Employment Specialists as Boundary Spanners

Balancing Mediation and Enforcement

Abstract

The article contributes knowledge about the roles employment specialists play and the dilemmas they face in their efforts to help vulnerable unemployed individuals into employment. The empirical data in the article originates from a collaborative project where a job center and local enterprises have attempted to bring unemployed at risk people into jobs by following the “Supported Employment” approach. The analysis is based on qualitative interviews with nine unemployed at risk people and, in eight cases, their mentors and employment specialists. In the article, employment specialists are conceptualized as “boundary spanners”. It is investigated how the employment specialist plays the dual role of mediator and enforcer of the interests of both the unemployed and the employer. This presents the employment specialists with two dilemmas. Firstly, the employment specialist must balance a citizen-centered approach with a disciplining approach in their relationship with the unemployed. Secondly, the employment specialist must balance enforcing the interests of the unemployed with the interests of the employers.