Social work recruitment and retention

Push factors (factors that can result
in workers leaving their current
role/profession)
A culture of blame
Negative media representations of social work with children
and families increase anxiety in a profession where holding
risk is a constant and difficult reality to manage. Where
there is perceived to be a negative organisational culture - a
command and control ethos where fear and blame are rife
– workers experience feeling vulnerable and lacking trust
in management (Healy et al, 2009; Baginsky, 2013). Leaders
need to actively counter this by building systems to support
collective accountability; developing shared commitment
to supervision and support, and promoting a culture of
continuous learning and development.
Lack of clarity about roles
A risk-averse culture often inadvertently results in case
decision-making being pushed upwards. Managers take on
tasks that should rightly sit with frontline practitioners, leaving
practitioners disempowered to exercise their own professional
judgement. This kind of micro-management leads to low job
satisfaction but cannot be instantly reversed (Searle and Patent,
2013). Returning decision-making to the appropriate level
needs to go hand-in-hand with professional development to
improve the confidence and skills of individual workers, as
social workers’ decisions must be informed by a breadth of
knowledge if they are to be consistently reliable (Ward, 2014).
High levels of stress/burnout
Social workers tend to report higher levels of work-related
stress than most other professions (Collins, 2008; Johnson
et al, 2005). Organisational factors contribute significantly
to burnout. When vacancy and turnover rates are high,
caseloads rise and inexperienced workers may be required
to take too much responsibility at an early stage. Where this
continues over an extended time period, emotional burnout is
likely (Gibbs, 2009; Martin and Healy, 2010).
Overly bureaucratic systems
Direct work with children and families is the core reason social
workers enter the profession and is central to job satisfaction
(Eborall and Garmeson, 2001; Stalker et al, 2007). Inefficient
and overly bureaucratic systems reduce the amount of time
practitioners are able to spend in direct work. Layers of
bureaucracy can accrete over time as repeated responses to the
management of risk, while lack of administrative support leads
to inappropriate use of qualified professionals’ capacity on
administrative work. Unwieldy electronic recording systems are
a major irritant and are often cited as a precipitating factor in
a worker’s decision to leave. Service leaders need to challenge
local practices – simplifying and integrating procedures where
possible or investing smartly in administrative support to free
up practitioner time and expertise.
A negative Ofsted judgement
Staff turnover and interim appointments to management and
leadership roles can increase following a negative inspection
judgement, exacerbating organisational instability. A single
word judgement of ‘Inadequate’ generates anxiety and
is often the only information retained about the complex
picture of achievements and challenges of local services. A
poor Ofsted outcome may then trigger increased workloads
and staff turnover as well as a reduction in consistency for
children and families (Kelly, 2015). Service leaders are thus
required to strike a careful balance between acknowledging
and challenging practice shortcomings, whilst recognising
that feeling over-criticised may compel staff to leave at the
very time they are most needed.
There is a growing body of literature that explores how stress
impacts on judgement and an ability to perform tasks in
general (Hammond, 1995; Blaug et al, 2007; cited in Baginsky,
2013). Organisations need to be proactive in their attempts
to promote and protect the well-being of staff. There may
also be a valuable role for national bodies representing
social workers (such as BASW and TCSW) to advocate with
employers on workload/caseload issues.
www.rip.org.uk
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