The SVA Employment Dialogue was launched with an event held in Melbourne at the Victorian State Library on 26 February 2013. Continuing the momentum built by previous SVA Education Dialogues, the event sought to bring together participants from across a range of sectors ‘business, government, philanthropy, non-profits, employment service providers, unemployed people’ to look at new approaches to solving an entrenched problem. The focus of the day was on how to more effectively engage employers in tackling long-term unemployment. The aim was to catalyse new solutions.

Sponsored by the Brotherhood of St. Laurence and Mission Australia, facilitated by pro bono supporters the difference, and with a high calibre of participants in the room, a sense of collaboration to tackle this issue was reinvigorated. It was recognised that this is not just an issue for government to solve. Rather, entrenched long-term unemployment is a complex and multifaceted issue that affects all Australians. As such, cross-sector collaboration was seen as key to overcoming entrenched employment exclusion and the participants were motivated to explore and forge new partnerships.

My key reflections and observations from the event are:

• Employers are eager to increase their involvement and do their part in overcoming long-term unemployment.
• Training has become increasingly disconnected from industry requirements and needs to be linked to ‘line of sight to a job’.
• The current employment system was described as not flexible enough and difficult to navigate.

The day was designed to encourage discussion of diverse topics on tackling long-term unemployment, and common themes that arose included:

• The importance and virtues of cross-sector collaboration;
• The benefits and methods of effective employer engagement;
• The need to develop innovation into the system to continuously improve and tackle the challenge of long-term unemployment.
• The need to create pathways into employment for people experiencing long-term unemployment, predominantly via social enterprise;
• The need to build careers and career pathways within an increasingly flexible labour market
• The need for better workforce planning and improved knowledge about jobs and skill shortages.

The intention of the event was to stretch the imagination of the participants, to inspire ideas that challenge the status quo and to catalyse immediate actions. And the day did not disappoint. Some of the big ideas or immediate actions that emerged throughout the day were:

• Embedding demand-led employment as a key principle of future employment service provision.
• The development of a ‘My First Job’ initiative aimed at overcoming youth unemployment;
• Creating partnerships that better connect Social Enterprises with corporates to establish more sustainable employment pathways;
• Designating a percentage of social procurement in government employment contracts to tackle long-term unemployment;
• ‘Reappropriating’ and ‘rebranding’ the issue of long-term unemployment as a business concern of lost potential, and making the business case for hiring people who are long term unemployed;
• Target areas to develop place-based approaches, that integrate and connect business and community;
• Provide increased innovation funding and develop new funding approaches to tackle long-term unemployment

This event marked the beginning of a year-long SVA Employment Dialogue. While we consider the event to be a success, SVA is acutely aware that effective partnership and collaboration takes time to develop. We will continue to track the myriad of actions, initiatives and partnerships that emerged or were strengthened by the day.

Kevin Robbie

Executive Director, Employment