The COVID-19 pandemic is highlighting the importance of inclusive work and a strong and flexible safety net
Covid-19 is creating massive employment upheavals with significant implications for peoples’ mental health. In today’s blog Post Aurora Elmes discusses the role social enterprises can play in providing flexible and supportive workplaces for vulnerable people and the need for government to consider how they can support these businesses to help cushion some of the economic and social fallout from Covid-19.
One of the most commonly stated missions of Australia’s estimated 20,000 social enterprises is creating meaningful employment opportunities for groups of people who experience disadvantage in gaining work, such as people with disability, or lived experience of mental illness.
My research with Australian social enterprise Vanguard Laundry Services has found that when a workplace is flexible and supportive by design, people with experiences of mental illness and long-term unemployment are able to sustain their employment and can be dedicated, loyal and productive staff. Good quality work can provide many benefits – economically, socially and for individual health and wellbeing. Conversely, job loss and unemployment are associated with worse health.
As measures to flatten the curve of coronavirus are rolled out, we are seeing significant effects on service industries, with people in casual work being affected as events are cancelled and business as usual is disrupted by the need for physical distancing. The majority of Australia’s social enterprises are small to medium businesses that operate in service industries, and many provide employment for people who experience high levels of disadvantage. Last week, the Australian government announced important steps to support businesses, and days later, followed this with the release of a new stimulus package that includes not-for-profit organisations, and further increases to income support. This is welcome news for the for-purpose sector who had raised grave concerns that if support was not extended to social enterprises and other not-for-profit organisations, more of Australia’s most vulnerable community members would be at risk in this time of increased need.
There will still be cases in which businesses are unable to sustainably support the kinds of work practices these extraordinary times require, and particular groups of workers will be more impacted due to their work industry or job type. The second stimulus package appears to be heeding renewed calls from the social services sector, policy professionals and researchers on the need for greater adequacy and flexibility in Australia’s social security net – though criticism and concerns remain regarding the inflexibility of the cashless welfare card. As vital as work is in providing people with income and an opportunity to contribute to their community, it cannot replace a strong welfare safety net.
We need systems that adequately support people whether or not they are able to work.
Social enterprises like Vanguard Laundry Services can play a role by providing inclusive work opportunities, but more support is needed to help these businesses meet the extraordinary challenge of implementing the rapid changes required to protect employees, customers, and business sustainability in the currently evolving coronavirus pandemic.
These are difficult times. It’s well established that unemployment has negative effects on mental health, but the detrimental effects of unemployment on health are also mitigated by practical and social support, and negative effects are weaker in countries with strong unemployment protection systems. This underlines the need for government to consider how social enterprises and others in the social service sector can be supported alongside other businesses to weather current economic conditions and minimise impacts on employees; and to ensure that Australia’s social security system and social service sector are flexible and resilient enough to provide equitable support to people in times of need.
Aurora Elmes is a PhD Candidate and Senior Research Assistant at the Centre for Social Impact, Swinburne. Aurora’s PhD research is focused on understanding the health, wellbeing, economic and social effects of social enterprise through a longitudinal evaluation of Australian social enterprise, Vanguard Laundry Services. Since joining CSI Swinburne in 2016, Aurora has worked on the Giving Australia 2016 project, co-authored the Philanthropy and Philanthropists report, and assisted with research focused on the resilience and resourcing of social enterprise. She is currently part of the Social Enterprise Impact Lab research team.
Moderator: Celia Green