Workplace Supports to Improve Georgia's Child Protective Services

II. Recommendations (continued)

3. Workforce Morale

   Good employee morale benefits an organization's productivity and quality of service to clients.  On the other hand, low employee morale can be an undeterminable expense to an organization through decreased productivity, unresolved conflict, high employee turnover, and poor service to clients.  In any organization, management can improve employee morale by implementing programs designed to motivate employees to do their best work and that contribute to a satisfying work environment.

   1. Recommendation: Support strategies to improve working conditions in ways that will boost employee morale, reduce burnout, and encourage longevity.

      Studies have shown that social services workers suffer the highest rates of burnout of any profession.^[81]  In addition to the key issues of salary, workload, education and training, several other factors have a measured positive effect when it comes to attracting and retaining a capable and committed workforce.  A sense of community within the organization and attention to personal values are some of the elements involved in every successful business team.^[82]  These factors can retain a committed workforce and conversely, if they are not addressed, the lack of these factors can contribute to worker burnout.  The safety of Georgia's abused and neglected children will continue to be compromised if the issue of worker burnout is not addressed.

      Workers in direct service positions, such as CPS workers, attest that the reasons for high turnover and burnout are insufficient salary, large caseloads, late night on-call duty requirements, high job stress, lack of agency and public support, inadequate training, and changes in the nature of job responsibilities.^[83]  Looking at factors such as the physical work environment, the tools provided to workers, the types of social interactions that occur, and involvement of employees in the development and implementation of policies, administration, and supervision, will help DFCS to develop strategies to reduce burnout and turnover, and to increase employee morale.  A national survey found that implementing strategies such as mentoring, flextime, and loan repayment were important to successfully retain qualified CPS workers.^[84]

      1. Mentoring Programs

         Nationally, most child welfare agencies have not implemented formal mentoring programs.^[85]  Of eight agencies studied that have implemented a mentoring program, one agency found such a program ineffective, six reported it somewhat effective, and one regarded it as highly effective.^[86]  In a national survey of CPS case managers, many identified mentoring by a co-worker or advisor as being the most effective type of training in preparing for their job.  In a report on the retention of child welfare case managers, the Child Welfare Training Institute found that some of the most effective strategies for reducing case manager turnover includes increasing salary, allowing flex-time, and establishing mentoring programs.^[87]  Connecticut is one of the few states that has implemented a mentor program.  Connecticut's program pairs managers in child protection agencies with second year social workers.^[88]

      2. Loan Forgiveness or Repayment Assistance Programs

         Loan Forgiveness Programs that help workers pay off their college loans can be a meaningful incentive for case managers to remain on the job.^[89]  Georgia currently offers several loan forgiveness programs that could be expanded to include education programs resulting in BSW or MSW degrees.  Under the HOPE Scholarship Program, PROMISE provides forgivable loans to students who aspire to be teachers in Georgia public schools.  In order to qualify for the forgivable loan, students must be enrolled in an approved teacher education program in Georgia and commit to teaching one academic year in an area of critical shortage in Georgia schools for each $1500 awarded.  The HOPE Scholarship Program also offers a similar loan forgiveness program to teachers for graduate study in critical shortage fields.

         The Georgia Student Finance Authority (GSFA) offers another loan forgiveness program to students in Georgia working toward undergraduate or advanced degrees in areas that are identified as having personnel shortages.  The GSFA offers service cancellation benefits on eligible Federal Stafford loans.  Currently under this program, DHR employees can receive service cancellation benefits to study for a baccalaureate or advanced nursing degrees.

      3. Flextime and Sabbaticals

         Allowing employees to work a flexible schedule provides them more control over when they perform their responsibilities.  Increasing control and autonomy can help to reduce employee stress.  In addition, flexible scheduling allows employees more freedom to meet family and other obligations, relieving some external stressors on employees.  A national survey found that out of the child welfare agencies that incorporated flextime and/or changed office hours to include non-traditional working hours, five found it not effective, fifteen found it somewhat effective, and one found it highly effective.^[90]  Some child protection agencies, including those in Oregon and Baltimore, have begun to experiment with more flexible scheduling for CPS workers.^[91]

         Sabbaticals are no longer limited to university professors.  With at least 20% of businesses offering a formal sabbatical program, the sabbatical is finally being recognized as an important tool in recruiting and retaining personnel.^[92]  Sabbaticals are most popular in fields where the basis of the organization is intellectual and human capital.^[93]  A sabbatical is different from an extended leave in that a sabbatical has a purpose and the employee must have completed a certain period of employment prior to being eligible.^[94]  Some organizations offer sabbaticals as a social service leave, a time for their employees to reflect on life by volunteering in the community with charities and non-governmental organizations.^[95]  Fortune One Hundred companies have found that sabbaticals are necessary to compensate employees for excessively long work weeks and consequent burnout because sabbaticals allow employees to learn new skills in their field, recharge their batteries, and get more energized to work.^[96]

      4. Job Sharing

         Job sharing allows two people to share duties and hours in the same or similar job.  Twenty-eight percent of firms in the private sector offer job-sharing programs, an increase from the 8% of firms that offered them in 1990.^[97]  Although many workers and agencies can benefit from job sharing, it is crucial that the job-sharing program be taken seriously, that policies and guidelines governing it are created, and that management is trained to deal with it.^[98]  People who might benefit from job sharing include workers with elder or child care responsibilities, older workers who want to phase in retirement, workers who also are students, and people with disabilities who only want to work part of the day or week.^[99]  Studies of  job sharing show it allows workers to create a more balanced lifestyle, which decreases stress and overall anxiety and results in better morale and increased productivity.^[100]

      5. Employee Recognition

         Finally, productive employees who remain on the job for a period of time should be recognized and rewarded.  The Child Welfare Training Institute suggests that providing recognition and rewards for longevity can increase retention of child protective service workers.^[101]  By giving a cash bonus or merit increase to workers who have stayed with the agency for three years, DFCS is encouraging longevity among its workers.^[102]

   2. Recommendation:  Perform confidential job satisfaction surveys.  Summarize results periodically for policy makers, decision makers, partners, and for public education on frontline needs.

      The extent to which DFCS has surveyed case managers specifically for job satisfaction in the recent past is unknown.  In an effort to find out the reasons behind the extremely high turnover and low morale in DFCS, a MSW student at the University of Georgia, in cooperation with her field placement supervisor, surveyed social service and eligibility workers in one suburban county and one rural county in the spring of 2001.^[103]  The survey attempted to capture social service workers' perceptions regarding compensation, work preparedness, job performance, adequacy of training, job stability, their relationships with supervisors, overall job satisfaction, and other factors.  The type of information obtained through this kind of survey provides insight into the potential that exists for DFCS and county supervisors to gather useful data for improving employees' working environments and performance levels.

      To some extent, the CPS Task Force public forums targeted toward case managers and direct service providers served as an informal needs assessment for those groups.  Over 1200 people participated in the forums and the Task Force received hundreds of letters.^[104]  However, public forums are not a substitute for systematic, comprehensive, confidential surveys of case managers and their needs.

   3. Recommendation: Support development of a proactive media strategy to enhance Child Protective Service workers' morale and educate the public.

      The April 2000 Task Force Report recommended that DFCS develop and implement a communications and public awareness plan to deal with the mistrust and misunderstanding between the public and the agencies serving families and children.^[105] The Task Force's recommendation was made after observing that negative media coverage undeniably amplified the existing crisis faced by CPS.  Further, a national survey found that improving the public's image of the child welfare system through the media was an important action that must be taken to retain qualified workers.^[106]

      A common stereotype perpetuated in the media is that case managers are under-performing instead of under-resourced.  This image lingers in the public's mind, contributing to a bad public perception of DFCS and consequently, lower morale among under-appreciated workers.  The public should become educated about how child abuse happens and how individuals can prevent abuse from occurring.  A well-informed public is in a better position to evaluate the accuracy of press coverage of DFCS and to become involved in the solutions when the press highlights a crisis.

      To help inform the public, DFCS needs to develop a proactive media strategy that ensures that media reports properly explain the reasons behind the Division's actions.  In addition, a good media strategy could allow DFCS to show the consequences of failing to provide the necessary resources to a Division charged with the all-important task of protecting children.  Such a strategy could help garner public support for resources for DFCS because it would highlight systemic failures and solutions for the failures.

      The Justice Policy Institute and the Center on Criminal and Juvenile Justice are adept at putting potentially negative subject matter in the appropriate context to educate the public about the reality behind high profile media stories.  For a number of years those organizations and others have written reports and editorials to counterbalance negative portrayals of juveniles in the media, particularly young people of color.^[107] These organizations provide training and technical assistance on media relations to individuals and organizations working on behalf of children in the juvenile justice system.  Their strategies could easily be applied to the child welfare system.

      A proactive strategy for DHR to deal with the media might include creating a full-time public relations staff or contracting with private providers for this work.  DHR should dedicate such staff or providers to work exclusively on DFCS matters.  These positions require people with the necessary level of understanding of social work, law, and policy and procedure. Not only would they be needed to deal with crisis situations, but also to increase public awareness of CPS and foster care activities, and to increase public awareness of the public's role in prevention and intervention of child abuse.