Our scenario for 2012
How we'll know when we've succeeded.
A future scenario for success
We will meet our challenges and capitalise on our opportunities in the next four years. This is hat success will look like in a community:
It’s going really well at the moment here in Lonville. Ever since our local Work and Income office changed into a Community Link two years ago, it seems like a platform has been laid for us to team up around our community and help them. Now that all government agencies have a presence here, people can get everything sorted out at the same time, such as Working for Families payments, tenancy difficulties, and the issues with their kids.
It’s the same with our local community organisations, and the Plunket team on Tuesday and Thursday are always flat-out. Being able to link-in with them and share information online saves so much time and effort for us and them. They only have to tell us once. It’s great. The 50 per cent increase in those Integrated Service Response Coordinators has made a big difference for our vulnerable families, and the supervision that they receive must help them to deal with the difficult cases.
Apparently the office is running really smoothly too, and they hardly do any paperwork anymore. Probably about half of the people fill in their applications for assistance online these days, either at home or at community computers, so it really saves them time. Having their documents stored electronically helps too, as they don’t have to find them or send away for them again. It seems to allow the staff to just focus on what people need rather than processing payments or photocopying documents. They just love it.
Being able to get food grants and other emergency assistance over the phone is something people love. They are worried enough about whatever happened that they spent their money on, let alone finding their receipts and bank balances and waiting for an appointment.
It’s the same for our local employers too, and they can list a vacancy, and have candidates screened for interviewing within hours. I’d say up to 75 per cent do this now, and they really love it. The work brokers are able to get out and work with employers proactively to help increase their productivity, and also help their workers when the times are tough. The jobs being advertised seem to fill so quickly these days, they must be getting the right ones. Employers are saying this approach has reduced their turn-over by 20 per cent.
