GLOSSARY

3^rd party service provider: An organization that provides services on behalf of another organizations or funder.

Accommodation: These are requests made to the employer that the workplace establish effective mechanisms for responding to requests by individuals who have needs due to a challenge or disability. An example of a workplace accommodation could be that a person with a visual impairment is supplied with a special computer monitor to enable successful reading. Another might be that a worker has a shortened work shift due to their reduced stamina as a result of recovering from a car accident.

Credentialism: Many of our participants had years of experience in a particular job; but were excluded from them later due to increasing demands for specific credentials. We refer to this phenomenon as credentialism.

Bridge Builder: A term used in this report to describe the function of a person engaged in furthering the Pathways to Work Research Project recommendations. We use this term to communicate the collaborative, facilitative and respectful approach that we learned is essential when working with Discouraged Job Seekers. Bridges are the underpinnings that overcome barriers and lead to resources, enabling the job seekers to choose a service more easily, rather than being directed to a service. We refer to the staff of an organization that takes on the mandate to build bridges as a Pathways staff.

Client: A person who has decided to use the services of a social services organization. In this report we primarily refer to Employment Services organizations but it could be other social services organizations as well.

Counselor: A person who is employed to work with individuals and groups through a funded social services agency. In this report, we refer to counselors who are people hired by Employment Services organizations.

Challenge and Disability: These two terms are at times used interchangeably as many participants had a challenge and a disability.

• Challenge: refers to conditions that may limit a person’s ability to participate in work or maintain a desired quality of life. A challenge may be a physical condition that is less significant than a disability, but still causes problems for a person in their day-to-day life, e.g., bad back.
• Disability: refers to conditions that limit a person’s ability to conduct daily activities including work and can be classified medically. Acceptance of a person being diagnosed by a doctor through a prescribed process as `disabled` enables the person to qualify for certain government supports, e.g., Canada Pension Plan – Disability.

Discouraged Job Seeker: The participants we spoke to in the Pathways to Work Research Project. Our target population self identify as Discouraged Job Seekers. Our criteria for a Discouraged Job Seeker was that they a) currently be unemployed or working in the informal economy, b) identify as facing a barrier to employment, c) identify that they have stopped looking for work or felt that there was little or no possibility that they would be able to obtain work where they would be eligible for insurable earnings.

Employment Services: Employment Services encompasses all the third party organizations whose mandate is to assist residents of Kings County to gain employment. This includes – PeopleWorx (an organization that helps adults in the community overcome employment obstacles), Valley African Nova Scotian Development Agency, Canadian Mental Health Association Outreach and Community Inc. and all the various programs and projects running under the supervision of these organizations or contained within their offices.

Employment Support: Employment Support refers to the Department of Community Services (ESIA - Employment Support/Income Assistance) which provides additional support for people on Income Assistance who are considered by them to be employable.

Expert: We needed to delineate between ‘participants’, ‘professionals’, “staff”, and those people, i.e., “experts”, we were consulting in our decision making processes. The range of experts we used was wide: from seasoned, university academics to 19 year old youth enrolled in a transition to work project. Our use of this term made some uncomfortable – the designation of ‘expert’ seeming to create a distinction that they did not feel necessarily befit their role.

High intensity work: Work that is fast paced, requires sustained effort and may at times be stressful

Income Assistance: The funding mechanism available through the Department of Community Services for those who qualify for financial assistance in the Province of Nova Scotia.

Job carving: The act of analyzing work duties performed in a given job and identifying specific tasks that might be assigned to another employee. It is a technique often used by Job Developers working with, and on behalf of, people with disabilities.

Job Coach: Often refers to an Employment Services worker who has a more “hands-on or “out-of-office” job description than a counselor. The coach works more intensively with a client, and can follow through with supporting the client in their job finding, and job starting process with more flexibility and direct involvement. Examples would be that a job coach could accompany a client to a job interview or to their first day of work.

Job Finding Community: A term used in this report to establish a perception that encompasses every person and organization involved in helping people find jobs. It is used to facilitate the development of an awareness of those involved to see each other as members of one community, working together collaboratively.

Learning Circle: A small informal group that meets to study a subject or body of knowledge of interest to its members, and a way of structuring a series of small group meetings to draw on the knowledge and experience of a group of people

Participant: People who consented to be interviewed by Pathways to Work Research Project. They self identified as ‘Discouraged Job Seekers’. A signed consent was obtained prior to their becoming involved. This could refer to people who only participated by answering our brief questionnaire, or our more extensive interview. There were 31 who became involved, and filled out the questionnaire: 23 who filled out the questionnaire and were interviewed more extensively.

Recipient: A person who has applied for and been found eligible to receive benefits from the Government of Nova Scotia’s Employment Support and Income Assistance Program.

Stigma: The shame or disgrace attached to something regarded as socially undesirable. The word stigma is challenging to understand. There are two types of stigma: • Internal stigma – self-hatred, shame, blame – people feel they are being judged by others, so they isolate themselves, e.g., people living with HIV/AIDS may practice “self-stigma” by isolating themselves from their families and communities, • External stigma or enacted stigma or, as is more commonly recognized, discrimination - perceptions, feelings or actions towards people based on a characteristic.

Target groups/Targeted programs: The Federal and Provincial governments’ employment policies frequently identify employment programs available to specific “targeted” groups. An example would be an ‘older worker program’. Groups commonly identified for targeted programs are: people who have recently received Employment Insurance, people with disabilities, older workers, immigrants, women, and youth.

The Void: The experience long time job seekers have of continually applying for positions and receiving no feedback from the application. From our experience, this factor led significantly to the creation of job seekers becoming “discouraged job seekers”: giving up rather than continuing their search for a job.

Wage Subsidies/Targeted Wage Subsidy (TWS): A government program with the goal of assisting job seekers who are having difficulty finding jobs by ‘subsidizing’ the employer part of the job seeker’s wage for a specific time. There needs to be an identified barrier that the person is experiencing that is preventing them from finding a job. There is an agreement among the government, an employer and a person who is to work for the employer for a wage, minimum, or better. The government contributes to the wage paid to the job seeker. Wage subsidy programs are provided by various government departments and by Employment Services that have funding to do so.