Biz Hub

Welcome to the Biz Hub resource page! Here you will find information and resources from the project.

What is Biz Hub?

Organizations in the employment services sector are always looking for ways to provide high-quality client services more efficiently. Over the years, various methodologies have emerged to support these efforts but even when armed with new strategies and tools, making changes to complex day-to-day operations and processes is never easy. Biz Hub is a Research and Innovation project that is designed to support organizations to work collaboratively and creatively to address these challenges by identifying and implementing small changes and supporting continuous program improvements.

The video below provides an overview of Biz Hub.

Project Resources

Collaborating for Employment Success Presentation Slides (BC Career Development Conference – March 2018)

The Biz Hub Interim Report (October 2017) describes the design, development and activities of Biz Hub between February 2016 and August 2017.

The SIMPLER framework (developed by MDRC) summarizes several key behavioral concepts that may be relevant for a variety of programs. Practitioners may find it useful as they think about how to apply behavioral insights to their program areas. Elements of the SIMPLER framework were used in Biz Hub.

Collaborating to Make It Better: Lessons from Biz Hub was an online forum delivered on January 24, 2019. In this one hour webinar, the Biz Hub project team shared insights, resources and lessons learned from the four Biz Hub “sub-hubs”: Client Engagement, Staff Engagement, Strengthening Staff Capacity and Employer Engagement:

The Biz Hub final report is forthcoming and will be posted here.

Project Tools

First Sub-Hub: Client Engagement

The Literacy Review Tool was developed as part of the Literacy Review process to collect information on areas of practice that could be improved and encourage staff  to reflect on what is best practice and how they could change their practice to improve the experience for clients.

Second Sub-Hub: Staff Engagement

Staff at each of the participating organizations filled out a survey on internal communications to better understand what is working well and what could be improved in this area. The survey results helped to inform nudges to internal communications at the participating organizations. Click here for a copy of the survey.

Third Sub-Hub: Strengthening Staff Capacity

A diverse group of practitioners, trainers and employment and career development association members identified the need for a tool to clearly communicate information about the career development profession.

The sub-hub developed an infographic with the aim of attracting new people to the field of Career Development. In conjunction with Talk the Talk: How Ongoing Career Conversations Drive Business Success (developed by Right Management), the infographic also supports the retention of current practitioners. It was published in March 2018 and can be downloaded here. Sharing is encouraged!

Fourth Sub-Hub: Employer Engagement

The fourth and final sub-hub of the Biz Hub project addressed the employer engagement process. Seven individuals that work closely with employers formed this group.

This sub-hub developed an infographic and rack card with the aim of improving employer awareness of workforce development organizations by describing the resources, services and supports available to them.

The infographic and rack card can be downloaded and customized to include your organization’s information. Customization works best using Adobe Illustrator but can also be done with other software at your own discretion. Download the rack card with a highlighted guide to customization as well as the infographic which follows the same guide.

For further information about Biz Hub, contact Greg Lockwood at glockwood@cfeebc.org.