Implementing Supported Employment in the Norwegian Labor and Welfare Administration - Experiences from employment specialists and critical implementation issues.

BackgroundSupported Employment (SE) is a widely used methodology for work inclusion, with a documented positive effect for several user groups with difficulties to enter the competitive labor market. In 2017, SE was implemented in the Norwegian Labor and Welfare Administration (NLWA), provided by employment specialists for labor market inclusion.ObjectivesTo examine experiences of employment specialists adopting the SE-methodology and the coping strategies developed to handle the workload, and to identify critical issues in the implementation of SE.MethodsSix focus groups with employment specialists at two local NLWA-offices were conducted at baseline, and three, 12 and 18 months after. Sessions were recorded and transcribed verbatim. A thematic analysis was performed.ResultsParticipants showed a growing confidence in their own skill set. Coping strategies to encounter challenges included achieving a better balance between available resources and allocated workload, avoiding unnoticed dropout of employment seekers, and developing an awareness for the 'employability' of employment seekers. Critical issues included the increasing feeling of getting detached from teammates, a constant lack of time for satisfactory task performance, and growing discomfort with organizing the workload according to set efficiency parameters, instead of standards for good SE. Several employment specialists showed signs of professional burnout.ConclusionParticipants became quickly familiar with the SE-methodology. They became subject to significant wear and the loss of a career perspective as an employment specialist, resulting in high turn-over. The critical issues identified must be addressed to make SE in the NLWA sustainable.