What Can Be Done to Promote the Retention of Social Workers? A Systematic Review of Interventions

‘Lost in transition?’ – Newly educated social workers’ reflections on their first months in practice

“…The question of how to organise an initial 'sheltered' time at the workplace where the newly educated social worker can learn on-the-job before having to take full responsibility is neither new nor easy to solve. The reality of high turnover, vacancies and many newly educated social workers at the same workplace (Blomberg, Kallio, Kroll, & Saarinen, 2014;de Panfilis & Zlotnik, 2008;Tham, 2007;Tham & Meagher, 2009;Travis, Lizano, & Mor Barak, 2016;Webb & Carpenter, 2012) do not provide the best opportunities for giving new practitioners the sheltered time, support and guidance they would have needed. Initiatives such as the newly qualified child and family social workers (NQSWs) programme in England to support new practitioners to build their skills, competence and self-confidence in the first year of practice and an assessed and supported year in employment (ASYE) arising from this programme are promising developments (Carpenter et al, 2015;Social Work Reform Board, 2010).…”

The surprisingly weak evidence base for supervision: Findings from a systematic review of research in child welfare practice (2000–2012)

“…Supervision may be associated with reducing staff turnover in child welfare; a systematic review of interventions to promote retention (Webb and Carpenter, 2012) identified studies in nursing and teaching which reported positive outcomes. But other factors may be more important, such as employees' perceptions of the support they receive from the organization.…”

Intentional Leadership Planning and Development: The Collective Responsibility to Educate More Social Work Leaders

“…Such burnout could be contributing to the low numbers of social workers available for leadership and administrative positions (Webb & Carpenter, 2012;Williams, Nichols, Kirk, & Wilson, 2011). Wells (2006) also comments that, due to burnout resulting from individual circumstances or a non-supportive organizational system, social workers are not retained in positions long enough to acquire the necessary skills for promotions.…”

“…Wells (2006) also comments that, due to burnout resulting from individual circumstances or a non-supportive organizational system, social workers are not retained in positions long enough to acquire the necessary skills for promotions. The high workforce turnover rates resulting from the intensity of a social worker's daily life, the shortage of social-work-educated professionals, and the associated negative impacts on service users and agencies have been long-standing concerns in many developed countries, especially the United States (Webb & Carpenter, 2012). Nonetheless, some workforce turnover is both natural and inevitable, especially when considering that not all who enter the social work profession should or will remain in practice, and those who leave do so for a variety of reasons (Webb & Carpenter, 2012).…”