November 2006

For 100 years, professional social workers have been serving the residents of New York City. Over this period, world-class educational programs in social work have continued to supply a highly knowledgeable and skilled workforce committed to service in health, education, and social welfare related organizations.

Women and men from all walks of life choose social work as a career with the expectation that they will be able to effectively channel their passion to make a significant difference. As nine focus groups conducted recently with social workers demonstrate, the appropriate involvement of professional social workers is frequently a matter of life and death in people’s lives. (Footnote 1)

Unfortunately, there has been a slow but steady erosion in the organizational supports required for professional social work to be effective. While poor or inadequate working conditions and the under-valuing of professional social work has been of concern for many years, the National Association of Social Workers in New York City believes it is now essential that all professional social workers band together to address this most significant challenge.

While social workers are famous for working through whatever challenges they confront in order to provide service, there is naturally a limit before things break down, workers become too stressed to be effective, and other jobs and careers are pursued. Most critically, consumers of service are put at increasing risk.

All organizations rely upon their workforce and adequate working conditions to be effective, whether to be profitable in business, to run a fire or police department, or to perform operations in a hospital. However, nowhere is it more important to have adequate working conditions than in organizations serving people who are traumatized, demoralized, lacking resources, or oppressed.

NASW-NYC has identified a series of recommendations, along with their rationale, intended to support and enhance quality social work services. These recommendations when adhered to, will also benefit all staff employed in an organization.

It is recognized that there are factors outside of an organization’s control that make it challenging to provide the type of support to social work that are addressed here. Nevertheless, there is a great deal that can and must be done to assure that quality services are being provided, and it is the experience of NASW-NYC’s membership that organizations facing similar constraints vary significantly in providing these supports. Organizational leadership, in partnership with their social work staff, often makes an important difference.

NASW-NYC is turning to its membership, the greater social work community, organizational leaders, funders of social work services, educators, and labor unions to join in a campaign to improve working conditions for social work. Given the value of professional social work and the difference it makes, it is fair to say that this is a matter of life and death for many New Yorkers.

Organizations That Value Social Work

Recommendations

1.    Create and maintain an organizational culture of respect for both clients and for social workers. Social work practice that succeeds in helping clients with self-empowerment depends upon sustaining and supporting an empowered social work staff.

2.               When budgetary and regulatory constraints impinge upon the quality of working conditions or the quality of practice, develop in-house accommodations that will help counterbalance lost resources, opportunities, and supports.

Rationale

Organizations that hold social work services in high regard and understand their unique contribution to people who receive these services will place a high value in maintaining professional standards. This requires having qualified, well trained professional social workers on staff.  Integral to this is offering adequate compensation, training, supervision, and working conditions in order to ensure that social workers are able to utilize their skills in a supportive environment.

Such organizations demonstrate positive attitudes toward both social workers and clients. Clients are treated with respect and are supported in maximizing their right to self-determination. Workers are valued for their contribution to direct services as well as organizational decision making, program planning, and evaluation.

When conditions are not optimal due to stretched resources or constraints imposed by regulatory and budgetary authorities beyond the organization’s direct control, organizations that value social work services strive to offset those constraints and find accommodations that enhance practice. These include program design modifications, training, and formal and informal dialogue.

What Social Work Jobs Are Worth

Recommendations

1.    Strive to set the minimum starting salaries of social workers in accordance with the NASW-NYC Standards For Social Work Salaries.(Footnote 2)

2.    Ensure that the minimal standards for benefits for social workers include health benefits, life and disability insurance and retirement benefits, as well as funds and leave time for training and education.

Rationale

Salaries

A salary is not merely a source of livelihood to an employee; it is also one measure of his or her worth. Social workers in New York City should be paid salaries commensurate to their education, skills and professional standing, taking into account the high cost of living in the area.

The initial salary of a beginning professional should be set judiciously, as it establishes the baseline from which career salaries will grow. Current social work starting salaries should be regarded as a minimum standard, as all but the very highest of these are considerably lower than those received by those entering other service professions, such as teaching and nursing, with comparable credentials.

Benefits

It may seem to go without saying that social workers should be offered employer paid health benefits, life and disability insurance, and partially paid retirement benefits.  Unfortunately, too many organizations do not provide even these bare minimums for their professional staff.  Organizations often claim that their governmental contracts do not reimburse them for this expense. No social worker, new or experienced, should be required to accept this rationale. If organizations seeking governmental contracts fail to have these minimal benefits included in their reimbursement packages, organizations should make every effort to supplement the contracts with private resources.

Social workers should also receive benefits that allow them to develop their skills, such as tuition assistance, loans and loan forgiveness programs, paid participation in conferences, and real encouragement for the preparation of professional papers. Organizations must actively seek the resources for benefits like these, which would not only encourage social workers to become and remain employed at the organization, but also improve the services they offer.

How Social Work Positions Are Designed

Recommendations

1.    Create social work positions that accurately reflect the nuanced complexities of social work practice.

2.    Assure that social work jobs involve as much flexibility and autonomy as possible, with workloads that realistically reflect the complexity of clients’ lives.

3.        Provide opportunities for social workers to meet requirements for licensing in New York State.

Rationale

How a social work job is designed is a crucial factor in the quality of services that are delivered as well as in how satisfying a professional social worker will find employment in a specific program or organization.  Whether a social worker will want to accept employment or to remain once hired will often be related to this question.

Social work positions are often developed in response to funding requirements rather than in terms of what makes the most sense for social work practice and the actual needs of the people being served. Funding, practice principles and client needs must be addressed together. In addition, the New York State licensing law establishes requirements for social work practice, and organizations need to be knowledgeable about what is mandated and where there is flexibility in determining how social workers perform in their roles.

Social workers function most effectively when they have the authority and flexibility to use their skills according to their discretion in order to achieve all relevant client-related tasks. Too often social workers find they have little autonomy, authority or flexibility in assessing clients’ needs or developing appropriate plans of care.

Social Work Supervision

Recommendations

1.    Ensure that high-quality, regularly available social work supervision of professional staff is retained as an organizational standard that is honored in practice.

2.    Ensure that supervision is consistent with licensing requirements.

Rationale

All social workers, especially those involved in direct practice, must have the opportunity to be supervised by professional social workers. The need for this is underscored by the complexity of clients’ lives and the capacity of service providers to make appropriate judgments in difficult situations. 

Social workers learn a great deal about the work they are doing through their experience on the job. They need to be supervised by a professional social worker whose skills and experiences match and exceed their own. The day-to-day education and direction of social workers is best entrusted to the mentorship of senior peers.

The need for appropriate professional supervision is reinforced by recently enacted licensing requirements for social work.  Organizations need to be familiar with these requirements.  If there is no professional social worker available to provide supervision on a regular basis, then the organization has the responsibility to provide social work supervision on a consultative basis or other appropriate format.

Appropriate Workloads

Recommendations

1.    Assure that caseload size accurately reflects the requirements for meeting the needs of clients within identified time frames.

2.    Recognize the risk to clients, the social worker and the organization when workloads become excessive and make appropriate adjustments to assure client well-being and safety.

Rationale

Workloads that realistically reflect the requirements of a reasonable caseload support effective social work practice.  Organizations that support good social work practice recognize the requirements for managing a caseload and make provisions for providing staff with additional support when the workload grows.

Unfortunately, workloads are often excessive because the complexities of a client’s situation and the number of tasks needed to be performed are not adequately taken into account in the assignment of cases.  Workloads also become excessive due to the press for reimbursement for services and a desire to serve more clients without hiring additional staff. As caseloads expand, there is a corresponding increase in paperwork requirements.  In addition, social workers are often asked to cover for colleagues who are out of work due to vacation leave or sick days.

When work requirements are excessive, clients can be put at risk and the overall quality of services can be diminished.  Simultaneously, both social workers and the organization can be put at ethical and legal risk if they fail to take adequate precautions to assure client safety and well being.

Communicating Social Work Perspectives

Recommendations

1. Encourage regular, open communication and shared decision-making with social workers who have direct client contact through formal and informal exchanges.

2. Hire professional social workers to manage social work programs and can communicate social work perspectives at the highest levels within the organization.

Rationale

As professionals with first-hand knowledge of the programs they are working on, social workers can assess those programs and offer valuable insights. It is merely common sense to provide a clear and influential voice within the organization in which they are employed.

Despite this, such communication within service organizations is often stifled. Reports and opinions are welcomed only from designated individuals at formally appointed times, while others are discouraged from communicating their perspectives because it is not seen as their role.

The open exchange of information and views is best ensured when social work programs are managed by professional social workers. Those with experience and expertise in the field know the value of communicating with their peers in other administrative divisions as well as with organizational leaders whose decisions impinge on the effectiveness of social work and social work services.

Appropriate Accountability

Recommendations

1.    Assure that accountability measures required by funders do not excessively impinge on the provision of service to clients.

2.    Include accountability measures that reflect the availability of professional social workers and supports, as well as accountability to clients and their communities.

Rationale

Accountability is important, but it must be seen in conjunction with the provision of social work services.  Too often accountability requires social workers to become technicians who are following rules rather than using their professional judgment to make decisions.

Administrative and regulatory accountability requirements place heavy emphasis on maintaining a paper trail over quality of care, in the process draining social workers of precious time and energy that could be better spent serving their clients. Such accountability must not dominate service provisions and/or workers’ professional responsibilities.

Appropriate accountability measures include assuring that organizations have qualified professional social workers on staff, adequate time to manage their caseloads, along with appropriate professional supervision that emphasizes concern for the quality of service to the client and not simply administrative compliance.

Provide adequate supports for social work staff who are responsible for extensive documentation. Such supports include an adequate support staff, technical equipment and supplies, and a safe, comfortable, and confidential work environment.

Accountability must also be to clients and their communities. As the recipient of services, their views, expectactions and understanding is essential to valid service provision.

Career Mobility

Recommendations

1.    Offer social workers continuing education and on-the-job training.

2.    Set up career ladders and job rotation tracks in accordance with the strengths and interests of individual workers.

3.    Make sure that direct practice social workers have the same opportunities for career advancement and remuneration as do social work administrators.

4.        Provide opportunities for social workers pursuing the New York State license in clinical social work to receive appropriate work experience and supervision to qualify for the license.

Rationale

The stability of an organization often depends on the changes that go on inside it. When social workers are encouraged to take on new tasks and greater responsibilities, it permits them to broaden their experience and pursue new directions without leaving the organizations in which they work.

Career advancement, which is valued by all professionals for the personal benefits that go along with it, has a special significance for those in the field of human services.  It allows them to contribute in roles of increasing responsibility to the planning and execution of the organization’s work, and to the mission that initially drew them to social work.

Career ladders in the field of social work are usually divided into a direct service/supervisory track and a management track, career paths which do not run parallel to one another but rather sequentially. In order to receive pay increases beyond a certain level, direct service practitioners are accordingly forced to shift to the management track, regardless of their experience, skills or preference. After making this change, further advancement is difficult. Allowing for the remuneration of a “super” direct practitioner line equivalent to that of senior level management would sensibly reward those in non-managerial positions who perform their work with excellence. It also results in enhanced quality service.

Job Security And Safety

Recommendations

1.    Provide an atmosphere of safety and open communication for employees in which there is no fear of arbitrary sanction. Put into place formal and equitable procedures for the resolution of conflicts and the redress of grievances.

2.        Create policies and procedures that will assure the protection of employees from work related violence.

Rationale

People work better knowing that their jobs are secure. Social workers often feel their positions are vulnerable for reasons that include their relationships with their supervisors, administrative attitudes and priorities, and more general conditions such as legislation or levels of funding.

A productive working relationship between social workers and the organization in which they work depends on trust.  When employees suspect that their jobs are insecure, or that their positions or profession are not respected, their thoughts become unduly directed toward self-preservation. Apprehension and frustration become displaced onto their attitudes towards their co-workers and clients.

Organizations must also accept responsibility for protecting their employees in situations where there is a potential for violence directed at staff who are intervening in situations such as domestic violence or where clients are frustrated or disappointed and there is a likelihood that this will be directed at the organization or its representatives. In particular, safety measures must be in place when home visits are necessary.

Too often organizations are silent about the risk of violence against their employees and leave it to individuals to address these issues on their own.

Building A Multicultural Organization

Recommendations

1.  Engage in continual self-assessment of capacity to be culturally competent and anti-racist at all levels of organizational functioning and implement strategies for improvement.

2. Ensure that the leadership of agencies, professional organizations and schools reflect the demographic composition of New York City in their executive management positions, supervisory posts, and on their boards of directors.

3. Require that organizations recruit and retain qualified people of diverse racial, ethnic and cultural backgrounds, generational groups, sexual orientations, and physical capabilities to reflect the populations they serve.

4. Promote the recruitment and retention of a diverse workforce by using such strategies as: a) advertising positions in multi-ethnic communities;  b) promoting professional development of qualified employees of diverse backgrounds; c) factoring in bi-cultural and bi-lingual skills in job description and salaries.

Rationale

In order to promote cultural competence and anti-racist attitudes, organizations would do well to examine their staffing structure, employment policies, and training needs.  Organizations with a significant portion of social workers who share cultural backgrounds and language capabilities with clients enhance the ability of the overall organization and all staff to understand and respond to the needs of the clients they serve, especially when bi-cultural and bi-lingual staff are valued and respected. 

People who are in disadvantaged and oppressed communities, including communities of color, often have need for social work services.  Yet within the leadership of social service organizations, these groups are significantly underrepresented in leadership and among professional staff. 

The lack of leadership role models from diverse communities impedes the recruitment and retention of workers from these communities.  That many staff members from communities of color remain in nonprofessional positions suggests the need to develop and promote workers from such groups, including supporting their obtaining social work degrees.

It is essential to understand that those with limited access and power belong not only to ethnic and racial groups, but also to constituencies that cut across racial and ethnic boundaries.  Included in these groups are women, older people, gays and lesbians, and the disabled. 

Conclusion

NASW-NYC plans to keep this issue in the public eye.  It is essential that social workers, administrators, funders, educators and labor unions ensure that there is ongoing dialogue. It is also important that the profession continues to develop strategies to improve working conditions for the benefit of social workers, agencies and clients.

Notes:

1 Focus groups were conducted from September 2003 through the end of 2005, with social workers employed in programs in the following service areas: health care, mental health, aging, chemical dependency, child welfare, homeless services, public schools, and the world of work.  To read articles on each focus group, go to click here to enter the NASW-NYC Center for Social Work Policy and Practice.      click here to return to article

2 For those who have recently earned a MSW, this is $45,342, and for BSW level social workers, this is $36,282.  For social workers with three years of experience, the recommended salaries are $52,154 for MSWs and $41,724 for BSWs.  These standards were revised in October, 2005. Salaries for social workers who have special expertise, or who are employed in supervisory and administrative capacities, or who have accumulated additional years of service, should be set above these minimum standards.   click here to return to article