Rather than designing new programs centrally, Serco invited frontline service providers to develop and test innovative solutions tailored to their local labour markets, resulting in multiple pilots across Ontario.
Contributor: Jodi O’Gorman
Challenge
Employment services operate in vastly different labour markets. The workforce challenges facing a northern resource community are not the same as those in a large urban centre.
Yet innovation often struggles in complex systems, where limited resources and established approaches can make experimentation difficult.
Key challenges included:
- Need for new approaches to improve employment outcomes.
- Diverse workforce challenges across communities and regions.
- Limited opportunities for providers to test innovative ideas.
- Risk of relying on one-size-fits-all solutions in a highly local system.
Solution
Serco created a cohort-based innovation model that shifted problem-solving closer to the communities being served.
Through a competitive process, service providers were invited to propose and pilot new approaches designed to address local workforce needs.
The initiative:
- Introduced new cohort-based program with Liuna as a pilot model
- Issued a call for innovative proposals from service providers.
- Supported the most promising ideas through a structured cohort model.
- Enabled organizations to test new approaches in real-world environments.
- Created opportunities for providers to share lessons learned and promising practices.
- Encouraged innovation driven by local knowledge and community needs.
- Evaluated each cohort and the practices that make it successful
Rather than betting on a single solution, Serco built a portfolio of ideas and created space for experimentation across the system.
Benefit
The initiative generated multiple pilots across Ontario and strengthened the system’s capacity for innovation.
Outcomes included:
- Launch of 7 community-led pilot projects.
- Increased collaboration and knowledge sharing among providers.
- Faster testing of new approaches to employment service delivery.
- Stronger evidence to inform future program design and investment decisions.
- Solutions tailored to local labour market realities and workforce needs
Why it matters in Canada
Employment challenges are local, and effective solutions often emerge from the organizations closest to job seekers, employers, and communities.
By creating a framework for providers to innovate, test, and learn together, Serco helped build a more responsive employment-services system capable of adapting to changing workforce needs across Ontario.
Innovation does not have to come from the centre. By empowering local organizations to experiment, learn, and share what works, Serco helped create a stronger pipeline of ideas and a more adaptive employment-services system.
