The article Improviing Working Conditions for Social Work Practice: Implications for Service Quality and People's Lives, updates NASW-NYC’s concerns about deteriorating working conditions and makes recommendations essential to maintain a quality work force and client services. It is a call to professional social workers to take a collective stand to halt the worsening situation we see in many settings across diverse fields of practice and communities. It also backs up a set of principles with recommendations that can become a working guide on what social workers should expect in the work environment.

Low wages and benefits that do not keep pace with inflation are perhaps the most obvious, and long-standing, problematic conditions of work. As we know, many who would otherwise be attracted to the field do not become social workers for this reason; for others, the promise of a middle-class life style – almost guaranteed to past generations – has not materialized, making the choice of continuing in the profession too great a personal and family sacrifice. 

Salary Standards

NASW-NYC has provided salary standards for recent BSW and MSW graduates for the past 15 years. The standards can provide a useful guide to job-seekers and employing agencies. It is important to recognize, however, that the range of salaries in our profession is quite broad, with substantial diversity across fields of practice, union and non-union settings, and public and voluntary auspices. For many agencies the 2005 standards represent a stretch, a goal to be achieved; for others, the standards may be on target or somewhat low.  The salary standards receive periodic reappraisal with input from our Board of Directors and the general membership so that they represent what is reasonable – if not easily achievable - in today’s complex, changing human service environment.

Supervision is Essential

Another issue, increasingly widespread, is the lack of social work – or any professional/educational - supervision. Such unsupported professional practice can present ethical and practice dilemmas for many, especially recent MSW graduates, for whom on-the-job learning and improvement with the guidance of a seasoned professional is essential.  As most social workers recognize, an MSW degree is the beginning, not the end, of systematic learning and the development of increased knowledge and skill over time. If individual or group supervision is not provided, and opportunities for additional educational experiences are not offered, how are expected practice problems addressed? crises addressed or prevented? clients protected?

Precisely because professional supervision is so essential to service and learning, private supervision paid for by the employee is increasingly common. Ads in this newsletter show a healthy cottage industry in the offering and seeking of fee-based supervision.  As “Improving Working Conditions” suggests, however, it is the agency’s obligation to help employees learn and improve to enhance performance, and thus to assure that clients and communities are well-served. 

Important though it may be in the current environment, private supervision raises many issues that require our attention. Does supervision from a professional who is not on the agency payroll or under its authority raise agency and client confidentiality issues? What are the legal and other ramifications of a split between individually-arranged supervision and agency-based accountability? How should the profession regard this financial “tax” on employees, and agencies’ lack of participation in this extra financial burden?

All aspects of the supervision crisis in social work require examination and redesign. Social workers on the front lines of service, especially those new to the profession, deserve our collective assistance in fashioning innovative models of supervision with agency participation – to make the job doable, keep clients protected, and assure the profession’s future. 

Diminution of Social Workers’ Roles

Valuing social work and social workers is a cumulative reflection of salary, supervision, workload and other employment elements; it also is an important feature in and of itself.  It is difficult to perform to capacity in an environment lacking respect for workers’ professional skill and judgment. The circumscribing of professional function, the increase in work load and controls, the replacement of social workers by other professional disciplines, the supervision of social workers by non-social work staff, and the perceived poor treatment of workers and the clients alike may breed anger and distrust. Lack of respect can lead to “jumping ship” when the opportunity presents. Professionals who would not otherwise dream of leaving settings or practice areas they love and have spent years cultivating may nevertheless take such measures if their loyalty is abused, their participation in the agency marginalized and devalued.

What should the stance of your professional association be when such situations appear to increase in prevalence, or reflect the reality for workers in particular fields of practice?  At present, we are fighting to maintain a viable social work presence and tradition in hospitals, as the task force of leading hospital social workers and 1199 SEIU for enforcement of State hospital regulatory standards attests.

Successful Social Work Models

In addition, it may be useful to delve into the economics of the profession in current and emerging fields, to better understand potentials and prospects. Niches and fields that value creativity, autonomy, and the cost-savings – to clients’ lives and agency operations – that stem from early intervention, culturally-competent, anti-racist practices, and involvement with family and community may provide additional pathways to the profession’s future.

Nevertheless, despite constraints, there is great potential and movement for change in many traditional social work settings. New models of early intervention and community-based practice in public child welfare and community health are inspiring and encouraging in their reliance on professional assessment, family involvement, cultural competence and community collaboration.

As well, we all know fellow professionals who have been at the same agencies for decades. They have “grown up” with their colleagues and the organization.  Although their salaries may or may not be the highest, they are challenged by the work, valued by their administrators, and committed to stay.

Such examples of resilience in the face of shrinking resources, heightened accountability and competition, demand our attention and understanding. Similar to the families and children that succeed despite harsh environments or trauma, we should identify the strengths associated with such positive agency outcomes.  Work places differ in their willingness and ability to retain and upgrade social work staff, to create a community of interchange and respect, to offer opportunities for personal and professional growth, to provide cutting-edge professional assignments, and to compensate for salary limitations with other benefits.

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