August 2010
South Australia’s Jobs Statewide has been given a five star rating - making them one of Australia’s highest performing commonwealth government contracted employment providers.
The 5-star rating, the highest a provider can achieve, was announced as part of the first set of ratings released by the commonwealth government since the new Job Services Australia contract was established in July 2009. Job Services Australia replaced the Job Network.
A not-for-profit organisation, Jobs Statewide runs two offices in South Australia at Woodville and in the City with a third opening in Norwood this week – a result of the organisation’s strong performance.
Jobs Statewide’s Recruitment Services Manager Chris Sharpe said the ratings are the result of hard work by all our team and reflect the quality of the services and programs being delivered by Jobs Statewide.”
It’s particularly pleasing that Jobs Statewide produced such strong results among Stream 3 and 4 job seekers – the most highly disadvantaged. A high percentage of job seekers in the city and western suburbs fall into these streams.”
Stream 3 and 4 job seekers are often long-term unemployed with many barriers to employment and require specialist assistance to help them become job-ready before being put forward for work.”
Jobs Statewide has been developing and implementing new programs to help the long-term unemployed and these are paying dividends for job seekers.”
To achieve a 5-star rating, Jobs Statewide had to achieve a performance score of 40% or more above the average performance of other Job Services Australia providers.
Providers are judged on the efficiency and effectiveness of placing job seekers into employment.
The average time taken by providers to place similar job seekers into employment is also measured against other providers.
For highly disadvantaged job seekers, social outcomes are monitored and measured and then benchmarked against other providers.
The ratings are used to help job seekers assess the performance of providers available to them in the local area. The Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations use the ratings to measure provider’s contractual performance, drive improved performance and allocate business share to providers.
Jobs Statewide’s strong performance over the last 12-months has been rewarded with the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations asking them to open a new office in Norwood.
Jobs Statewide was also successful recently in obtaining Productivity Places Program (PPP) funding to help local job seekers obtain new skills.
Jobs Statewide will offer an additional 315 training places, working in partnership with three organisations which have appointed the company as its preferred training provider. These include Baptist Care (SA) Inc, The Royal Society for the Blind and Career Systems part of the Bedford Group.
Part of the Australian Government’s Skilling Australia for the Future initiative, the Productivity Places Program (PPP) provides additional training opportunities to assist job seekers to develop the skills they need to be effective participants in a modern workforce. The program is administered by the South Australian Government’s DFEEST.
Jobs Statewide’s Norwood office will be located in the Hoyts Cinema Complex, Parade Central, 179-193 The Parade, Norwood. The office opened on Wednesday 18 August.
For more information, visit www.jobs-statewide.com.au
Media Contact: Simon Hatcher at Hughes Public Relations simon@hughespr.com.au
