Individual approach, organizational factors, social work, long-term unemployed clients, labour office

This paper is based on partial data collected from research on organizational factors and conditions that prevent or support the application of an individual approach with long-term unemployed clients. The paper aims to analyze and describe what strategies are used by labour office staff when working individually with their long-term unemployed clients. The research led to identification of the factors that influence the choice of individual approach strategies in case of long-term unemployed clients, and which can be divided into five groups. These are organizational factors, inter-organizational cooperation factors, legislative factors, factors on the part of clients, and the expertise and experience of a social worker. The results of the partial research point to the need for further education or training of labour office workers in methods of working with long-term unemployed clients and related issues in order to implement a more effective process of working with the clients.