‘Significant’ GenU redudancies follow declining performance rating

A Geelong business facing mass redundancies after missing out on Federal Government contracts had received declining performance ratings in recent years.

A Geelong business facing “significant redundancies” after missing out on Federal Government contracts to continue delivering employment services had received declining performance ratings in recent years.

The Geelong Advertiser this week revealed MatchWorks – a part of the GenU organisation – faced up to 300 redundancies after failing to retain contracts to deliver the rebranded Jobactive scheme in the Barwon region, South Australia and Queensland.

While GenU Executive General Manager Paul Barbaro wrote a confidential email to staff noting his surprise and disappointment with the decision, it can be revealed MatchWorks had seen a significant decline in performance.

GenU CEO Claire Amies

Quarterly government performance reviews of MatchWorks’ Jobactive service delivery, accessed by the Geelong Advertiser, showed the ‘star ratings’ of its nine Barwon sites had largely deteriorated since 2016.

The nine sites received seven five-star ratings in the June 2016 quarter, falling to just one top-rating in September 2020 – the last set of ratings released prior to the rating system being abandoned.

The Department of Education, Skills and Employment (DESE) rating system was abandoned after September 2020 due to “volatile economic data as a result of the pandemic” – with MatchWorks’ last pre-pandemic result seeing no five-star ratings awarded to local sites in December 2019.

The star ratings assessed Jobactive providers against key performance of indicators of ‘efficiency’ and ‘effectiveness’ – largely weighted towards ‘26 week outcomes’ for job hunters.

MatchWorks and GenU this week declined to comment on the ratings decline “due to the embargo” on the Government’s announcement of new Jobactive – now ‘Workforce Australia’ – contracts.

Both the Federal Government and Matchworks have declined to comment on the Jobactive contracts this week, as the decision was yet to be formally announced.

The Geelong Advertiser revealed the decision this week after MatchWorks informed staff of the move, sending an extensive FAQ to workers noting it would endeavour to redeploy impacted staff, but revealing “unfortunately there may be some employees whose role will be made redundant”.

GenU staff, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Geelong Advertiser about 300 employees were expected to be impacted by the loss of the government contracts.

“The Barwon region is the home of MatchWorks, and to have lost the lot is pretty catastrophic,” one worker said.

“There will be at least 300 staff will be impacted, not just in the Barwon region but also other states – some of them will potentially be redeployed, but ultimately at the end of the day we’re looking at significant redundancies.”

The hundreds of redundancies feared at MatchWorks come after it was this week revealed 140 workers were terminated from Norris Construction Group – which had operated locally for more than 50 years before collapsing.

The major job losses threaten to put a dampener on the State Government’s Friday celebration of record low unemployment figures in regional Victoria.

New Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data revealed regional Victoria’s unemployment rate had fallen to a record low 3 per cent – below the national regional rate of 4 per cent.

Geelong’s unemployment rate fell to 2 per cent.

More Geelong job services set to fall in contract shake up

The ripple effect of a national shake up to job seeker support is likely to see mass redundancies across multiple organisations in the Geelong region, industry sources say.

The change, which the federal government said would provide better outcomes for employment and skills programs, could see more than 300 jobs ripped from the job seeker support workforce in Geelong.

MatchWorks, APM Employment Services, G-Force and Workskil Australia all provide Jobactive services under government contracts in the Geelong region.

From July 1 the cohort will shrink to “between one and three” according to government tender documents.

Multiple GenU staff, who asked to remain anonymous, said about 300 employees were expected to be impacted by the loss of the government contracts, with one warning of “significant redundancies” at MatchWorks and a series of local providers.

GenU Executive General Manager Paul Barbaro, who oversees MatchWorks, this week revealed to staff he was “genuinely disappointed” the organisation did not retain the government contract.

Stuart Robert, Federal Minister for Employment, Workforce, Skills, Small and Family Business, pictured in the Fitzroy Gardens in Melbourne. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw

Gforce is also expected to lose its Jobactive contract, multiple sources not authorised to speak publicly told the Geelong Advertiser.

Gforce has already lost its Transition to Work contract to provide pre-employment services to young people in Geelong and Ballarat.

The organisation employs about 25 people across its Jobactive and Transition to Work contracts.

One Geelong employment sector source said potential for mass redundancies at providers of Jobactive services had “sent shockwaves through local employment services.”

“It’s quite ironic that the consultants currently working in Jobactive provision who are trying to find job seekers work, could inevitably become a job seeker themselves from July 1.”

On Wednesday Gforce chief executive Keith Baillie said he could not reveal the outcome of its Jobactive contract.

“Gforce is unable to comment on the outcome of the Jobactive contract as this information is embargoed,” Mr Baillie said.

Mr Baillie said he supported the national change to support for jobseekers which will see the jobactive program replaced under the new banner of Workforce Australia.

“The new model provides additional support for jobseekers with the greatest needs; Gforce supports this focus.

“However, changing providers can derail a job seeker’s efforts to overcome challenges and find a job. We also believe that our community connection is vital in realising employment opportunities.

“Gforce is very disappointed to not be delivering Transition to Work. We are proud of our results over six years in Geelong and Ballarat; last year we helped 507 young people to find work.

“Once the final (Workforce Australia) contract is announced we will review our needs and discuss this with our staff.”

The federal government was hoping to announce the changes on March 29 which coincides with the federal budget.

According to information on the federal employment department’s website, Workforce Australia will enhance early investment in intensive, individually-tailored case management for job seekers at risk of becoming long-term unemployed, and provide services to vulnerable job seekers in some areas.

Federal Employment Minister Stuart Robert did not respond directly to questions, his spokesman said Workforce Australia would consolidate employment and skill services.

Corio Labor MP Richard Marles said Geelong workers and job seekers deserved better.

“I recently met with local providers who were hoping this wasn’t going to be the case, but clearly Scott Morrison doesn’t see the importance of regional jobs and is happy to see more than 300 local jobs axed,” Mr Marles said.

Victorian Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson did not respond by deadline.

Geelong employer MatchWorks facing up to 300 job losses

Major Geelong employer MatchWorks is facing “significant redundancies” after missing out on Federal Government contracts to continue delivering employment services.

A confidential email to MatchWorks staff across the Barwon region – seen by the Geelong Advertiser – this week informed them the organisation had failed to retain contracts to deliver the government’s rebranded Jobactive scheme in Barwon as well as South Australia and Queensland.

Paul Barbaro, genU executive general manager.

The new contracts came ahead of the Federal Government’s launch of new employment service Workforce Australia on July 1, replacing the current Jobactive service to deliver employment services to unemployed job seekers on Government income support payments and employers.

MatchWorks, which is part of the GenU organisation, retained contracts to deliver the services in just four of the 14 regions it currently services, also gaining one new region.

GenU Executive General Manager Paul Barbaro wrote a confidential email to staff informing them of the “mixed and surprising results”, which he noted the Government planned to announce on March 29.

“However, we are genuinely disappointed to not be successful in many of our current Jobactive regions, especially those consistent and high performing,” Mr Barbaro wrote.

“We are committed to understanding these results once announcements are made public by gaining feedback from the Department.”

MatchWorks also sent an extensive FAQ to staff noting it would endeavour to redeploy impacted staff, but revealing “unfortunately there may be some employees whose role will be made redundant”.

“MatchWorks intends to retain as many of our valued employees as we can,” one section noted.

genU headquarters at Belmont. Picture: Alison Wynd

“In instances where we do have surplus roles, MatchWorks will look for opportunities to redeploy affected employees into suitable, alternative roles within the GenU business before making a decision to terminate their employment by way of redundancy.”

GenU staff, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Geelong Advertiser about 300 employees were expected to be impacted by the loss of the government contracts.

“The Barwon region is the home of MatchWorks, and to have lost the lot is pretty catastrophic,” one worker said.

“There will be at least 300 staff will be impacted, not just in the Barwon region but also other states – some of them will potentially be redeployed, but ultimately at the end of the day we’re looking at significant redundancies.

“It’s not just MatchWorks that’s being slammed by the Government tender, there’s a number of providers that have also lost, even ones that have had star ratings that have exceeded standards.”

GenU on Tuesday said it was “not in a position to comment about Workforce Australia as the results have not been publicly announced by the Australian Government”.

A spokesperson for the Department of Education, Skills and Employment (DESE) also said the department was “unable to discuss any matters relating to purchasing activities, to preserve the probity of the purchasing process”.

“As required under the Commonwealth Procurement Rules, successful tenderers will be identified on AusTender in due course,” they said.

According to its website MatchWorks has offices at Bannockburn, Lara, Anglesea, Torquay, Ocean Grove, Grovedale, Highton, East Geelong and Geelong, Lorne, Apollo Bay and Colac.

The expected job losses are due to a shake up of employment services by the DESE which it says will result in a “a single front door” for all government employment and skills programs and initiatives which will begin on July 1.

Originally published as ‘Significant’ GenU redudancies follow declining performance rating