Encouraging social workers to ‘love their job again’

Central Bedfordshire council wants to recruit more social workers by recognising staff achievement and sharing that with others, by Yolanda Corden

We know how challenging the role of a frontline children’s social worker is. We also know that social workers have an enormous impact on the lives of children and young people – often a life changing one.

In 2010, a regional survey showed that while Central Bedfordshire had the lowest profile in the region among social workers – despite being the largest unitary authority – we topped the job satisfaction league for people who already work here. The question then was, how could we get the message out to others that this is a great place to live and work?

No one could disagree that employing qualified, committed and enthusiastic staff is a sound investment. So this year we commissioned HR company Penna to work with us on a campaign to reach out to social workers and the concept of “love your job again” was born.

The campaign is primarily internet based and features unscripted videos with three of our staff and also lots of supportive quotes from other employees about why they enjoy working here. We are also placing adverts in the trade press, which reflect the look and feel of the website.

The majority of social workers do love their work, but recent high profile cases and the perceived level of red tape and target setting has certainly had an effect on both their professional and personal lives. The campaign has encouraged us to emphasise what social workers do best and to build on the recommendations of the Munro report on child protection.

We focused on those things which made our social workers choose the career in the first place: wanting to make a difference, helping children to stay safe and the chance to reach their professional potential. We used current staff to get the message across that our children’s services teams are friendly and supportive and that there’s always someone around to talk things through with.

We also realised that in addition to an open, honest environment, it’s essential to offer career progression and training. Our newly qualified staff tell us they are well supported with excellent training opportunities, delivered by nationally recognised trainers.

You rarely see a news story about good social work and we know we won’t read about good decisions our social workers have made, or how they have gone above and beyond to make a difference. So we work hard to ensure that staff are recognised for their dedication in house.

To date the campaign has been positive; we’ve had a good response and recruited some great new people. But we’re still on the lookout for more, especially experienced social workers looking for a new challenge. We have shown that we can help our staff “love their job again”.

Yolanda Corden is interim assistant director of operations for children’s services at Central Bedfordshire council