New research highlights that an increase in remote working and hotdesking has added to the significant challenges already faced by social workers.
Researchers from Bournemouth University surveyed adult social care practitioners at two local authorities about factors which might influence sector recruitment and retention. The results showed that isolation and too much working from home was ranked as the fourth most important reason for leaving social care by those wanting to leave social care within the next three years, behind already known challenges such as administration demands, adequacy of staffing levels and high caseloads.
The study was support by NIHR ARC Wessex and has been published in the British Journal of Social Work.
“Remote working and hotdesking have become increasingly commonplace in a number of organisations including local authorities,” said Dr Andy Pulman, Post Doctoral Researcher at Bournemouth University and lead author. “Austerity measures since 2014 and changes in working practices accelerating since the COVID-19 pandemic have led to the closure of many local offices and some of the practitioners we spoke to have found that difficult.”
Whilst some practitioners felt that increased opportunities to adopt a hybrid work pattern with more working from home had benefited them, others felt that increased feelings of isolation, difficulty in reaching colleagues or managers for support and an absence of team culture, had added to the existing pressures on their work.
“Social workers have to deal with incredibly difficult and demanding situations –whether dealing with people requiring urgent intervention due to risk of abuse or providing complex packages of support to enable people to remain safely at home,” said Lee-Ann Fenge, Professor in Social Care at Bournemouth University and lead investigator for the study. “This means it is extremely important to have support from their peers and a safe space for reflection with their supervisors. The fragmented nature of hotdesking and hybrid working can make this very difficult.”
A particular area of concern amongst participants was learning and development for people joining the workforce. Inconsistent induction approaches and new staff finding it more difficult to link up and learn from more experienced colleagues were given as problems that had increased through hybrid working within some teams.
“Because of the emotionally demanding nature of their work, newly qualified social workers need a supportive, team environment which can be hard to create in virtual environments. During this study we heard about a lack of mentorship amongst some new entrants who might be left to fend for themselves after joining” Dr Pulman said.
Both managers and social workers recognised that maintaining good quality supervision had become a major challenge through remote working, with managers occasionally appearing distant and sometimes unable to find time for face-to-face or online conversations with staff.
The research team conclude that local authorities need to develop more consistency in team management approaches and staff inductions to make sure they are effective for modern working practices. They advise that a welcoming and supportive staff environment is crucial to help retain staff and a consistent approach to hybrid working could help achieve this.
“Many local authorities are reliant on agency workers because of the constant churn in the workforce which creates a culture of instability,” Professor Fenge said. “If we are not going back to previous ways of working, we need to develop leadership across hybrid working environments which fosters a team culture built on shared learning, peer support and good quality supervision. to improve retention.”
