Collective approach to employment
Living Lab 1 on “Collective approach to employment” targets mothers that receive welfare benefits.
This research focuses on three important solutions for enabling mothers with welfare benefits to enter the labor market.
- One of the obstacles that women face on their way to work is the combination of work and care. Given that women (and mothers especially) often take on the bulk of unpaid care duties, many women do not work, only work in small jobs, or work undeclared. Thus, an important solution is to arrange work in a way where the work-life balance is taken into account.
- A second obstacle is the gap between supply and demand. For example, education and work experience of women receiving benefits often do not match available jobs. There may also be limited Dutch language skills or health issues, and some mothers might miss job opportunities due to a limited network. Therefore, a second important solution is matching of supply and demand.
- A third obstacle is that for some mothers, it proves difficult to find lasting and sustainable employment. The third solution therefore focuses on obtaining a sustainable income. Retaining employment means sustainable change and prevents a decline into poverty.
In this project, we investigate with the input of mothers and employers how these solutions are best implemented. Based on this, interventions are developed and tested among mothers, employers (for example, focused on family-friendly policies) and other institutions such as municipalities (for example, focused on retraining). Subsequently, these interventions are evaluated and possibilities for implementation on a larger scale are explored.
Organisations and involved persons
Universiteit Utrecht
Atria
Ingrid Doorten (I.Doorten@atria.nl)
Paula Thijs (P.Thijs@atria.nl)
Website Atria
Divosa
Marcelle Breemans (mbreemans@divosa.nl)
Website Divosa
Feniks (Tilburg)
Gerda de Vries (gerda.devries@fenikstilburg.nl)
Veerle Slegers (veerle.slegers@fenikstilburg.nl)
Website Feniks
Gemeente Tilburg
Esmah Lahlah (esmah.lahlah@tilburg.nl)
Website Gemeente Tilburg
TNO
Jeroen Pronk (jeroen.pronk@tno.nl)
Lisa Hummel (lisa.hummel@tno.nl)
Jenny Huijs (jenny.huijs@tno.nl)
Marloes van der Wal (marloes.vanderwal@tno.nl)
Sophie Emmert (sophie.emmert@tno.nl)
Nicole van Kesteren (nicole.vankesteren@tno.nl)
Website TNO
Vebego
Marrit Schouten (Marrit.Schouten@vebego.com)
Website Vebego
Women Inc
Joline Heusinkveld (joline@womeninc.nl)
Website Women Inc
