Employee Retention
When our group conferred to brainstorm a relevant leadership issue, our challenge wasn’t thinking of an issue that we had witnessed, but rather to find one that we found to be universally salient, affecting multiple social service agencies on many organizational levels. Although each of us had a different professional background, an issue we have repeatedly observed surrounds the notion of employee retention within social service agencies. Too often we had felt the effects of rapid turnover rates and also witnessed the detriments of staff changes on client populations who may already be struggling with abandonment issues or disrupted attachment. Collectively as we shared our lived experience we concluded that there may be no greater
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threat to the workplace than employee turnover.
Together we attempted to isolate issues that have contributed to this phenomenon and strove to ascertain if our perspective was theoretically validated. As it happens, our insights were keen and we were able to gain a new perspective that we had not yet considered. We also learned that there was no “one size” fits all solution to the issue of employee retention, however utilizing empowerment theory as an organizational change model could go a long way to mitigating these issues. Through the combination of experiential narratives and academic research, our group will demonstrate that the empowerment of employees lowers instances of burnout, enhances leader effectiveness and alleviates many funding constraints.
Description of the Issue
Research in Practice (2015) states that social workers average a career of eight years and the average length of employment for child protection workers to be one to three years. This results in a lack of experienced workers and mentors. High turnover rates increase agency costs with the need for recruiting and training replacements, decrease efficiency in service delivery and lower morale and team cohesiveness. Research in Practice (2015) state “heavy caseloads, burnout, poor pay and conditions, dysfunctional organisations, and low levels of training and support” (p. 2) all effect the low retention rates of social workers.
Burnout
Wharton (2008) found numerous studies show “high turnover rates in employment, high rates of burnout, and disruptive symptoms to personal lives resulting from traumatic stress” (p.
1) amongst social workers. Morse, Salyers, Rollins, Monroe-DeVita & Pfahler (2012) maintain the conventional definition of burnout as being comprised of three elements including “emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment” (p. 341). Symptomology includes fatigue, feeling overextended, cynicism, and a devaluation of one’s effectiveness at work. Reducing caseloads might be a viable means of reducing the burnout of social workers, but reduced funding and increased use of social services hinders this. The National Association of Social Workers (2008) states the need for agencies to provide appropriate supervision to social workers. Betteridge (2012) emphasizes that “literature on post-degree supervision consistently indicates that good supervision enhances job retention, increases job satisfaction, reduces turnover within organizations and protects practitioners against burnout” (p. 1). Yet, the provision of adequate supervision is hindered by a lack of funding and resources. Further to this, the high turnover rates reduce the number of experienced social workers to provide the supervision and …show more content…
mentoring.
Lack of Funding Particularly in not-for-profit agencies, social workers experience funding shortfalls that results in “distributive justice and resource inadequacy” (Simons & An, 2015, p. 561). This correlates with job dissatisfaction and high turnover in social work both in Canada and abroad (Skhosana, Schenck & Botha, 2014). Despite its social and economic contributions, this sector is known to pay low wages and benefits to workers. The Community Social Planning Council of Toronto and Family Service Association of Toronto (2006) state “any organization with consistently low wages runs the risk of losing its human capital to other organizations with higher wages” (p.6). Canada’s political and economic paradigm has shifted from Keynesianism to Neoliberalism since the 1980’s. This has resulted in slower economic growth, increases in income disparity and a social safety net that is no longer able to adequately meet the needs of Canadians (Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM), 2010). According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (2008), poverty and income disparity has been steadily rising. The FCM (2010) identifies “Canada spends less on cash benefits, such as unemployment benefits and family benefits than most OECD countries” (p. 4) and with the withdrawal of provincial and federal dollars, municipalities are left with using funds that should be developing infrastructure to provide for those in need. This, again, has left social workers with fewer resources and increased workloads.
Theory
Our group contends that social workers are a benevolent cohort motivated by affecting our environment in a positive manner. Why then, we must ask, are social workers noted to leave and change positions in such high numbers, and thus, negatively impacting the populations we aim to help? Obviously, we are not a homogeneous group, but certain key themes have presented themselves in a dichotomous fashion. These examples include, but are not limited to high levels of responsibility with low levels of supervision. Rising caseloads and lowered instances of permanent, full time work. Increased vicarious trauma with decreased opportunities for self-care and counselling (Gray-Stanley & Muramatsu, 2011). The stressors are intense and the reality is that solutions are limited. We cannot reduce the number of people in crisis nor can we skew the political climate to better prioritize marginalized people, but we are far from powerless. In fact, power is a salient theme within the research (Lamm & Gordon, 2010). Employees feel powerless to help when caseloads are high and powerless to advocate within impermeable structures (Anderson & Gobeil, 2003). The evidence shows that the brokerage of power is key to mitigating these problematic components of contemporary social work and increasing employee retention (Lamm & Gordon, 2010). Empowerment within workplaces is the most realistic infusion of power and is achieved by establishing psychological empowerment leading to intrinsic motivations (Maynard, Gilson & Mathieu, 2012). Research supports that this kind of empowerment is best achieved through collaboration, created meaning, self-determination and the promotion of learning and education (Gottlieb, Gottlieb & Shamian, 2012).
Strategy for implementing change The phrase “empowered workplace” can often present itself as ambiguous or even naïve.
It reads as something that sounds nice in theory but may prove impractical in the workplace. Our group maintains however that not only is this approach relevant and dynamic, it is easily adaptable to a variety of social service agencies.
After synthesizing the data and research findings, we have isolated four concrete strategies that we believe would lead to greater empowerment in the workplace therapy lessening the effects of employee burnout, ineffective leadership and funding constraints.
Strength Based Management A key pedagogy to such an approach is the implementation of a strength based environment. This is an environment that values collaboration, uniqueness, self-determination, and “works with the whole [sic] while appreciating the interrelationships of the parts” (Gottlieb, Gottlieb & Shamian, 2012 p.41). This could mean that if you have two staff members with the same job title of child protection worker they have the autonomy to collaborate in provide optimal client support. Perhaps one of these workers thrives on third party advocacy and the other is passionate about direct client contact. In an empowered work place, both would have the ability to share and alter their daily tasks so that they might more closely align with their inherent skills and abilities. In this example, the rate of burnout is reduced because the employee notes a level
of control in their environment (Gottlieb, Gottlieb & Shamian, 2012). In this way, the burden of leader is lessoned as they are encouraged to take a less directive approach and funding is maximized by employees who are motivated to perform and acknowledged for they formidable skillset.
Shared Authority Often, there can be resistance to this kind of collaborative approach from staff and leaders who align strictly with a top down approach. Much like in academia, workplaces often embody a hierarchical approach to employee roles. Empowerment theory challenges this presumption suggesting instead that “shared authority” is a more beneficial perspective. Cho, Laschinger & Wong (2006) note that power is fluid; staff should be encouraged to take part in their assignments, roles and schedules. Practically speaking, this makes sense. Staff on a variable schedule can share things such as office space and resources, alleviating many notable funding constraints. A staff that can alter their schedule to have a more meaningful work/life balance is a staff that is more engaged and thus less likely to report feelings of burnout (Cho, Laschinger & Wong, 2006). Similarly, the leader of people who harbour intrinsic motivation (Maynard, Gilson & Mathieu, 2012) and actively participatory has more time and energy to devote to enhancing overall workplace health (Shamian & El-Jardali, 2007).
threat to the workplace than employee turnover.
Together we attempted to isolate issues that have contributed to this phenomenon and strove to ascertain if our perspective was theoretically validated. As it happens, our insights were keen and we were able to gain a new perspective that we had not yet considered. We also learned that there was no “one size” fits all solution to the issue of employee retention, however utilizing empowerment theory as an organizational change model could go a long way to mitigating these issues. Through the combination of experiential narratives and academic research, our group will demonstrate that the empowerment of employees lowers instances of burnout, enhances leader effectiveness and alleviates many funding constraints.
Description of the Issue
Research in Practice (2015) states that social workers average a career of eight years and the average length of employment for child protection workers to be one to three years. This results in a lack of experienced workers and mentors. High turnover rates increase agency costs with the need for recruiting and training replacements, decrease efficiency in service delivery and lower morale and team cohesiveness. Research in Practice (2015) state “heavy caseloads, burnout, poor pay and conditions, dysfunctional organisations, and low levels of training and support” (p. 2) all effect the low retention rates of social workers.
Burnout
Wharton (2008) found numerous studies show “high turnover rates in employment, high rates of burnout, and disruptive symptoms to personal lives resulting from traumatic stress” (p.
1) amongst social workers. Morse, Salyers, Rollins, Monroe-DeVita & Pfahler (2012) maintain the conventional definition of burnout as being comprised of three elements including “emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment” (p. 341). Symptomology includes fatigue, feeling overextended, cynicism, and a devaluation of one’s effectiveness at work. Reducing caseloads might be a viable means of reducing the burnout of social workers, but reduced funding and increased use of social services hinders this. The National Association of Social Workers (2008) states the need for agencies to provide appropriate supervision to social workers. Betteridge (2012) emphasizes that “literature on post-degree supervision consistently indicates that good supervision enhances job retention, increases job satisfaction, reduces turnover within organizations and protects practitioners against burnout” (p. 1). Yet, the provision of adequate supervision is hindered by a lack of funding and resources. Further to this, the high turnover rates reduce the number of experienced social workers to provide the supervision and …show more content…
mentoring.
Lack of Funding Particularly in not-for-profit agencies, social workers experience funding shortfalls that results in “distributive justice and resource inadequacy” (Simons & An, 2015, p. 561). This correlates with job dissatisfaction and high turnover in social work both in Canada and abroad (Skhosana, Schenck & Botha, 2014). Despite its social and economic contributions, this sector is known to pay low wages and benefits to workers. The Community Social Planning Council of Toronto and Family Service Association of Toronto (2006) state “any organization with consistently low wages runs the risk of losing its human capital to other organizations with higher wages” (p.6). Canada’s political and economic paradigm has shifted from Keynesianism to Neoliberalism since the 1980’s. This has resulted in slower economic growth, increases in income disparity and a social safety net that is no longer able to adequately meet the needs of Canadians (Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM), 2010). According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (2008), poverty and income disparity has been steadily rising. The FCM (2010) identifies “Canada spends less on cash benefits, such as unemployment benefits and family benefits than most OECD countries” (p. 4) and with the withdrawal of provincial and federal dollars, municipalities are left with using funds that should be developing infrastructure to provide for those in need. This, again, has left social workers with fewer resources and increased workloads.
Theory
Our group contends that social workers are a benevolent cohort motivated by affecting our environment in a positive manner. Why then, we must ask, are social workers noted to leave and change positions in such high numbers, and thus, negatively impacting the populations we aim to help? Obviously, we are not a homogeneous group, but certain key themes have presented themselves in a dichotomous fashion. These examples include, but are not limited to high levels of responsibility with low levels of supervision. Rising caseloads and lowered instances of permanent, full time work. Increased vicarious trauma with decreased opportunities for self-care and counselling (Gray-Stanley & Muramatsu, 2011). The stressors are intense and the reality is that solutions are limited. We cannot reduce the number of people in crisis nor can we skew the political climate to better prioritize marginalized people, but we are far from powerless. In fact, power is a salient theme within the research (Lamm & Gordon, 2010). Employees feel powerless to help when caseloads are high and powerless to advocate within impermeable structures (Anderson & Gobeil, 2003). The evidence shows that the brokerage of power is key to mitigating these problematic components of contemporary social work and increasing employee retention (Lamm & Gordon, 2010). Empowerment within workplaces is the most realistic infusion of power and is achieved by establishing psychological empowerment leading to intrinsic motivations (Maynard, Gilson & Mathieu, 2012). Research supports that this kind of empowerment is best achieved through collaboration, created meaning, self-determination and the promotion of learning and education (Gottlieb, Gottlieb & Shamian, 2012).
Strategy for implementing change The phrase “empowered workplace” can often present itself as ambiguous or even naïve.
It reads as something that sounds nice in theory but may prove impractical in the workplace. Our group maintains however that not only is this approach relevant and dynamic, it is easily adaptable to a variety of social service agencies.
After synthesizing the data and research findings, we have isolated four concrete strategies that we believe would lead to greater empowerment in the workplace therapy lessening the effects of employee burnout, ineffective leadership and funding constraints.
Strength Based Management A key pedagogy to such an approach is the implementation of a strength based environment. This is an environment that values collaboration, uniqueness, self-determination, and “works with the whole [sic] while appreciating the interrelationships of the parts” (Gottlieb, Gottlieb & Shamian, 2012 p.41). This could mean that if you have two staff members with the same job title of child protection worker they have the autonomy to collaborate in provide optimal client support. Perhaps one of these workers thrives on third party advocacy and the other is passionate about direct client contact. In an empowered work place, both would have the ability to share and alter their daily tasks so that they might more closely align with their inherent skills and abilities. In this example, the rate of burnout is reduced because the employee notes a level
of control in their environment (Gottlieb, Gottlieb & Shamian, 2012). In this way, the burden of leader is lessoned as they are encouraged to take a less directive approach and funding is maximized by employees who are motivated to perform and acknowledged for they formidable skillset.
Shared Authority Often, there can be resistance to this kind of collaborative approach from staff and leaders who align strictly with a top down approach. Much like in academia, workplaces often embody a hierarchical approach to employee roles. Empowerment theory challenges this presumption suggesting instead that “shared authority” is a more beneficial perspective. Cho, Laschinger & Wong (2006) note that power is fluid; staff should be encouraged to take part in their assignments, roles and schedules. Practically speaking, this makes sense. Staff on a variable schedule can share things such as office space and resources, alleviating many notable funding constraints. A staff that can alter their schedule to have a more meaningful work/life balance is a staff that is more engaged and thus less likely to report feelings of burnout (Cho, Laschinger & Wong, 2006). Similarly, the leader of people who harbour intrinsic motivation (Maynard, Gilson & Mathieu, 2012) and actively participatory has more time and energy to devote to enhancing overall workplace health (Shamian & El-Jardali, 2007).