Text-based nudges have become a popular student success tool in higher education. Now coaching via text is coming to sectoral training programs, with an experiment aimed at alumni—many of whom work in frontline jobs.
The partnership features Empower Work, which offers text-based wraparound coaching, and several major training providers, including NPower, Per Scholas, SkillUp Coalition, Year Up United, and Memorial Assistance Ministries. The two-year project, which began last fall, will test how Empower Work can improve outcomes for graduates of those workforce programs.
Empower Work has seen a sharp increase in anxiety about jobs in its text chats with workers. Almost half of those conversations in January were about job loss, says Jaime-Alexis Fowler, the group’s founder and executive director. Another 20% were about searching for jobs.
“A sense of stress and stuckness” is at the heart of what most people reach out about, she says. Common issues include the “anxiety of how to pay bills or find a next role after a job loss, or the uncertainty of how to negotiate moving from a contract to a full-time role, or the toll of dealing with a toxic manager.”
So far in the pilot, similar issues have emerged with graduates of sectoral training programs. The goal of Empower Work’s text-based support is to lift participants’ emotional and economic well-being. Fowler says workers who connect with the text line typically see a 25% boost in economic security—an average gain of roughly $10K.
The group anticipates high uptake in the project. It set an initial benchmark goal of 30% of alumni tapping the technology during the two-year period.
“The question is at what points in their work experiences do they need the most help?” says Fowler.
Several of the participating training groups have bulked-up their assistance for alumni and are focusing more on career success, including NPower and Per Scholas. For example, Per Scholas is investing in upskilling programs for graduates, in areas such as cloud computing, network management, and project management.
The pilot with Empower Work is being funded by the Truist and GitLab Foundations. One of the questions it seeks to answer is how much it would cost to offer text-based help to every U.S. workforce organization.
The Kicker: “What’s powerful about our model is that it’s scalable,” Fowler says. “We can serve millions of people leveraging the power of people that focus on human connection and coaching and technology.”