Today ISKUR has a problem with its image. As unemployment figures will rise and more persons are covered by the unemployment insurance, the demands for a higher standard of their services will also increase. They must be able to attract more vacancies from the employers, especially from private employers, and also attract a wider range of job seekers. How can this be achieved?

Within this project we will develop a Model Office Concept. In the concept - eventually it will take the form of a manual - will be described the principles and the standards to be applied in Turkish Employment offices, especially in the new offices that will be constructed. To check the concept and try new ideas in "real life", ISKUR has selected eight pilot offices. The offices represent both big and small cities, both urban and rural areas.

Since the activities started in April 2004 the Pilot Offices have improved their relations to employers, they have introduced better possibilities for job seekers to find information about vacancies and trainings and they have improved their organisation. During the project period we are continuously assessing their experiences and support them with training and advice.

The support from the local social partners is essential for every Employment Service. In the Pilot Offices we expect a close cooperation to be developed and that the social partners will have a real influence on the activities of the offices. Regular meetings with social partners have been introduced in the Pilot offices and the development will be supported and evaluated.

The pilot offices are:

• Ankara
• İstanbul (Bayrampaşa)
• Konya
• Malatya
• Bursa
• Ordu
• Şanlıurfa
• Manisa

İSKUR Model Offices.

The new constructed ISKUR offices are designed to meet the requirements of modern Employment Service in line with European standards. Within the framework of ISKUR ALMP project we have successfully tried out how new techniques in employment services can be applied to Turkish conditions. Even if the final evaluation of the whole Model Office concept will not be completed until this summer, it is already at present stage possible to assume that some experiences will be recommended for submission to all ISKUR offices

For the future a broader range of services will be performed in ISKUR offices than is the situation of today. These services are today a part of the every day work in modern European Employment offices. Generally they imply that the Employment office is a workplace not only for the staff but also for their clients: job seekers and employers. The modern Employment Office is a public meeting place for all persons involved in the local labour market, not only the place for registration of unemployed job seekers.

1. The new services to be introduced in ISKUR offices will lead to a larger number of clients – employers, job seekers, representatives for enterprises and institutions – visiting and meeting at the Employment Office.  Here are some examples of new services tried out in the present ISKUR Pilot offices that have proven to be useful:

In order to give a transparent information about opportunities on the labour market, locally and nationwide, there should be an area for display of information. The information should be displayed on billboards and bookshelves. In many countries also other media, like e g video and VCD are used for such purposes.

The job seekers will have access to special self service computers (kiosks). These kiosks need to be placed in an open area where there is also staff surveillance.

While today registration is performed in big rooms, often at long open desks, there should also be adjacent suitable work places for face to face interviews with job seekers with special needs.

Job search trainings should be regularly performed at ISKUR offices, as well as other meetings for information or training with groups of job seekers.

2. ISKUR will play a more significant role in the implementation of a national employment and HRD policy than today. This involves meeting with representatives for the provincial and local governments, with employers’ and employees’ organisations, other public and private institutions. ISKUR should be equipped with suitable meeting rooms to house regular meetings with the social partners.

3. Internal staff training play an important role in modern institutions. To facilitate for ISKUR to give staff training not only in Ankara and Söke but also e. g. in the southern and eastern provinces, some of the bigger ISKUR offices in those provinces will be equipped with big conference rooms.

4. There are also a range of other services that today are available in European Employment services but have not yet been introduced in Turkey, mostly due to lack of staff and premises. It includes e. g. increased services in vocational guidance at all ISKUR offices, organising job clubs for unemployed, organising various seminars both for job seekers and for employers, the possibility to offer temporary facilities for new established enterprises for performing interviews with possible candidates and to organise test sessions for selection of candidates.  

5. To give maximum flexibility to different solutions of arranging the office area the construction of the new buildings will have “raised floors” at the entrance floor. This allows for easy and inexpensive changing of walls and electricity cabling according to different needs.

To summarize this justification we would like to underline that the new ISKUR offices are designed to support the vision that ISKUR will play an increasingly important role in Turkish economic and social policy.  ISKUR will be prepared to open up their offices to become an attractive meeting point for social partners involved in the labour market. The size and design of all new ISKUR offices must be suitable to meet the needs not only of the present employees of ISKUR but of all residents of the province.

Where are with Construction  and Renovation Works?

Contracts for the renovation of three employment offices and one training centre has been signed with the Ankara based contractor KUR Insaat. The employment offices to be renovated and upgraded to model offices are located in Ankara, Istanbul and Kayseri .

The training center of ISKUR in Söke will be renovated under the same contract as the employment offices.

Additionally a contract for construction of 16 model employment offices has been awarded to the joint venture of HGG and EMSAS. HGG is an Ankara based company and EMSAS is based in Istanbul .

The renovation works were initiated in early March for all four renovation projects.

The construction of model offices will take place in the following cities:

Ardahan, Igdir, Agri, Siirt, Mus, Diyarbakir, Elazig, Hatay, Kilis, Antalya, Samsun , Tokat, Corum, Gebze, Bandirma and Nigde.

Presently the detailed design is ongoing and mobilisation at the sites is expected to start in the middle of May. 

Hifab is responsible of contract management and supervision of works.

Presently 15 supervisors have been employed to carry out the supervision. Additionally, electrical, structural and electrical control engineers have been hired for the control of the design proposed by the contractors.

In total, 19 engineers are involved in the supervision services planned to be continued to early October 2005.