A hybrid job center. Composite client experiences with employment services between enforcement and care

ABSTRACT

The present study introduces the concept of forms of hybridity as a tool to analyse welfare claimants’ composite experiences with public employment services. In such experiences, the job centre is depicted both as an enforcing and a caring institution. The present study demonstrates the usefulness of this conceptual tool by analysing qualitative interviews with Danish social assistance recipients. It shows how the employment system assumes several hybrid forms from the perspective of welfare claimants. The first, the actor − based hybrid form consists of numerous actors where care and enforcement stem from those who participate in the processing of cases. Second, the system/actor-based hybrid form, makes a distinction between an enforcing system and its more caring employees. In the third, a phase-based hybrid form, the participants differentiate between temporal phases of enforcement and phases of care. Our explication of hybrid forms complements the literature by providing a novel means to understand the lived experience of welfare recipients and adds nuance to discussions of social work in activation settings as either enforcing or caring.

ABSTRAKT

Artiklen introducerer begrebet hybriditetsformer som et redskab til at forstå udsatte borgeres ofte sammensatte oplevelser af beskæftigelsesindsatsen. I disse oplevelser bliver jobcenteret ofte portrætteret som på én og samme tid tvingende og omsorgsfuldt. Vi demonstrerer brugbarheden af begrebet igennem en analyse af kvalitative interviews med danske kontanthjælpsmodtagere. Fra borgernes perspektiv antager beskæftigelsessystemet en række forskellige hybride former som vi kortlægger i artiklen. I den første af disse, en aktør-baseret hybrid, består systemet af aktører og tvang og omsorg strømmer fra de forskellige aktører, som medvirker i sagsbehandlingen. I den anden, den system-aktør-basererede hybrid, drager borgere tydelige sondringer imellem et tvingende system på den ene side og på den anden side de hjælpsomme aktører, som repræsenterer systemet. I den tredje hybrid, den fase-baserede hybrid, sondrer informanter imellem tidslige faser i deres forløb. Nogle faser er kendetegnet af tvang, andre af omsorg. Vores udforskning af hybride former bidrager til litteraturen på området ved at tilføje et nyt greb for at forstå udsatte borgeres oplevelser af systemet og det tilbyder nuancer til diskussionen om, hvordan vi skal forstå aktivering som fænomen.

KEYWORDS:

• Social work
• employment services
• welfare-to-work
• lived experiences of welfare
• hybridity

SØGEORD:

• Socialt arbejde
• beskæftigelsespolitik
• aktivering
• borgeroplevelser af systemet
• hybriditet

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Eurostat (2019).

2 Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (2019).

3 VIVE (2022). For instance, the Danish Center for Social Science Research concluded that 57% of the vulnerable claimants affiliated with Copenhagen job centres were mostly satisfied with the processing of their cases. In an assessment of all of our interviewees (carried out by our students), 23 out of the 42 stated that they were mostly satisfied with the processing of their cases.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by Den A.P. Møllerske Støttefond, Aalborg University and the municipalities of Herning, Holstebro, Mariagerfjord, Silkeborg and Vesthimmerland, Denmark. This work was supported by AP Møllerske Støttefond: [Grant Number 12482]; Den AP Møllerske Søttefond: [Grant Number 12482]; AP Møllerske Støttefond: [Grant Number 12482].

Notes on contributors

Mathias Herup Nielsen

Mathias Herup Nielsen is an associate professor at Department of Sociology and Social Work at Aalborg University. He does research on unemployment policies and their implications.

Tanja Dall

Tanja Dall is a social worker, PhD and post-doctoral researcher at Aalborg University, Department of Sociology and Social work. She does research on social work within public employment services, examining professionalism, client participation and inter-professional collaboration around clients with complex social problems.

Mikkel Bo Madsen

Mikkel Bo Madsen is sociologist, PhD and post-doctoral researcher at Aalborg University, Department of Sociology and Social work. He does research within the area of active labor market policies targeted vulnerable unemployed and focuses on organisation, practice development, and the increasing role of employers and workplaces in the work with vulnerable unemployed.