ORGANIZATIONAL VALUES AND THE VALUE
1. Create and maintain an organizational culture in which respect
for clients, for adherence to the social work code of ethics, and for
the highest possible quality of social service is matched by an equal
depth of shared respect for social workers.
2. Ensure that social workers have a valued place in organizational
decision making, program planning, and program evaluation. Social
work practice that succeeds in helping clients with self-empowerment depends upon sustaining and supporting an
empowered social work staff.
3. If regulatory constraints reduce the quality of working
conditions or the quality of practice, find local in-house
accommodations that will help counterbalance lost resources,
opportunities, and supports.
WHAT OUR JOBS ARE WORTH
1. Set the minimum starting
salaries of social workers who
have recently earned an MSW at
$30,000 as a model figure with
regular increases at least in
keeping with the annual cost of living. Salaries for social workers
who have recently earned a BSW should be set at $23,500.
2. Ensure that the minimal standards for benefits for social
workers include not only hospitalization, major medical, life and
disability insurance and retirement benefits, but also funds and
leave time for training and education.
3. Make sure that direct practice social workers have the same
opportunities for career advancement and remuneration as do
social work administrators.
4. Give social workers every opportunity to become top managers
of social work agencies regardless of their race, ethnicity, religion,
gender or sexual orientation.
COMMUNICATION AND SUPPORT WITHIN AN
1. Encourage regular, open communication and shared decision-making along both horizontal and vertical axes within the
organization through both formally scheduled meetings and
informal exchanges.
2. Hire professional social workers to manage social work programs
and services.
3. Place social workers in the leadership of host organizations
which employ social workers.
4. Appoint experienced social workers as supervisors to educate
and support as well as administer.
5. Foster supportive peer networks among social workers through
office policies, assignment of locations and tasks, and informal
administrative communication.
BUILDING A MULTICULTURAL ORGANIZATION
1. Require that organizations that deliver social services in a
racially, ethnically, linguistically and culturally diverse city have
professional staffs that are correspondingly diverse. To be truly
representative such organizations should also strive to recruit and
retain people of different genders, religions, ages, physical capabilities and sexual orientations.
2. Ensure that the leadership of social work agencies, professional
organizations and schools in New York City reflects the demographic
composition of the communities they serve in their executive
management positions, in their supervisory posts and on their
boards of directors.
3. To promote the recruitment and retention of a diverse
workforce, organizations should:
JOB SECURITY
1. Provide an atmosphere of safety and open communication for
employees in which there is no fear of arbitrary sanction.
2. Put into place formal and equitable procedures for the
resolution of conflicts and the redress of grievances.
JOB DESIGN
1. Create job definitions that adequately and accurately reflect the
nuanced complexities of social work practice.
2. Design social work jobs so that they involve as much variation,
integration of planning with implementation, flexibility, and
autonomy as possible. Avoid creating professional social work jobs
which are repetitive, excessive in demands, and routinized.
3. Build in opportunities for job rotation among social workers and
social work administrators.
4. Ensure that high-quality regular supervision of professional
staff is retained as an organizational standard that is honored in
practice.
5. Provide adequate supports for social work staff, who are
responsible for documenting the nature, volume, and outcomes of
service delivery through extensive paperwork. Such supports
include an adequate and appropriate support staff, technical
equipment and supplies, and a safe, comfortable, and confidential
work environment.
REWARDS, RECOGNITION AND RESPECT
1. Maintain quality workplace climates and conditions which convey
sustained respect for employees.
2. Provide regular developmental supervision, career planning,
performance appraisals, updates on public policy issues, and
opportunities to grow.
3. Recognize merit, seniority, special responsibilities and high risk
assignments in an appropriate manner.
CAREER MOBILITY
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.
OF SOCIAL WORK
ORGANIZATION