversity in teams provides more innovative solutions and flexibility in a turbulent environment. We take it for granted that these groups of people are able to make a special contribution to the diversity and strength of our organisation. Via Step2Work we are able to reach a broad cross-section of the labour market population – in terms both of age and of culture.

Finally, together with educational establishments we look at ways to improve the educational aspects. Based on the practical experiences of Step2Work, targeted feedback can be given on the areas in which education can be better geared to the shop floor.

Step2Save: low-level energy saving

One of the elements of Step2Work is Step2Save. This project helps residents of social housing to save on their energy bills. Step2Save gives these tenants energy saving advice and offers them the ‘energy box’ with energy saving products such as low-energy bulbs and stand-by killers. This saves an average of 80 euro and around 200 kilo of CO2 emissions per household. The staff of Step2Save are young job-seekers that are part of the Step2Work programme and are being trained as energy advisers. Step2Save thereby achieves three aims:

• Cost savings
• CO2 reductions
• A new opportunity for young job-seekers on the labour market

Step2Save was started in 2007 in Amsterdam. Nuon is in negotiation with various municipalities to implement this successful formula there too.

More information

If you would like to know more about Step2Work, you can call us on +31 (0)88 098 37 31 or e-mail us at Step2Work@nuon.com.