European Social Fund in Poland: Best Practices - Europejski ...

Grażyna Zielińska,
wiceprzewodnicząca
Naczelnej Rady Zatrudnienia:
Motywowanie osób długotrwale
bezrobotnych do podjęcia
pracy wymaga długich
i zintegrowanych, a przy tym
kosztownych działań
Grażyna Zielińska,
Deputy President, Supreme
Employment Council (NRZ):
Motivating people who have
been out of work for a long time
requires prolonged, integrated
and also costly measures
» “Previously, when we were in the middle of another large project – “Defining the role of the District Labour Office
as an intermediary in securing employment” – we found that there is a group of people who intentionally abstain from
taking up employment. We also found that a significant percentage of the unemployed continued to work illegally. We
were keen to find the causes of this phenomenon”, Joanna Reszka recalls. When dealing with the problem of apathy
of the unemployed on the labour market, precise diagnosis is of paramount importance. Each attempt at getting such
a person to take up an occupation must be preceded by proper analysis.
A key stage of the project was field research carried out in the 2 nd quarter of 2007. This was handled by the Sociological
Research Centre at the University of Gdańsk, a research unit that specializes in the analysis of social phenomena and
processes. The research relied both on statistical methods (questionnaire-based interviews) and on qualitative methods
(individual interviews and focused research). Trained interviewers reached not only the unemployed, both registered
with the Labour Office and unregistered, but also talked to local businessmen. In total, questionnaires were filled in for
500 people, with detailed individual interviews recorded for 50 persons (30 unemployed and 20 employers). The results
have been published in a report presented for the first time during the 2 nd Labour Market Forum on September 5, 2007.
The information included in the report, and its main conclusion that the basic problem is the mentality of the unemployed
who lack the “work ethos”, constitute important feedback not only for the District Labour Office but also for the local
government and local schools. Valuable information has been gathered on the specific conditions of helping the unemployed
to adjust to work and to start operating on the labour market. These conclusions are now used to plan future
strategies at the PUP office.
The project also involved the painting and drawing competition Get a Job in the European Union, aimed at pupils in middle
schools in Malbork District. The intention was to promote the idea of seeking employment in the European Union.
The competition attracted a lot of entries with plenty of high-quality work by children. It shows that it is worth starting
to build the work ethos from such elementary initiatives. ◗
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