Kasey Cote - Terri Barnett Supervisor Academy Children’s Administration Training Academy.

WORKLOAD MANAGEMENT

Kasey Cote - Terri BarnettSupervisor Academy

Children’s Administration Training Academy

SUPERVISION

Supervision combines both leadership and management, aiming to develop practice competence and in turn, good outcomes for clients and for the agency

Supervisors thus are key linkage agents, key connectors, between front-line caseworkers and top agency leaders

Hal Lawson, PhD University of Albany

SUPERVISORS HAVE TWO CLIENTS:

The Staff The System

SUPERVISORY ROLE

ROLE OF SUPERVISOR

In a study by Kadushin (1973) of over 800 social workers and supervisors, supervisors reported one strong source of job satisfaction was watching workers develop as professionals and sharing social work knowledge and skills.

Shulman reported in 1981 that when social workers were asked about sources of satisfaction with their supervisors 27% of the workers responded that they liked the stimulation provided by supervisors about social work theory and practice.

Role of Supervisor cont.

In the same study Shulman found that 25% of the workers interviewed stated that a source of supervisory dissatisfaction was the supervisor’s failure to provide real help in dealing with the problems they faced.

In another study by Candolfo and Brown 1987 they found that a successful supervisor is one who functions as a facilitator and who promotes problem solving.(L. Shulman, Interactional Supervision, 2003)

IMAGES OF CASEWORK

1st Image

The “people changing approach”, front line practice, involves tailoring services to each client system. Each child, parent and family is unique.

…The Caseworker is the closest person to the client system: he or she has expertise that others aren’t likely to have.

IMAGES OF CASEWORK

2nd Image “People processing” approach. Here the front-line practice is about moving people through systems, providing services as needed, importantly, completing required paperwork properly and on time. Proper procedure is a key success criteria, and supervision and management are geared to evaluating, enforcing and rewarding.

GUIDELINES FOR IMAGES

1st Guideline

When work tasks such as casework are certain, predictable and linear, management and supervision can be centralized and top down and both management and supervision can be compliance oriented. The assumption is that the essence of casework is people processing.

GUIDELINES FOR IMAGES

2nd Guideline

When tasks are complex, novel, ambiguous and non linear, management and supervision must devolve to the lowest level possible. Workers need lots of discretion and flexibility, The second guideline is based on the assumption that the essence of casework is “people changing work”.

TENSION!!!! Administration worries about the workers

competencies, commitments and practices, and they are especially worried about a child death or a comparable case problem that brings criticism to the agency,They adopt compliance strategies “ tighten the screws’ supervision,,management and accountability practices

Effects of overwhelming workload on line staff and CA units & offices, especially when this condition persists over a long period of time

Illness, lots of sick leave

Social workers leave the agency, or transfer from units/programs perceived to be more demanding to units/programs perceived to be less demanding or better staffed; and multiple vacancies put units into crisis.

Program standards “on the ground” decline and, in extreme instances, collapse.

Job performance becomes erratic, indifferent to quality.

Dee Wilson – Workload Mgmt


Line staff & units find shortcuts to meeting program requirements; after several months, staff forget that these shortcuts are compromises with good practice.

Tensions between and among units increase as some units adopt strategies to prevent cases from transferring in; or find ways of “dumping” cases on other units.

The respect and regard for managers declines as line staff and supervisors conclude that managers lack solutions to workload problems.



Staff become resigned to being perceived negatively by some or all of the community.

Units and offices figure out how to “game” performance measures.

The ability to imagine how the agency might function differently erodes; even when new FTEs come on line, it is difficult for offices to raise program standards.


DCFS TIME IN HOURS PER CASE FOR PRIMARY WORKER BY SERVICE

CATEGORY

1

74 3 5

2

22

2

10 10

4

10

2

38

05

10152025303540

Intak

e

CPS /

Inve

stiga

tion &

Asse

ssmen

t

Family

Volu

ntary (C

W)

Family

Volu

ntary (F

RS)

Family

Dep

ende

ncy

Adop

tion S

uppo

rtTo

tal

Measured Time Constructed Standard

Stephani, C. (2008, January 18). Children’s Administration Workload Study. Presented at the CA Workload Study work session in Olympia, WA.


CPS MISSION

Child well being

Re-occurrence

Imminent harm


CWFS PROGRAM

Legal case management

Foster home maintenance


WORKLOAD DILEMMAS

Pressures to improve the child welfare system have had the perverse effect of creating impossible workload demands, especially in offices in which out-of-home care numbers have increased.

WORKLOAD WEIGHTING

Caseload weighting is a deceptively complex issue Like minds can disagree and do

What is a unit of work? Is an adoption caseload easier than a CPS

Investigation load Weighted caseloads are an attempt to

distribute and balance caseloads.

CASE ASSIGNMENT FUNDAMENTALS ISSUES TO

CONSIDER Difficulty of the case ie safety issues

involving what number of children, services required, supervision needed for safety, attitude of client, community kin resources available

Experience and skills of worker Workload worker is currently responsible

for

STRUCTURAL FRAMEWORK FOR ORGANIZING WORK

1. Set up and keep ongoing supervision with each worker weekly, bimonthly

2. One main goal for all workers –see all clients face to face within mandated time frames

3. Safety is the number one issue for clients and workers-When in doubt safety trumps all

4. Use strength- based casework for supervision and model it for workers to use with all clients.

5. Strategy made with each worker for documentation

WHY DO MANY GOOD SOCIAL WORKERS STRUGGLE WITH PAPER WORK?

1. They are lazy2. They don’t like paperwork- that’s why

they are social workers3. They are not very good at using

computers. 4. Workers who don’t get along with clients

love paperwork5. Too busy with real work6. Workers need help with organizational

skills7. May be suffering from vicarious trauma

WHAT IS VICARIOUS TRAUMA?

“Exposure to another’s trauma material by virtue of one’s role as helper.”

The transformation or change in a helper’s inner experience as a result of empathetic engagement with survivor clients and their history of trauma” Taken from Saakvitne “Help for the Helper”

HOW ARE WE AFFECTED BY VICARIOUS TRAUMA

VT impacts every area of our lives: cognitive,enotional, behavioral, spiritual, interpersonal and physical

GENERAL SIGNS OF VT

Cynical: questions meaning of life, work No time or energy for self Disconnected from family or

overprotective Social withdrawal, isolation from friends More violence sensitive. hypervigilent Despair and hopelessness Intrusive thoughts, nightmares,

flashbacks

EFFECTS ON PROFESSIONAL FUNCTIONING

Interferes with task performance Decrease in quality and quantity Low motivation Avoidance of tasks Setting perfectionistic standards Obsession about detail

WORKLOAD REDUCTION STRATEGIES

Close cases, close cases and close cases Transfer cases in timely manner Improve inter-unit communications, work

processes and ease transfer mechanisms involving CPS, foster FRS

Enhance clerical supports Enhance practice supports-especially parent

support aides, transportation aides visitation aides

Improve relations with courts reduce waiting time

WORKLOAD REDUCTION CONT.

Streamline agency paperwork with streamlined state expectations and requirements for paperwork

Stabilize computer-based work technologies

CASELOAD REDUCTION

Reduce severity of cases along with the time and resources needed by emphasizing early intervention

Reduce number of cases through community and neighborhood based child protection teams etc (FTF foster care initiative)

Recruit, train, and deploy paraprofessionals for supportive work with low risk cases

Prioritize case closure Prioritize reduction in recidividism and

develop targeted practice improvements.

Supervisory & Area Manager Dilemma #1

A CPS social worker is very efficient in completing investigations and even volunteers to take more than her fair share of new referrals, but she never seems to find time to close cases; after six weeks in your unit she has 50 cases waiting to close. You have had two discussions during supervisory conferences regarding this problem and she has promised to begin closing cases both times but has yet to close a case.

What do you do?Dee Wilson – Workload Mgmt


You are the supervisor of a CPS unit (standard model) in a large office; one of your usually dependable staff is beginning to perform erratically; foster parents are complaining about not being paid; ISPs are late and you recently discover a case that you assigned to the social worker three weeks ago has had no response whatsoever. The social worker has five pending dependencies (8 children) and six adjudicated dependencies which he has not had time to transfer.

The social worker is adamant that he can bring his caseload under control if he can have a few days off of assignment; he does not want to transfer his dependency cases. “I know these cases backwards and forwards – no one else does”, he tells you.

What do you do?



You have recently begun the supervision of a seven person CWS unit in which caseloads average 30-35 cases per person; you quickly discover that there is little or no documentation in case files, children are rarely seen by staff unless visits with parents occur in the office, ISPs are habitually late and the unit has a bad reputation with foster parents. Your staff maintains that they have no time to do anything except respond to placement crises.

You discover that unit members are carrying: 80 placements 10 in-home dependencies 6 children on the run 4 CWS assessments 20 guardianships

20 private agency cases 4 home studies 6 courtesy supervision cases 32 tribal payment only cases

What is your response?Dee Wilson – Workload Mgmt


You are the supervisor of a nine person CWS unit which carries cases from shelter care to termination; your staff average 30 cases per person, including 25 placements, mostly pre-school children, and no “low maintenance” cases.

Your unit has increased in size by two social workers in 18 months, but your staff cannot begin to cope with the workload.

When you talk to the area manager, she says that she cannot possibly continue to “feed” your unit and that she is convinced that your unit is a bottomless pit; “I gave you two positions and things are not better; why should I give you more?”

What is a rational response?Dee Wilson – Workload Mgmt


You are the area manager of three small to medium sized offices, each of which has one CPS unit. All three CPS supervisors are strongly asserting their need for more social workers.

Office A – has six social workers who are assigned an average of 70 referrals per month; CPS caseloads average 23 in this office.

Office B – has four social workers who are assigned 45 referrals per month; caseloads average 30 cases per worker. Office B has a higher percentage of ICW cases than Office A – about 20% of assignments.

Office C – has five social workers who are assigned 50 referrals per month; however, social workers in this office consistently file twice as many dependencies per year as offices A or B; partly as a result CWS caseloads in this office are a third higher than in Offices A or B; CPS social workers have 30 adjudicated dependencies which they are carrying.

You have two FTEs to give out: which units get them and why? Dee Wilson – Workload

Mgmt

Managing to Outcomes

Achieving Outcomes and Supporting Social Workers

Self Management

The Power of the Unit

Achieving Outcomes andSupporting Social Workers

Honor Expertise Communicate Expectations Regular, Frequent, High Quality

Consultation: Individual Group, Unit or Committee Stay Current on Policy Changes Collegial SupportUse or Develop Tracking ToolsAddress Compliance Issues

Honor Expertise

Assume Social Worker knows the family the best

Trust but verify through thoughtful inquiry

Communicate Expectations

Reminders about expectations regularly

Check case notes, ask questions

Provide Context for Expectations

Results/Outcomes Focused Supervision

Regular, Frequent, High Quality Consultation

Individual Supervision Schedule and keep Redundant Start with cases on their mind Notice and redirect repeats Review the “quiet” cases Supervisor Focus/Attention

Group, Unit, Committee (Shared Planning) Use Unit Meeting Encourage Family/Wrap Meetings Use Internal Committees

Stay Current on Policy Changes

Review and Communicate

Become “the resource”

Expertise vs. old practice

Connect Policy to Practice to Desired Outcomes

Collegial Support

Talk to other supervisors “Community Standards”

Use Regional Resources

Identify local and regional experts

Use or Develop Tracking Tools

Know Supervisory Guidelines for your service area

Find something that works for you

Identify what works for social workers may be different for each

Review Examples

Addressing Compliance Issues

Early Identification

Solution Focused Problem Solving “what will it take, what are barriers” Be specific

Use Performance Meeting Review Process if support strategies don’t work

Self Management

Prioritization

Reminders/Ticklers

Attitude/POV

Clarity and Focus

Empathy and Action

The Power of the Unit

Team Work and collegial support to get the work done

Use of Unit Meetings

Use of OD days

Use of Celebrations

Group Exercise

KEEP CALM

&CARRY

ON

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