Serco invested in evidence-based training and workforce development to help employment-service providers better support individuals facing poverty, trauma, housing instability, and other complex barriers to employment.
Contributor: Jodi O’Gorman
Challenge
Service Provider staff often work with individuals navigating significant barriers to employment, including poverty, trauma, homelessness, mental health challenges, and prolonged workforce disconnection.
Supporting these job seekers requires more than program knowledge. It requires specialized skills, practical tools, and the confidence to navigate complex situations with empathy and effectiveness.
Key challenges included:
- Increasing complexity of client needs across the employment services system.
- Growing demand for trauma-informed and client-centered support.
- Need for consistent service quality across providers.
- Limited access to specialized professional development for front-line teams.
Solution
As a Service System Manager, Serco invested in building the capacity of employment-service providers across the network through a coordinated professional development initiative.
Working with community partners and subject-matter experts, including Sarah Delicate, Serco delivered training focused on evidence-based approaches that help front-line staff better engage and support job seekers with complex needs.
The program included:
- Trauma-informed practice.
- Strength-based service delivery.
- Motivational interviewing techniques, including Change Talk and Sustain Talk.
- Bridges Out of Poverty
- Employer Engagement
Rather than focusing solely on programs, Serco focused on strengthening the people delivering them.
Benefit
The investment equips front-line teams with practical skills that could be applied immediately in client interactions.
The initiative is designed to support several key outcomes, including:
- Increased confidence among front-line staff serving high-needs clients.
- More consistent and client-centred service delivery across the network.
- Improved ability to build trust and engagement with job seekers.
- Greater capacity to support individuals facing multiple barriers to employment.
- Stronger workforce development capabilities across participating organizations.
Why it matters in Canada
Job seekers often face multiple and interconnected barriers to employment, including housing instability, mental health challenges, financial pressures, lack of work experience, transportation limitations, and other complex life circumstances. In these situations, the quality of interactions between employment professionals and job seekers can be just as important as the services being provided.
By investing in workforce development and evidence-based practices, Serco helped equip front-line staff with approaches that support more responsive, respectful, and client-centred interactions. The training emphasized not only what support is available, but how to engage individuals in ways that build trust, strengthen participation, and create pathways toward employment.
Serco also invested in leadership development to help managers better support their teams, reinforce these practices across their organizations, and foster consistent service delivery throughout the employment services network.
Better outcomes start with better-equipped front-line staff. By investing in workforce development, Serco strengthened the capability of an entire employment-services network, helping providers deliver more effective support to people who need it most.
