Employer Implementation Questionnaire

Appendix I

Employer Questionnaire

OMB#: 0970-XXXX

Expiration Date: XX/XX/XXXX

^{Appendix I}

Employer Questionnaire

Updated 10.3.12

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Labor have contracted with MDRC to evaluate innovative subsidized and transitional employment models targeting TANF recipients, noncustodial parents, former prisoners, and other low-income parents. The goal is to better understand what kinds of employment programs are most effective at helping people with these kinds of disadvantages gain and hold regular employment.

As part of our research, we are speaking with employers who work with STED/ETJD participants to learn about their experiences with the program and working with subsidized workers through the program. This document is a short questionnaire. It should take about 10 minutes to complete. All of your responses on this questionnaire will be kept private; the research staff has been trained in protecting private information and your name will not appear in any written reports we produce. Your responses to these questions are also completely voluntary; you are not required to answer any questions you do not wish to answer. All of the study results will be reported for groups of individuals; no results will be analyzed or reported for individuals.

According to the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA), an agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The OMB control number for this collection is 0970-XXXX and it expires XX/XX/XXXX.

Thanks in advance for your time helping us with this valuable research. If you have any questions or would like any more information about the project, please contact Dan Bloom, the project director, at 212-340-8611 or at dan.bloom@mdrc.org.

Employer Questionnaire

Subsidized and Transitional Employment Demonstration (STED)/Enhanced Transitional Jobs Demonstration (ETJD)

The first set of questions is about your role in the company/organization where you work.

1. What is the name of your company or organization?

____________________________________________________

2. What is your title?

____________________________________________________

3. Do you directly supervise subsidized workers from the <PROGRAM NAME> program?

₁ Yes

₂ No

4. When it comes to your responsibilities:

1. Were you the person responsible for agreeing to take on subsidized workers from the <PROGRAM NAME> program?

₁ Yes

₂ No

2. Did you conduct interviews with job applicants from the <PROGRAM NAME> program?

₁ Yes

₂ No

c. Were you involved in the hiring decisions for the subsidized workers from the <PROGRAM NAME> program?

₁ Yes

₂ No

IF YOU ANSWERED NO TO 4a, 4b AND 4c, PLEASE STOP HERE.

5. How long have you worked (write in either the number of months or the number of years):

1. At this company/organization? ______ months or _____years

2. In this industry/field? _____ months or _____years

The next set of questions is about characteristics of the company/organization where you work.

6. Is your company/organization:

₁ For profit

₂Non-profit

₃Government/Public

7. What does your company/organization do? (Select one.)

₁ Retail

₂ Construction

₃ Health Care

₄ Automotive service/repair

₅ Manufacturing

₆ Food Service

₇ Cleaning/janitorial

₈ Child care

₉ Education

₁₀ Other social services

₁₁ Recreation, arts, entertainment

₁₂ Transportation

₁₃ Other (please describe):

_____________________________________________

8. What percentage of your non-supervisory workers is covered by collective bargaining agreements? _______%

9. Before you employed any of the <PROGRAM NAME> program workers, how many employees were on your payroll at this location?

________________

9a.) Of this number, how many would you classify as low-skill or entry-level? ________________

10. Does this company/organization have a human resources (HR) manager and/or an HR department?

₁ Yes (go to Question 11)

₂ No (go to Question 10a)

10a.) [If No to Question 10] Is someone designated to be responsible for human resource management?

₁ Yes

₂ No

11. What are the most common ways you usually recruit new workers? (Select up to three responses.)

₁ Internet job boards or job sites

₂ Job fair

₃ Help wanted signs

₄ Newspaper ads

₅ Walk-ins

₆ Referral from current employee

₇ Public employment agency

₈ Private employment agency

₉ School placement officer referral

₁₀ Referral from friend or acquaintance

₁₁ Other (please describe):

_____________________________________________________

Questions 12-19 ask about your experiences with the <PROGRAM NAME> program.

12. How many people from the <PROGRAM NAME> program have worked at your company/organization since <MONTH YEAR>?

________________

13. What are the most important reasons that prompted you to participate in the <PROGRAM NAME>’s program? (Select up to three responses.)

₁ We wanted to test new workers without risk but with the potential to hire them later.

₂ We wanted to help people upgrade their skills and get trained.

₃ We wanted low-cost labor for a few months.

₄ We wanted to help our struggling community with new jobs.

₅ We wanted to test run a partnership for job placement services.

₆ Other (please describe):

_____________________________________________________

14. When hiring workers from the <PROGRAM NAME> program, what did you look for in selecting individuals for the subsidized positions? (Select up to three responses.)

₁ Recommendation from the <PROGRAM NAME> program

₂ Participant’s job-specific skills

₃ Participant’s education level

₄ Participant’s interpersonal and communication skills in interview

₅ Participant’s work experience

₆ Participant’s motivation or desire to improve him/herself

₇ Other (please describe):

_____________________________________________

₈ Not applicable: We place all referrals from <PROGRAM NAME> in subsidized positions regardless of their qualifications.

15. The next several questions ask how workers from the <PROGRAM NAME> program compare with typical low-skill or entry-level workers at your company/organization (this location).

1. In terms of education, participants from the <PROGRAM NAME> program have:

₁ More education

₂ Less education

₃ About the same education

2. In terms of job skills (or “hard skills”), participants from the <PROGRAM NAME> program have:

₁ More job skills

₂ Less job skills

₃ About the same job skills

3. In terms of soft/interpersonal skills, participants from the <PROGRAM NAME> program have:

₁ More soft/interpersonal skills

₂ Less soft/interpersonal skills

₃ About the same soft/interpersonal skills

4. In terms of past work experience, participants from the <PROGRAM NAME> program have:

₁ More work experience

₂ Less work experience

₃ About the same work experience

5. Do you have any other comments on how participants from the <PROGRAM NAME> program compare with typical low-skill or entry-level workers at your company/organization? If so, please share these comments in the lines below:

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

16. Were any of the <PROGRAM NAME> program workers terminated from their subsidized jobs (before the subsidy ended) at your company/organization?

₁ Yes (please enter # terminated): ___________

₂ No (go to Question 18)

17. For those of the <PROGRAM NAME> program workers who were terminated, please indicate why they were terminated. (Check all that apply.)

₁ They had unexcused absences

₂ They came to work late or left early unexcused

₃ They did not perform job duties and tasks satisfactorily

₄ They did not follow guidance or direction from supervisors

₅ They argued or fought with customers, coworkers, or supervisors

₆ They dressed inappropriately

₇ They were under the influence of alcohol or drugs at work

₈ They stopped coming to work

₉ Other (please describe):

___________________________________________________

18. To the best of your knowledge, how would you rate changes to your company/organization as a result of having workers from the <PROGRAM NAME> program? (Circle one number for each question.)

		Decreased	Somewhat decreased	No change	Somewhat increased	Increased
	Number of customers or clients your company/ organization is able to serve	1	2	3	4	5
	Customer or client satisfaction	1	2	3	4	5
	Overall financial health	1	2	3	4	5

19. On the whole, how would you rate your company/organization’s experience with the <PROGRAM NAME> program? (Circle one number for each question.)

		Very poor	Poor	Fair	Good	Very good
	Responsiveness to phone calls and emails	1	2	3	4	5
	Timeliness in placing workers with you	1	2	3	4	5
	Willingness to help address problem situations	1	2	3	4	5	Not Applicable
	Effectiveness in addressing problem situations	1	2	3	4	5	Not Applicable
	Support given to workers	1	2	3	4	5
	Overall satisfaction	1	2	3	4	5

Questions #20-23 ask for a number or percentage. Please provide your best estimate.

20. Have you offered an unsubsidized job to any participants from the <PROGRAM NAME> program?

₁ Yes. How many? ___________

₂ No, but I would if we were hiring

₃ No, the participants are not a good fit with our company/organization

₄ No, other reason (please describe): _______________________________________________

21. Were there any <PROGRAM NAME> program workers whom your company/organization wished to retain in an unsubsidized job, but could not due to financial limitations?

₁ Yes. How many? ___________

₂ No

22. Not including workers from the <PROGRAM NAME> program or another job training program, in the last 12 months:

1. About how many low-skill/entry-level workers did you hire at this location? If you typically hire new employee as temporary workers first, please indicate how many temps you hired. _____________

2. How many people in total did you hire at this location? _________

23. Over the next 12 months, how do you expect the number of people hired to compare with the previous year? Do you expect to hire:

₁ More workers (go to Question 24.)

₂ Fewer workers (go to Question 23a.)

₃ About the same number of workers (go to Question 24.)

23a). If you expect to hire fewer workers over the next 12 months than in the previous year, what is the main reason? (Select one.)

₁ Fewer available positions because we filled job slots with participants from the <PROGRAM NAME> program

₂ Decrease in workload as a result of economy or other external factor(s)

₃ Increase in expenses and cannot afford to hire as many workers

₄ Fewer openings as a result of less turnover in these positions

₅ Other reason (please describe):

____________________________________________________

24. How would you rate the financial health of your company/organization in the year before you started working with the <PROGRAM NAME> program?

₁ Very unhealthy

₂ Unhealthy

₃ Fair

₄ Healthy

₅ Very healthy

25. Considering your experience with the <PROGRAM NAME> program, would you participate in it or a similar program if it were offered again in the future?

₁ Yes

₂ No

₃ Maybe

a. If you answered "No," why not? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________­­

b. If you answered "Maybe," what would make you say yes?

_______________________________________________________­_________________________________________________

Thank you for completing this questionnaire!