Abstract

Street-level bureaucrats deal with non-voluntary clients on a day-to-day basis. Most of the public services are provided in a monopoly regime, and when a private alternative is available, it may not be affordable due to its costs. However, among the clients of public employment services (PES), there are the employers, to whom frontline workers deliver intermediation services. Employers are voluntary clients and have a crucial role in the realisation of PES’ mandate, i.e., the improvement of labour market conditions. This paper focuses on the effects of the relationship with employers on frontline workers’ role conceptions and their uses of discretion, stressing the influence of the organisational context in which the interaction takes place. The study draws on interviews conducted in the PES of Tuscany and Catalonia with managers and the frontline workers in charge of the job-brokerage service.