A good news story nobody can prove
A trainee finishes her placement in your café and starts a job at a hotel in town. Everyone is delighted. Your employability contract pays partly on sustained job outcomes, and your trust funder asks each year how many trainees are still in work six months later.
The follow-up is meant to happen at set points after she starts. The employability coordinator has a spreadsheet of leavers with the dates worked out by hand. She is also running a caseload of current trainees, and follow-ups slip. When she calls at the six month point, the number is out of date. The former trainee did stay in work, as it turns out, but there is no evidence, and the outcome payment and the good news story both go unclaimed.
Why follow-ups slip
Follow-up is the part of the job that happens after the person has gone, when the pressure is all on the people still in the building.
- Follow-up dates are calculated by hand and tracked in a spreadsheet.
- Contact details go out of date as people move on.
- Evidence rules, such as payslips, employer confirmation or a signed declaration, differ by contract and funder.
- Attempts to make contact are not recorded, so nobody knows how hard the team has tried.
- Staff who knew the leaver move on themselves.
What evidence each contract or funder accepts, and when outcomes can be claimed, is set by your agreements. We do not interpret them. We make sure the follow-up happens and the record is complete.
What missed follow-ups cost
Income, where contracts pay by results. An outcome that happened but was not evidenced is income your social enterprise earned and did not receive.
Evidence of impact, where funders ask. Without follow-up, your best results are anecdotes.
And a missed chance to help. A former trainee who is struggling in a new job might have stayed in work with a call and a bit of support at the right time.
A follow-up schedule for every leaver
What we build turns follow-up into scheduled work with a clear record.
- When a trainee leaves into work, education or training, the coordinator records the destination, start date and the contract or funder it counts towards.
- Follow-up dates are calculated automatically from the start date for each point that contract or funder uses.
- Before any message is sent, the leaver's agreement to be contacted, and the way they prefer, such as text, WhatsApp, call or email, is checked on their record.
- Reminders go to the coordinator ahead of each point, with a short text the leaver can reply to, such as 'Still at the hotel? Reply YES', sent through Twilio or your messaging tool where you choose.
- Each attempt is logged, and replies update the record. Where evidence is needed, the leaver can upload a photo of a payslip through a secure link, or the coordinator records employer confirmation.
- A dashboard shows outcomes due, outcomes evidenced, and outcomes at risk because contact has not been made, per contract and funder.
| Point after start | Typical action | Record |
|---|---|---|
| First weeks | Friendly check-in | Contact made, any support needed |
| Contract's first milestone | Confirm still in work | Reply or call, evidence if required |
| Later milestone | Confirm sustained outcome | Evidence uploaded, outcome claimable |
| Any time | Former trainee asks for help | Support logged |
Six months after the next leaver starts work
The coordinator's dashboard shows five follow-ups due this week. Three were confirmed by text reply over the weekend, one with a payslip photo attached. One former trainee has changed number; the coordinator tries the email on file and gets a reply. The fifth has not replied to two attempts, and the dashboard lists the attempts with dates.
At claim time, the contract manager exports the evidenced outcomes. At the funder's annual report, the figures come from the same record, with a few stories from leavers who agreed to share them.
Does this happen after your trainees leave?
- Follow-up dates are worked out by hand.
- Follow-ups are done when someone has time.
- Contact details go out of date and attempts are not recorded.
- Outcomes happen but are not evidenced in time.
- Funders get anecdotes rather than figures about what happened next.