Green Connect partnerships a win-win for the region

It might seem like a simple two-birds-with-one-stone equation, but things get complicated when you introduce barriers to employment, like being a young person, being an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person, or being a refugee. Plus, local businesses have fluctuating workloads; they might need extra staff for a big project or a busy season, but with wages growing, they need the flexibility to upscale and downscale to remain competitive.

Solving these two issues would leave us all better off: creating higher living standards for the employed people and their families, increasing our region's productivity, and ultimately boosting our economy. At Green Connect, we provide the missing link in the equation through our supported employment pathways and staffing services.

Green Connect is a job-focused social enterprise, meaning we provide job opportunities for people facing barriers to employment. Most of the people we support are refugees and young people with unique challenges and barriers to employment, so there's no cookie-cutter approach to helping them succeed. However, they're generally resilient hard workers who don't have the necessary work experience to break into the local job market or the resources they need to overcome this.

Our supported employment program provides a safe, welcoming environment for them to undergo basic training before they gain experience in our team. Here, they work for businesses on a temporary basis, which can turn into permanent employment under the right circumstances.

Social enterprises are businesses that trade to have a positive social impact rather than to generate profit. The business model allows us to create employment opportunities that suit job seekers and fulfil a need in our community. We don't have to reach certain employment KPIs: instead, we can focus on building a solution that benefits everyone - one that sticks.

Social Traders, an organisation that certifies social enterprises in Australia and supports social procurement, reported that social enterprises have better long-term outcomes for job seekers than traditional government-funded employment providers, helping break the cycle of welfare dependency without much or any external funding. 71 per cent of total social enterprise revenue in Australia is from trade, and 37 per cent of social enterprises generate 100 per cent of their revenue from trade.

The result is significant cost savings for the government; Social Traders estimates that social enterprises can create 44,000 jobs for Australia's most marginalised job seekers by 2030, saving our society over $4.27 billion. Ideally, those savings can be funnelled back into our communities to do more social good.

Local service-based businesses like landscaping, construction and waste management rely heavily on having enough hands to perform manual labour. If they're short on staff when a big project comes up, they may struggle to complete the job on time or refuse it altogether, impacting their ability to generate enough income in busy periods to cover lulls.

Because of the fluctuating nature of this type of work, businesses don't need, and can't afford, to keep this staff around the clock. Some turn to contractors, which can be a successful solution, but these contractors still need to be recruited, inducted and managed, costing businesses time and money.

On the other hand, there are employment services that recruit, train and manage a team of workers with various skills. Businesses call up the service, tell them how many staff they need and for how long, and they'll have a team of workers on-site with the right skills for the job at a moment's notice. Businesses only pay for the work they need, reducing wage costs and increasing profitability.

The difference with our service is - businesses are giving back to the Illawarra community at the same time, providing opportunities for people who are eager to work but haven't had the right support. They're helping us transition people from our business into other permanent work by building up their CV, experience and employability.

The partnership is a win-win and an effective solution to a complex problem, allowing us to create positive outcomes for our region and build a thriving and equitable Illawarra.

Learn more at green-connect.com.au.