Defining and Pursuing Goals in a Work First Environment: An Analysis of Public Assistance Recipients’ Experience and Perception of Public Policy on the Frontlines

ABSTRACT

For many public assistance recipients, engaging in work activities is mandatory to receive benefits. Although the goal of such activities, to assist recipients in finding employment quickly, matches the goal of many recipients, research indicates that few obtain long-term employment. Informed by earlier welfare studies and street-level organization theory, we conducted focus groups to understand recipients’ experiences and perceptions of the relationship between frontline public policies and their employment-related goals. Our findings reveal that recipients perceive rules and services as mismatched with their needs and experience poor communication with staff, leaving them to advocate for themselves and impeding progress.

KEYWORDS:

• Implementation
• organizational and management theory and analysis
• policy research to guide organizational decision making

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the leadership and support of the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development and the New Jersey Department of Human Services. The authors would also like to thank the New Jersey One Stop Career Centers staff who provided assistance to the research team in scheduling the focus groups as well as the WorkFirst NJ recipients who participated in the focus groups. The authors gratefully acknowledge all of their contributions. The findings, recommendations, and views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the opinions or positions of the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development and the New Jersey Department of Human Services.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Practice points

• Findings from this study suggest that public assistance recipients share a common goal with the program, to find employment and no longer require public assistance, but goals diverged as they related to employment type and support services necessary to attain employment-related goals.

• A lack of individualized employment supports and services combined with poor communication of how to comply with the program leaves recipients feeling the need to advocate for themselves.

• The experiences of focus group participants with pursuing employment goals strongly support the need for public agencies to consider the implementation of individualized, matched services, and supports that are paired with clear communication strategies.

• Based on findings, we see promise in the introduction of goal setting and coaching models, and promotion of intensive case management and comprehensive assessments.

Notes

¹ Program staff includes caseworkers, case managers, and counselors at both county welfare agencies and One-Stop Career Centers. Focus group participants used caseworker, case manager, and counselors interchangeably to talk about their interactions with different program staff.

² This was the most current publicly available data on this specific information at the time of article production.

Additional information

Funding

New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development.