Social workers are ideally trained to function in the workplace. Perhaps more than any other mental health professionals, social workers as part and parcel of our training, hone the skills that can affect real and positive change, and assist organizations in coping with that change. The core curriculums of many schools of social work orient us to the work organization. Courses such as organizational theory, group dynamics, short term therapy, etc. afford us training in precisely the skills necessary to address the dynamics of the modern workplace. When coupled with our ability to do triage, assessment and linking with appropriate services, hiring a social worker is often cost effective and makes good sense organizationally.

New Vistas

I recently searched a popular business oriented electronic database named ProQuest. A search for "social work", from 1994 to the present, yielded 68 "hits". I found articles referring to social work in organizations appearing in publications as disparate as Adweek and Administration in Social Work. Many of these articles dealt specifically with social work organizations and with the need to improve the delivery of services of human service agencies. To my surprise, however, I also found articles addressing such diverse topics as: the changing relationship of employee to employer, an ethnographic study of interpretations of stress, and how Japanese managers develop their employees' potentials - all under the rubric of social work. The most striking reference was a piece from Vital Speeches of the Day, entitled, "Renaissance of Social Work" (Budd, John F Jr, Vol: 61, issue 24, Oct 01,1995, p: 760-762). This article suggests that "a confluence of emerging issues can be seen that will not only have profound impact on our society, but will open vistas for social work undreamed of just a few years ago." It goes on to state that policy makers are coming to recognize the connection between the breakdown of the American family and the explosive growth of a host of social problems. That perhaps, for the first time in our lifetimes, we are going to have to address a critical, endangered resource that is not in short supply, not threatened by commercial exploitation, yet is as dangerously perched as any spotted owl - our human resource. The author concludes that community agencies need to re-engineer to rid themselves of "encrusted practices" and "sclerotic" bureaucracies, and that they need to streamline in concert with industry and business(ProQuest access no:011001250). Not the least of these "undreamed of vistas" is the world of work. Whether it be the needs of working mothers or the negative effects of shift work, the workplace is at the center of this "confluence of emerging issues" - and social workers are uniquely positioned to make an impact there.

Macro to Micro

For me, the greatest reward as a social worker in the workplace is the ability to affect change on the policy level, and to implement that policy to directly influence an individual employee's life. A case that immediately comes to mind occurred when I was working as the manager of a medical and disability management unit. One of our disability management case nurses referred an employee to me who had had his leg severed on the job in an industrial accident. The leg had been re-attached, however he had suffered severe nerve damage and had little or no sensation in it below the knee. He also walked with a pronounced limp and utilized a cane. The nurse was concerned with the employee's apparently worsening depression. I met with the employee who informed me that he had always been athletic and now he could "barely walk". He was concerned that he would never return to his quite labor intensive job (one which required long periods of standing and walking), and wondered how he was going to support his wife and three young children. He was in therapy for his depression, but stated it "isn't helping much" because he felt "worthless".

I had been drafting a novel accommodation policy and decided to give it a trial run. The first obstacle I faced was to get upper management on board. I contacted a senior executive who agreed to try the employee in a "temporary" management position, tracking inventory. The next obstacle was to get the employee trained . The job required basic spread sheet proficiency and he was computer illiterate. Also, because of his disability, he was unable to travel the long distance to the company's training facility. I identified a consultant who could provide training at the employee's home and management agreed to pay for it. The last obstacle was access. We identified a company site not far from the employee's home that had handicapped accessibility. This process took six agonizing months, but the results were astounding. The employee was back to work and making more money than before. He did such a good job that management made the position permanent, and confided to me that they wondered how they ever functioned without him. We restored this employee to full functioning despite his disability - a real win-win situation, for the employee and the organization.

At first this case appeared to be a "new vista" for me professionally, but then it occurred to me that this was simply what social work in the workplace is all about.