Slivers-of-Time in your bid
A Slivers-of-Time marketplace in any area can be launched as a purely commercial venture. Or it can be kick-started as a very effective part of a local improvement initiative. This requires funding to spend on local people doing local work in small chunks of time, plus some overhead for agency costs.
This section helps with the preparation of a bid for funding based around a Slivers-of-Time marketplace for residents in a designated area. Your key argument is likely to be that many people can't work any other way. Getting them into the labour market, even if it's only for a few hours on odd weeks when they are willing, can only be good for the local area.
You will need to decide what your sellers are going to be employed to do during their periods of work. (See our funding sources section for some ideas on this.)
Outcomes
Key benefits of Slivers-of-Time working in the context of a bid might include:
- Once launched, the initiative can become self-sustaining. Starting with a nucleus of local people working for the initiative it can grow to embrace other employers, a wider pool of individuals and multiple local agencies. This progressive widening of the market increases opportunities and efficiencies for all users.
- Slivers-of-Time Working is innovative, only now viable. It is not a run-of-the-mill solution to local problems.
- Early adopters have particular value in shaping the service for others. You can mainstream lessons learned in your area to anywhere else interested in a similar market.
- People want to work Slivers-of-Time. See our market research section. You may also want to arrange a survey in your own target area. See our questions used in Slivers-of-Time surveys document.
The objectives of a Slivers-of-Time marketplace align with multiple funding streams for local area improvement. However, it needs to be applied in different ways depending on the employment-related targets of any funding. There are generally two categories of targets:
1) Funding to create formal jobs
Some funding sources measure outcomes purely in terms of "jobs created". In this context your Slivers-of-Time marketplace has to be viewed purely as a ramp into a conventional job, not a way of spreading work around. To help with evaluating the impact of this use our spending requirements spreadsheet and enter perhaps 16 hours a week in column 3. To use your marketplace only as a route into a "normal job" we recommend:
- Limit the number of sellers in the market so the available work is not spread around to multiple households but concentrated on a smaller number of people, relative to the buying power. They can use it to work their way towards conventional employability.
- Try to involve a range of employers so they, and your sellers, have more opportunity to build a relationship that might result in a job offer.
- Consider some specific metrics around the scheme. For example, you may decide it's OK for a client to opt in and out of the market at will for the first 10 weeks but she is then expected to achieve at least 3 hours a week for the next 5, then move progressively towards 16 hours over the next 10 weeks.
Look at one-to-one support built around key points such as: (a) first experience of the market (b) first booking (c) de-brief after first booking (c) second booking (c) fifth booking and so on. This kind of support is uniquely cost effective if done the Slivers-of-Time way. Our Using Slivers-of-Time for support workers section explains more.
Benefits of using a Slivers-of-Time marketplace to help clients into conventional work include:
Clients discover work at their own pace. Maybe they do 2 hours the first week, then 4 the week after, then 6 and so on. This can be a big help for anyone nervous about entering, or re-entering, the workforce.- Similarly, clients may have constraints on their readiness to work such as medical commitments. This personalised ramp, allowing them to work at times they feel up to it for a first few months, can be much more appealing than a "you start your full time job on Monday" approach.
- Local employers gain a very flexible pool of top-up workers who they can try for a few hours at a time before deciding who to formally interview for a job.
- The marketplace will sort clients for you. Those who are ready to move into employment will probably do more and more bookings of their own accord. That leaves you with a clear view of who needs more help.
- Support workers can be booked very cost effectively.
2) Funding for local economic improvement
A Slivers-of-Time marketplace that is not defined purely as a route into old-fashioned jobs has more potential. It is free to get as many people as possible selling whatever hours they want, spreading economic activity around and building a deep resource for local companies. This could be a key tool in your kit for improving local economic performance. It can:
- Quickly bring new workers into the labour market, particularly individuals who can only be available for work around other commitments. This spreads available work through far more households with clear benefits for social inclusion.
- Boost local businesses by giving them a pool of flexible, motivated, top-up workers allowing them to match staffing with need much more precisely.
- Encourage individuals out of the informal economy into legitimate work.
- Increase the local supply of "soft skills" (eg: computer usage, flexibility, communication abilities) as individuals interact for a variety of employers. Soft skills are those most valued in JobcentrePlus employer surveys.
- Provide a pool of local people whose time can start to be bought to deliver local services (for example: cleaning, street wardens, homecare).
- Longer term: attract new businesses who require a flexible, willing workforce.
