Disrupting Unemployment
Business-led Solutions
for Action
In collaboration with Mercer
What are solutions that are currently being developed and implemented to tackle unemployment and close the growing skills mismatch and how can these be shared, replicated and scaled to solve the employment and skills equation? The Disrupting Unemployment portal consolidates information on business-led solutions, often implemented in multistakeholder partnerships, for addressing skills gaps, fostering entrepreneurship and facilitating the talent market. More than 80 successful case studies illustrate the opportunities business has in making a difference. The emerging research on solutions points to three key areas of intervention for business to address the growing mismatch between the skills of incoming talent and the needs of business and the unemployment crisis affecting both youth and older people globally.
Case Studies
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| Traditional education systems can be modified to better prepare talent for the needs of the labour market and lifelong learning must continue during employment. |
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| Entrepreneurship and self-employment are a significant source of jobs and economic growth, and are even more important in the context of rapidly changing business models, the displacement of many traditional jobs and new opportunities of doing business. |
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| The divide between education and employment as well as the growing complexity of labour markets, coupled with demographic changes, migration and urbanization, necessitate better signaling mechanism to match supply of talent with demand for it. |
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Toolkit
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| Engage employees in collaborating with public authorities and education institutions to design curricula and deliver formal education and technical training |
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| Tailor education and vocational training to specific regional and industry needs by taking into account local perceptions and socio-economic contexts |
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| Foster core employability skills in formal education through experiential learning for students, including internships, shadowing employees and field trips |
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| Establish a clear framework for vocational training which links to academic education and includes standards and transferable certifications |
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| Extend the organization’s training opportunities along the value chain and provide incentives for suppliers and distributors to participate in training |
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| Re-skill and up-skill workers for new roles according to evolving industry needs and combine training with job placement services |
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| Foster lifelong learning through flexible training modules and programmes, with transferable certifications |
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| Develop and certify entrepreneurial skills through practical tools, such as real-life case studies, student-run business projects and opportunities to shadow entrepreneurs |
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| Engage entrepreneurs as lecturers and mentors in formal education and training systems |
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| Offer mentorship to start-ups by facilitating exchanges with experienced entrepreneurs and employees |
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| Create networking platforms and co-working spaces for start-ups to foster collaboration and innovation |
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| Create visibility and recognition for start-ups and entrepreneurs through award schemes |
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| Provide loans, training and other incentive schemes to entrepreneurs along the value chain |
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| Provide career guidance and job search support as part of formal education systems |
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| Facilitate access to job market information by leveraging organizational networks and employee perspectives |
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| Close information gaps on vocational training and apprenticeships for prospective applicants through image campaigns and role models |
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| Provide specialized placement support targeting traditionally marginalized groups |
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| Reintegrate out-of-work talent into labour markets through customized training and placement support |
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| Promote flexible working models to keep older workers and those with family constraints engaged |
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Success Factors
While all the featured case studies are of practices developed in a specific context, nearly all feature an underlying model, summarized in the toolkit, which is either directly replicable or easily adapted for emulation in a contextually relevant manner. The case studies also point to a number of factors that were critical to their success. These aspects of the case studies may provide useful guidelines for designing future interventions that can contribute to skills development, foster entrepreneurship and connect talent to markets in ways that are mutually beneficial to businesses and the communities they are based in.
| Build multi-sector partnerships. Multi-sector partnerships and collaboration, when they leverage the expertise of each partner in a complementary manner, are an indispensable component of implementing scalable solutions to jobs and skills. For example, while a single business can create a partnership with a local academic institution for its own talent needs, partnerships between multiple businesses across an industry sector and academic institutions can result in an overall increase in the quality of the talent pool available to all, often in a more cost-efficient way and with greater societal benefits. While potentially more complex to implement, such partnerships are often most effective in taking into account the widest range of interests. About two thirds of the featured case studies involve civil society organizations in their partnership model, with the civil society constituents supplementing the interests of businesses and public sector by bringing in the views of students, teachers and others whose voice is important to designing sustainable solutions. |
| Develop win-win approaches. Initiatives that match the public good with private interest are often most sustainable in the long term. Several featured case studies demonstrate that it is possible for business to find ways to align external initiatives with internal organizational priorities and combine short and long term talent considerations, with an overall enhanced impact for both the business and the broader society. While many types of business-led initiatives can have a positive impact on communities, they are most likely to be sustainable for the business to maintain over time if they are connected to a core business area. For example, initiatives that support entrepreneurs in a business’ own value chain or initiatives that connect the business’ employees to local educational institutions are more likely to have sustainable roots than those that are disconnected from a business and its employees. |
| Understand the talent value chain. In each industry or economy, there are critical moments within the talent value chain that are most relevant for making a long-term difference. For example, the traditional transition from education to employment is often a make-or-break juncture in the lives of most young people and a core determinant of the talent pipeline for many industries. Before designing an intervention, it is important to have a clear understanding of the full talent value chain and the desired impact a business wants to achieve. |
| Be relevant to the context. Tailoring interventions to the local culture and socio-economic context and taking into account specific needs of the target audience is critical to achieving sustainable results. For example, investment in vocational training programmes is unlikely to be successful in cultures where there is a strong premium placed on university qualifications. In such a case, a combination of vocational and academic education with communication around the practical benefits of vocational training is critical to enhancing impact. |
| Commit leadership to the cause. Leadership and management support is crucial to sustain initiatives, engage partners, gain broader buy-in within the organization and mobilize employees. For example, initiatives that connect employees as mentors or lecturers to local entrepreneur hubs or universities need CEO communication, HR monitoring and management support in order to be sustainable and motivating for all involved employees. |
| Design for the future. In an environment of ongoing technological and economic disruptions, jobs and skills interventions will be most successful if they are sustainably designed, with a proactive, long-term approach rather than one that is reactive or based on past successes. For example, efforts to place unemployed youth in apprenticeships in traditional job categories may not be a high return investment for the company or for the individuals involved if those job categories are likely to be obsolete in five years’ time. Instead there may be greater opportunity in wholly new high-growth occupations for which new forms of apprenticeships may need to be created. |
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| Leverage ICT. Using information and communication technology offers a number of advantages when implementing jobs and skills initiatives. ICT can be a key enabler in enhancing impact, especially when on- and off-line elements are combined, and increasing scale by reaching a much larger and more diversified group of beneficiaries. For example, while networking events connecting aspiring start-ups with established entrepreneurs can have a positive impact on those able to connect physically, further impact and scale can be generated through an online platform for knowledge-sharing and networking between these groups. ICT can also significantly lower the costs of execution and delivery, allow for faster adaptation to geographic and socio-economic contexts and serve as an attractive tool for engaging younger generations. |
| Test first, scale second. Piloting activities to test them within a small group of beneficiaries before rolling them out on a larger scale is helpful for anticipating potential problems and understanding what success looks like. Clear objectives and quantitative metrics must be defined jointly by all involved parties and communicated clearly in the earliest phases. It is also important to collect qualitative feedback from all involved parties, including the beneficiaries, in order to draw lessons from pilot activities and accordingly adapt next steps. |