| 4. In which ways is the initiative creative and innovative?
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When the SineBahia central unit opened its doors, the solution focused on intervening with the problem initially identified, consisting on the low offer of vacancies for intermediation and referral of candidates outside the characteristics required by prospected job offers. Therefore, strategic intervention actions consisted of increasing the number of people in the vacancy acquisition team; hiring consultants to publicize services and follow-up on the degree of company satisfaction; establishing the Psychology Service to pre-select and promote the training of service-providing teams, and acquiring and managing vacancies. In order to increase people’s chances of securing a job placement, at this first moment the unit started to offer feedback to candidates who failed the pre-selection processes conducted by the Psychology Service and to offer three-hour lectures (work guidance, employability, entrepreneurship, new orthographic rules and current computing), courses and short, 16-hour workshops (basic computing, writing skills, grammar, oratory, mathematics and logical thinking concepts, service quality, selling skills, telemarketing, store operator and administrative assistance).
The year 2009 saw the creation of the Worker-Friendly Company Trophy, which is awarded to partner companies and media companies that communicate the availability of acquired vacancies every day and for free, thus contributing to the success of the service. Labor law guidance services and the self-employed intermediation unit were incorporated in April 2009 and February 2011, respectively. Mobile SineBahia came into service in March 2013, followed by opening of a CrediBahia service branch.
Key steps for implementation of the solution:
1.To identify public services in the area of work, employment and income;
2.To evaluate existing services and decide whether there is need for intervention;
3.To define the ideal capacity for each service in the assistance unit;
4. To identify a building in an easily accessible region with enough space for the unit’s capacity;
5.To make interventions in the building’s infrastructure (renovation work, purchase of equipment, furniture);
6.To select, hire and/or transfer personnel to the unit;
7.To offer training to teams regarding all services to be made available at the model unit;
8.To prepare a publicity campaign about the model unit’s purpose and its operning date.
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| 5. Who implemented the initiative and what is the size of the population affected by this initiative?
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The SineBahia – central unit project was implemented by the Government of the State of Bahia through its Secretariat of Labor, Employment, Income and Sports (SETRE), and especially through the efforts of the Superintendency of Work Development (SUDET), in articulation with the General Directory – DG, with funds made available from the Workers Fund (FAT) and from the Government of the State of Bahia. The team involved in the implementation had expertise from previous experiences. We also highlight the role of the Federal Government’s Ministry of Labor and Employment (MTE).
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| 6. How was the strategy implemented and what resources were mobilized?
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In order to put the National Employment System’s actions into operation, SETRE makes agreements with the Ministry of Labor and Employment. Through these agreements, Federal funds are transferred to the State with the purpose of carrying out the actions agreed to in the work plan, the State being responsible for a 10% offset.
The funds from the agreements cover the costs and investments made in the entire SineBahia assistance network. However, due to its size, opening and maintaining the central unit required an investment by the State above the 10% envisaged in the agreements. Furthermore, some of the services provided at the unit are not part of agreement objectives (labor law guidance, psychology service, short courses and workshops for social and professional qualification, intermediation for self-employed workers, microcredit).
Presently, the agreement with MTE covers expenses with rent, purchase of furniture and equipment, stationary, telephone, water and electricity bills, and outsourced services (cleaning and security). The State bears the cost of paying the civil servants, which amounts to approximately 68% of the R$ 2,940,000.00 invested per year in the unit’s operations. Since 2007, approximately R$ 1,670,000.00 have been invested in the implementation and changes to the central unit.
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| 7. Who were the stakeholders involved in the design of the initiative and in its implementation?
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Providing workers with conditions to have access to job and income opportunities through integrated services is part of the SineBahia philosophy, a mission incorporated by the entire team. The indicators to be shown have been reached only because of the commitment of all our fellow workers, who are immensely concerned with the quality of the services provided.
The results obtained by Sinebahia after overhauling the services and implementing the Central Unit in 2008 demonstrated the exact dimension of the progress achieved in employability throughout the State. The success achieved in the capital city as a result of the central unit’s good performance is reflected on the high level of workers inserted in the labor market. This result owes especially to the integration of the unit’s many areas.
According to the 2010 Census, the population of Salvador consists mainly of afro-descendant persons who find it difficult to have access to work and income opportunities. This is the audience served daily at the SineBahia Central Unit since the beginning of its operations. When comparing the first five years of the model unit operation (2008-2012) with the five years before its implementation (2003-2007), one can observe the great progress in the services provided, as indicated below:
* 80,033 workers inserted in the labor market, a 416% growth; of these, 3,881 consisted of persons with disabilities;
* 200,647 prospected job opportunities, with a 576% increase in the number of vacancies acquired;
* 27,708 workers served by workshops and short courses taught at the Central Unit (this service was not available before 2008);
* Since its transfer to the Central Unit in December 2011, SineBahia-Patra has intermediated 202,679 service instances up to November 2013, of which 95% were provided by afro-descendant women. One of the initiatives of this service was to launch A Arte da Boa Mesa (The Art of Good Eating), a book with recipes written by female cooks registered with the Service. The publication contributed toward the results, praising domestic labor and raising women’s self-esteem.
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| 8. What were the most successful outputs and why was the initiative effective?
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At the time the Central Unit was implemented, SineBahia used the Actions and Employment Management System (SIGAE), made available by the Ministry of Labor and Employment (MTE). In July 2010, a new solution in information technology was introduced: SIGAEWEB. The platform enabled citizens to have access to their own registration via the Internet, and to check for job offers available on the vacancy board. Bahia was invited to conduct a pilot run of the system.
In order to further improve interaction with employment public policies, the Mais Emprego (More Jobs) platform (http://maisemprego.mte.gov.br) was made available in August 2012. This new portal used by the entire SINE network in Brazil further improved the possibilities of inserting citizens in the labor market, because apart from enabling workers to see job offers, it also allows workers to self-refer to these jobs. The employers are also allowed to conduct all processes via the World Wide Web, from making vacancies available to registering candidates approved at selection processes.
The More Jobs platform enables the management and evaluation of all indicators, while counting daily and monthly figures for: workers served, vacancies prospected, referral letters issued, employment benefits claimed, workers summoned by phone, and especially, the number of workers inserted in the labor market. With this data it is possible to establish targets for each of the services offered, in order to improve services to workers.
Intermediation for self-employed workers is monitored through GTA, the Self-Employed Worker Management system, a tool developed by the State with the objective of enabling the referral of self-employed professionals. All further services (qualification through courses and workshops, as well as microcredit) are monitored by specific data bases without a web interface.
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| 9. What were the main obstacles encountered and how were they overcome?
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A few obstacles were faced when implementing the SineBahia central unit. Initially, it was necessary to rent a building with specific location characteristics (easy access for unemployed workers) and adequate physical space for the initial operations, with the perspective of aggregating other services. The team was carefully selected and received technical and behavior training to work in conformity with the service’s philosophy. However, 90% of workers were hired through the Special Administrative Law System (REDA), with contracts valid for a maximum of 4 years. Therefore, after this period, they were dismissed and a new group had to be selected, trained and hired through the same regime to preserve service quality.
As the service grew, it was vital to improve the technology area by upgrading computers, internet link, network, software, as well as to resize the energy substation in order to incorporate new equipment. It was also necessary to adapt and renovate the unit to welcome the new added services, redefine settings and to follow service flows. Due to the need for more offices where selection processes could be conducted and workers could be referred for vacancies, we struck partnerships with public and private universities.
Society’s trust in the National Employment System (SINE) needed to be recovered. Therefore, there was intense teamwork involving the consulting/summoning teams; visits in loco; active telemarketing informing the new methodology; prospection of vacancies in various complexity levels; publicity involving the services, increasing the offer of vacancies and referrals; the provision of services to workers was also increased, which favored impartial, courteous, and effective access.
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