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Marks & Start - Parents Returning to Work: A Qualitative Report by Taryn Ferris
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January 2007 Download the full report below.
Introduction
Marks & Start 'Parents Returning to Work' is a key strand of Marks & Spencer's flagship corporate social responsibility programme. One Parent Families have been contracted to deliver it since 2004. Whilst initially, and at the time of this research, the programme was targeted at all parents, it now focuses solely on lone parents. The programme offers training followed by work experience. The pre-employment training lasts 3 days and is delivered by One Parent Families in a Marks & Spencer store. This training is designed to boost confidence and motivation, looking at each participant's personal circumstances and highlighting the assistance that is available to help overcome these circumstances with advice on in-work benefits, childcare, interview skills, transferable skills, action planning, and referral organisation details. Participants leave with an individual action plan and are supported in the 13-week post-placement phase to achieve it.
At the end of the three-day training, the parents receive a certificate, and are then placed in a Marks & Spencer store or office for two weeks. The participants receive induction training, uniforms, and are supported by trained Marks & Spencer coaches during the placement, and all completers receive a completion certificate. Travel costs and lunch are provided to all participants during the training and placement, and participants can put down Marks & Spencer as a reference for future job applications. The hours of the programme are from 10am -- 3pm. Participants are not required to attend on weekends and the programme only runs during term-time.
OPF provide 13-weeks of support on completion of the programme, allowing participants to access our telephone helpline, and other OPF resources, and be referred to suitable agencies such as Jobcentre Plus, and Surestart.
During the 06/07 financial year to date:
- 51% of all participants who completed the programme moved into employment within 13 weeks.
- 92% of starters go on to complete the 3-week programme.
- 98% of completers said that they felt work ready or in a better position to make an informed decision about returning to work.
One Parent Families wanted to understand more about why the programme works for lone parents, and to look for areas for improvement. When students from London Metropolitan University approached us asking if they could work on a research project for the organisation, we therefore asked them to conduct a small-scale qualitative evaluation of the programme.
The programme has already built on some of the findings from this programme, and some elements of have been altered. During the placement the participants now follow the Marks & Spencer career path, the process all new employees would follow on commencement of employment. The participants are supported by M&S coaches through "coaching cards" covering customer service and products, and if completed they gain accreditation in those fields. The participants take away a copy of the accreditation for future job applications.
Once accredited the participants can then go through to a job interview with M&S if there are vacancies available in their placement store, or other local stores. They no longer have to take part in the talent screening process described in the report.
Contents
1. The qualitative project
2. Methodology
3. Profile of respondents
4. Before the programme
5. The training
6. The placement
7 Post placement
8. Summary
9. Conclusions
Appendix A: Topic guide for M&S interviews
Acknowlegdements:
We would like to thank 16 parents who participated in qualitative interviews for this study between 25th of October - 15th December 2005.
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