Guest blogger: From multidisciplinary services to ecosystem partnerships
At the beginning of 2025, the organisation of employment and business services in Finland will become the responsibility of Finnish municipalities. As a result, the municipalities in Finland will have to expand their focus from preventing long-term unemployment to promoting their region’s vitality and employment prospects together with other actors in the field.
The TE2024 amendment to Finnish employment services is set to improve the current service model and enhance the opportunities provided to jobseekers in Finland. Any jobs that are open or hidden must be surveyed as thoroughly as possible, and they must be available at the first point of contact with those who need them. If a suitable placement that matches a jobseeker’s competence, work ability or other life situation cannot be immediately found, their situation must be assessed even more thoroughly. Various evaluation tools and broader competence-related insight can be used to map out a jobseeker’s current status, and the legislation on cross-sectoral services will be amended so that, in the future, they can be provided at an earlier stage of a person’s unemployment.
While a jobseeker’s situation is under assessment, they should not be subjected to any passive periods of unemployment – instead, they should be assigned a service or measure that will help them discover new avenues at the start of their job seeking process. Some good examples of these include individual coaching sessions that help people discover suitable work or educational opportunities, and work-ability related coordination services. However, we cannot rely on any individual services to solve the situation at hand; instead, we should focus on engaging a broad network of partners and services.
If the employment areas in Finland want to prevent any prolonged periods of unemployment, they should cooperate more extensively with the wellbeing services counties and Kela, as well as with municipalities, educational institutions, employers, social welfare and health care providers, rehabilitation facilities, and NGOs. It is vital to bring the expertise of all participants and actors to the table at the earliest steps of the process, as this is where the ecosystem partnership model can truly shine.
Finland already has years of experience with offering low-threshold, multi-actor services at the One-Stop Guidance Centers for young people. The Centers provide support to Finland’s younger population in situations where their needs have not yet become acute. It is clear that a similar type of low-threshold service must also be available to adults, if the employment areas and municipalities want to be serious about preventing unemployment and prolonged periods of joblessness.
TE2024 reform presents ambitious objectives and expectations for increasing municipal vitality
At the beginning of 2025, all employer services will be transferred to the employment areas. This means that each municipality should consider how they will combine their employer services with their current vitality services, so that they can create clear and cohesive wholes that will help jobseekers discover what they need. In fact, many municipalities have already noticed the opportunities that the reform will bring to their vitality-boosting efforts. After the reform, Finnish municipalities will also be able to develop their services for employers and help them find what they need at a faster pace. In addition to the requirements arising from current services and the legislative changes, the employment areas will need to develop their own tools achieve the objectives laid out in the reform.
The TE2024 reform presents ambitious objectives and expectations for increasing the vitality and employment figures of Finnish municipalities. However, these objectives cannot be achieved unless the employment areas and municipalities invest in effective employment services that can be brought to those that need them. Achieving the reform’s goals will require that the actors in the field go beyond any statutory requirements and invest in an ecosystem partnership model that fosters true collaboration.
Author
Riikka Vartiainen is the Head of Employment Services for the local government pilot in the Joensuu region. She is involved in the Sote-yhdyspinnat preparation group, which supports the implementation of the TE Services 2024 reform at the interfaces of social welfare, health care, and rehabilitation services.