Innovation in motion – creating a new digital employment service

Some of the most rewarding parts of my career at New Futures Network include solving problems through innovation.

I’ve enjoyed working with fantastic teams to create and launch the first-of-its-kind national, prisoner ID programme; working with our partners to improve the national Prisoner Banking Programme; and more recently, linking up with external providers and internal teams to develop a new digital employment service.

Handling innovation and change can be tricky, so here are my top tips and key learnings for making it as smooth and efficient as possible.

Where to begin with innovation

1. Define the problem

It’s important to be on the same page about the problem to be solved, as we’re often working within the constraints of finite time and money. All parties should be clear about the scale of the project, including what is not within the project brief.

For us, the problem space includes that prisoners currently have access to a limited supply of job vacancies that may not meet their requirements when they are released – they could be in the wrong area, or in a sector that they are not qualified for or interested in. These adverts are usually shared on paper. Staff use several different and often time-consuming systems to look for prisoners who are nearing their release, and to assess their suitability for jobs.

2. Identify your scope and objectives

Laying out your scope can help with setting clear, concise and achievable objectives.

The scope of our project includes creating a searchable, digital database of job vacancies for prisoners, and giving staff the ability to quickly assess and identify candidates.

Our aims are to:

• Increase access and independent job searching for prisoner – it’s important that prisoners have a choice when searching for jobs and can do this independently. The idea is that these job searches lead to targeted, productive conversations with Prison Employment Leads.
• Support staff to do their jobs effectively and efficiently – through research, we know there is a need for a service that supports staff with case management. The service will also provide new functionality for tracking and reporting on the progress of the prisoners they are helping.
• Broaden the talent pool for employers – we will help employers fill more of their job vacancies with skilled and motivated new colleagues, who are ready to take up work.

How to manage change

Whether people are excited for a new service or a little wary of change, with all new systems comes a need for careful change management. Here are some of the things it helps to focus on:

1. Communicate regularly

Change is more palatable when we feel part of the decision-making process and are kept updated of progress.  It is important to provide different routes to the information to meet the needs of different people – remember, everyone takes in information differently!

Our communications strategy is geared at telling people about:

• the reasons for change
• the benefits and how it will affect them
• how the project is progressing
• training and support on offer to build capability

2. Provide opportunities for feedback

Users are key to creating a successful service, and it’s crucial to ensure they know how to take part in research and provide feedback. Like the communications approach, the opportunities to evaluate should be tailored to the audience and size of the project.

3. Work together

We’ve worked with cross-functional teams to conduct user-centred research and development, co-design products, and invite constructive challenge.

Bringing together different perspectives gives us the chance to hear about any shortcomings around features early on; and hear which functions colleagues are particularly enthused about.

Our colleagues in prisons work in often high- pressure environments that are already subject to a lot of change, so at the forefront of the rollout of the service will be to keep the feedback in mind to ‘release considerately and iterate cautiously’.

You can follow our LinkedIn or X accounts to find out more about the programmes I have mentioned and be the first to see updates about the new digital service as it comes online.

By Surini Ranawake, Head of Data and Insight, New Futures Network