‘It is natural for us to take social responsibility’
In the past 12 months, Scandi Byg in Løgstør has helped ten long-term unemployed and recent graduates find jobs in the company. This is done in collaboration with Vesthimmerlands Municipality and Jammerbugt Municipality, which gives citizens the opportunity for internships and job trials with the module manufacturer.
New figures from the Agency for the Labor Market and Recruitment show that there is an increasing tendency for those unemployed on, for example, cash assistance or training assistance to return to the labor market. Thus, more than 4,000 at-risk unemployed people got jobs nationwide in 2022, and this is a trend that Scandi Byg would like to help underpin.
That is why the company has started a collaboration with Vesthimmerlands Municipality and Jammerbugt Municipality, because with their help Scandi Byg gets in touch with citizens who are ready for an internship or job trial. It has proven to be a success, and the last 14 internships at Scandi Byg have resulted in ten permanent jobs.
– At Scandi Byg, it is natural for us to take a social responsibility, and therefore we would like to cooperate with the municipalities to help citizens enter the labor market. The internship course with us gives the individual citizen the opportunity to become more qualified, but the aim is also that, as far as possible, we can offer permanent employment afterwards, says Henrik Lundgaard Jensen, production manager at Scandi Byg and continues:
– The citizens we receive as trainees have, for one reason or another, slipped out of the labor market. Perhaps they have had a bad experience at a previous workplace, or they may be returning from sick leave. When they come to Scandi Byg, they get the opportunity to wipe the slate clean and start anew. Other of our trainees are recent graduates who find it difficult to find a foothold in the labor market due to lack of experience. The most important thing for us is that the citizens have the right attitude and that they are fresh to learn new things and try themselves.
Corporate social responsibility is important to municipalities
According to business consultant and supervisor at CKA – Center for Competence and Clarification in Vesthimmerland Municipality, Rikke Diana Fournais, the municipality generally experiences a great deal of goodwill from businesses.
– We are very lucky in Vesthimmerlands Municipality, because many of the companies in the municipality take a great deal of social responsibility and actively help to get citizens into the labor market. Scandi Byg is one of those companies, and we experience a readiness from them, where it is more about chemistry than the citizens’ education and skills – this means that we can get many different internships or job trials, and we naturally appreciate that very much , she says and adds:
– Some of the citizens on internships have come a long way from the labor market, and you can see that it means a lot to them when they get a job. Those citizens who may find it difficult to introduce themselves also have great value in the fact that companies like Scandi Byg stand ready with open arms so that they have the opportunity to show their skills.
From internship to permanent employment
One of the interns who has benefited from an internship at Scandi Byg is Marcus Dall Viese. After an accident at work, he was given sick leave, but the internship at Scandi Byg gave him back his faith and an offer of permanent employment.
– Due to an accident at work, I was on sick leave for half a year and was then given the opportunity for a quiet start-up period and internship at Scandi Byg. I started by doing partitions for two hours three times a week, and I honestly doubted if it could even be done. But after two weeks I could manage the tasks myself and I gradually got up to several hours a week, and that has put a huge smile on my face. Now I have just accepted a permanent position of 30 hours a week at Scandi Byg, and I am very proud of that, says Marcus Dall Viese.