Reorienting companies' hiring behaviour: an innovative `back-to-work' method in France

Current `back-to-work' programmes, particularly in France, tend to be built on a concept of personal responsibility for (long-term) unemployment and follow an `adaptive' approach: improving the `employability' of the unemployed, which is seen as an individual capacity, independent of the work and evaluation context. Our contribution justifies an alternative approach to back-to-work initiatives, so that society's share of responsibilities for long-term unemployment and social exclusion is taken into account within a collective, emergent and context-related conception of employability. Our study is based on observation of an innovative back-to-work programme in France (IOD) which seeks to change employers' assessment and recruitment practices to help vulnerable candidates who are generally discriminated against when seeking work.This interventionist approach aims to alter the demand side of the labour market and bring about changes in companies' practices to encourage more stable jobs and reduce selectivity in hiring.