Program Staff Time-Use Worksheet

Appendix M

Staff Time-Use Worksheet

Appendix M

Program Staff Time-Use Worksheet

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 asking program staff members to record the way they spend their time over the course of the week. The attached document is a time-use chart we would like you to use to record your daily activities and the time you spend on them. This should take a total of about an hour to complete. Everything you share in this document will be kept completely private by the research team; the research staff has been trained in protecting private information and your name will not appear in any written reports we produce. Your responses are also completely voluntary; you are not required to answer anything 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

Program Staff Time-Use Worksheet

Subsidized and Transitional Employment Demonstration (STED)

Enhanced Transitional Jobs Demonstration (ETJD)

Note: This time study will be administered to all program staff who provide direct Subsidized and Transitional Employment Demonstration (STED) or Enhanced Transitional Jobs Demonstration (ETJD) services to participants enrolled in the program. Administrative staff (e.g., program directors and staff accountants) who do not provide direct services to participants will not be asked to complete the staff activity worksheet.

We are asking you to track how you spend your time over the course of two weeks on some broad Subsidized and Transitional Employment Demonstration (STED) or Enhanced Transitional Jobs Demonstration (ETJD) activities using the attached worksheet. This will help us understand what is happening in your STED or ETJD project and will help others replicate your project should they wish to do so. This is not an audit, nor are we “checking up” on the project to see how you spend your time. We are simply interested in getting a rough idea on the kinds of activities on which you spend your time.

For each day during the two weeks of TBD, please keep track of how much time you spend each day working on each of the following activities:

1. Recruitment. Marketing the program to potential study participants and referral partners.

2. Orientation and intake. Explaining the program benefits and requirements to potential study participants and enrolling them in the program.

3. Assessments. Conducting assessments and testing participants to determine the participants’ skill levels, employment interests, and service needs.

4. Case management

   1. Developing/monitoring employment plans

   2. Providing assistance or guidance with personal issues

   3. Helping with supportive services

   4. Contacting the disengaged

   5. Sanctioning for noncompliance

   6. Contacting service partners (e.g., child support, probation, TANF) on behalf of participant

   7. Providing other case management

5. Job readiness training. Conducting workshops/ job readiness training often in a group setting, to prepare individuals for employment

6. Job search assistance

   1. Providing individual assistance with job search for transitional/subsidized placements (e.g., helping with resume, preparing for interviews)

   2. Providing individual assistance with job search for unsubsidized placements (e.g., helping with resume, preparing for interviews)

7. Job development: Transitional/Subsidized Employment

   1. Searching for transitional/subsidized employment opportunities; contacting potential subsidized employers

   2. Meeting with participant about transitional/subsidized employment opportunity; scheduling interviews for participant

   3. Contacting existing transitional/subsidized employers regarding worksite, participants

8. Job development: Unsubsidized Employment

   1. Searching for unsubsidized employment opportunities; contacting potential unsubsidized employers

   2. Meeting with participant about unsubsidized employment opportunity; scheduling interviews for participant

9. Transitional/subsidized employment supervision.

   1. Supervising participants at job worksite

   2. Communicating with transitional/subsidized employment staff about participants’ performance

10. Parenting/fatherhood services

    1. Providing parenting skills training/ fatherhood services

    2. Providing relationship counseling

11. Counseling/treatment

    1. Providing mental health related counseling and cognitive behavioral therapy

    2. Providing substance abuse counseling/ treatment and drug testing

    3. Providing other counseling

12. Education/Training

    1. Providing basic education/ GED instruction

    2. Providing other educational instruction

    3. Providing occupational skills training

13. Legal assistance

    1. Providing child-support related legal assistance

    2. Providing criminal justice related legal assistance

    3. Providing other legal assistance

14. Post placement and retention services

    1. Interacting with participants while employed in unsubsidized employment

    2. Interacting with unsubsidized employers

    3. Assisting participants find replacement jobs when the first (or second, etc.) is lost

    4. Helping employed participants address ongoing ( or outstanding) issues

15. Program administration

    1. Attending staff meetings

    2. Reviewing participants' timesheets; processing subsidized payments

    3. Supervising staff

    4. Tracking participation, entering data in MIS and developing project reports

    5. Conducting other administrative tasks

16. Research-related activities. Explaining the study to participants, collecting the informed consent, baseline information, and contact forms, entering the information in the random assignment tool, batching and sending forms to MDRC, meeting with the research team, and other research-related activities.

17. Other. Conducting any activities that do not fall into one of the above categories (for example, if you work on another project unrelated to your STED or ETJD project); if you use this category, please provide a brief explanation.

The total time for each day should be the same as the total time you worked. For example, if you worked eight hours in a day, then you should record a total of eight hours across the activities for that day. If you spent an hour and a half on a single activity (such as a meeting with an employer), please mark 1.5. You should include all of the things you do as part of your job, including meeting with participants, attending staff meetings, doing paperwork, making telephone calls, traveling to meet with STED or ETJD participants, and meeting with other agencies about STED or ETJD participants. If you did not work on a particular day, or took time off during the day (e.g., for a doctor’s appointment), please record those hours on the last line.

It would be best if you fill out the form at the end of each work day, so that your activities are still fresh in your mind. After we have collected the completed forms we may contact you with follow up questions.

Time Spent in Week (Hours)

Project: ________________________________

Staff name: ________________________________

Week of: ________________________________

	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
1. Recruitment
2. Orientation and intake
3. Assessments
4. Case management
Developing/monitoring employment plans
Providing assistance with personal issues
Helping with supportive services
Contacting the disengaged
Sanctioning for noncompliance
Contacting service partners for participant
Providing other case management
5. Job readiness training

	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
6. Job search assistance
Conducting workshops
Providing individual job search assistance for transitional/subsidized (T/S) employment
Providing individual job search assistance for unsubsidized placements
7. Job development: T/S employment
Searching for T/S employment opportunities; contacting potential subsidized employers
Meeting with participant about T/S employment opportunity; scheduling interviews for participant
Contacting T/S employers re: worksite, participants
8. Job development: unsubsidized employment
Searching for unsubsidized employment opportunities; contacting potential unsubsidized employers
Meeting with participant about unsubsidized employment opportunity; scheduling interviews for participant

	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
9. Transitional employment supervision
Supervising participants at job worksite
Communicating with T/S employment staff about participants’ performance
10. Parenting/ fatherhood services
Providing parenting skills training/ fatherhood services
Providing relationship counseling
11. Counseling/treatment
Providing mental health related counseling and cognitive behavioral therapy
Providing substance abuse counseling/ treatment and drug testing
Providing other counseling
12. Education-related services
Providing basic education/ GED instruction
Providing other educational instruction
Providing occupational skills training

	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
13. Legal assistance/ child support
Providing child-support related assistance
Providing criminal justice related assistance
Providing other legal assistance
14. Post placement and retention services
Interacting with participants while employed in unsubsidized employment
Interacting with unsubsidized employers
15. Program administration
Attending staff meetings
Reviewing participants' timesheets; processing subsidized payments
Supervising staff
Tracking participation, entering data in MIS and developing project reports
Conducting other administrative tasks
16. Research-related activities

	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
17. Other
Leave (e.g., vacation, holiday, medical)
Total Hours

Other Description: _______________________________­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­____________________________________________________________________

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