Employment Plus: Faith for the future

Rebecca Keating talks to Major Julian Watchorn about how Employment Plus is loving people into work.

Since its earliest days The Salvation Army has been seeking to address the challenges of unemployment.

In his book In Darkest England and the Way Out, published in 1890, William Booth attacked the three greatest social evils of his day: poverty, homelessness and unemployment. Booth planned a great scheme for social and spiritual regeneration. Its keystone – ‘Work for All’.

Well over a century later and these same social evils are still evident. Although the intervening years were not devoid of efforts to help others into employment, the work did not begin again in a formal sense until 2006 when Lieut-Colonel Roland Sewell was appointed as the first Director of Employment Services. 

What has followed has been a protracted but ultimately fruitful journey to what is now an integral part of the mission service within the territory.

In a marketplace of big corporate companies seeking large government contracts simply to sub-contract out, Employment Plus has established a niche but well-respected service to those often deemed hardest to help.

Contracts are usually driven by challenging Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), however in an industry where engagement is often found to be one of the most challenging aspects with many providers achieving less than 60% engagement with clients, Employment Plus are consistently achieving levels of more than 95%.

Often delivering their service out of small corps halls with less than adequate facilities by industry standards, this unique provision has earned a reputation for being person-centred and approachable, prioritising building relationships before targets and performance.

Seeking to establish who an individual is as a starting point is key to understanding what might be preventing them from finding employment.

Evidence that people benefit from the service they receive is the affirming statistic that 90% of people using the service attest to feeling better about their mental health because they are engaged.

At the heart of this gentle revolution is current Director Rebecca Keating. First making contact with The Salvation Army and its employment services in Australia 20 years ago, Rebecca was one of the earliest employees and has seen and been a major part of the growth and development of the service in this territory.

Establishing a high bar for quality and employee training, with an accredited in-service qualification, Rebecca has continued to strive to ensure that those that we serve receive the best possible provision and are made to feel welcome and most importantly loved.

As a practising Catholic, Rebecca feels a strong affinity with Salvation Army values and the vision to ‘Love God, Love Others’ and this is evident in the passion with which she speaks about the journey that she and the service have been on over the years.

As she prepares a business plan for another five years, Rebecca reflects on how the appetite for the service has changed across the territory as corps have engaged locally.

‘The best advocates for Employment Plus are the corps officers who have welcomed and integrated the service into their mission programme. I genuinely believe that the opportunity that Employment Plus offers locally is a means not only for the transformation of the individual but also for the growth of the Kingdom.’

In the early days, one of the key criteria for establishing a service was the availability of funding through government contracts. This remains a key component of the overall service and has enabled The Salvation Army to become a respected and established voice within the employment sector, now operating about 25 contracts across the territory.

However, one of the key developments of the service over the years has been the establishment of mission-funded roles, whose primary focus has been to integrate employment services within corps and social settings.

From humble beginnings with just one Employment Development Coordinator in Liverpool, there are currently 134 Employability Practitioners all across the territory, with more enquiries as others see the impact and opportunity to engage with and serve their local communities, winning hearts and minds on the front line.

Another opportunity that is developing organically is working in prisons, and more importantly with prisoners being released back into the community.

The Salvation Army is uniquely placed with its network of corps with employability practitioners to offer continuity and support as prisoners seek to integrate back into society and communities that they may have left behind some years ago, seeking to find employment and break the cycle of repeat offending.

With other faith‐based organisations within the sector going out of business because of limited funding being offered, Employment Plus has thrived as it is not dependent upon government funding to offer a meaningful service.

Rebecca is infectiously passionate about the possibilities that are presented for mission through Employment Plus. She says ‘although it is not a requirement for Employability Practitioners to be practising Christians, it is fundamental that they embrace our Values and our Mission Priorities, which include discipleship.

Understanding who we are and signposting to people with whom they can have conversations about faith is central to what we do. Unsurprisingly, seeing the impact of this has led some to explore their own faith journey.’

From humble beginnings God has taken this keystone of Booth’s vision and has, in this most recent iteration over the past 13 years, enabled us to engage with and assist over 90,000 people.

Rebecca and those that have led the service in recent years have never lost the vision of transformation and as more corps see for themselves and engage with people where they are on their employment journey, so they too are given the opportunity to bring people into the knowledge of fullness of life for all with Jesus.