The Business is the People: The Betrust Social Enterprise

This paper sets out to understand how the mission and operation of Betrust, a social purpose enterprise impact its employees who are ‘consumer-survivors’ of the psychiatric system in Ontario, The paper draws on the concepts of human and social capital to offer insight into two related questions: What are the knowledge, skills and abilities that employees acquire through their work at Betrust? What are the social and economic benefits that are accrued by the employees through their work at Betrust?  The findings indicate that the impact of Betrust is significant in terms of the human and social capital employees derived from the organization. The development of human and social capital is an important return on investment for employees. It also suggests that social capital is a by-product of the systems and processes of the organization. As employees acquire knowledge and skills in administration, customer service and personal wellbeing, they have opportunities to develop social capital through the social and professional networks they can access through their work at Betrust. However, the findings suggest that while direct economic impact for the employees may be minimal, indirect economic impact reaches beyond financial gains and are important for the wellbeing of the employees. Moreover, the findings provide evidence that the human and social capital can and has provided opportunities for employees to gain employment in mainstream organizations and career that were previously unlikely. The employees acquire diverse knowledge and skills such as customer service and administrative skills, knowledge of personal wellness and basic financial and interpersonal skills and most importantly experience that paved the way to a career. The findings extend our understanding of Betrust as a social purpose enterprise. Notwithstanding its limited financial impact, the Betrust represents a supportive work environment for the employees. For a marginalized group of people who face major challenges in the mainstream labour market, this impact is significant.  In addition, the findings in this paper which appear to suggest that some employees experience reduced hospital stay is consistent with evidence from previous research that organizations such as Betrust reduce hospital stay and contribute to cost saving for the healthcare system