Why Social Work and Business Need to Work Together

So why does Social Work and business need to work together? And more importantly what the heck is a Social Worker anyway?

Reading comments on StudentDoctor.net the Stereotype social worker, is a tweed wearing, the busybody that kidnaps small children to keep in their “child farm” but are also caring individuals that work with the poor, are exceptionally stressed and burn out quickly.Whilst I must admit to promoting this stereotype by owning both a tweed jacket and waistcoat (I don’t wear both at the same time, there is such a thing as too much tweed!) very little of people’s ideas of what a Social Worker is are true.

Since 2001 new Social Workers have been required to be trained to degree level with an emphasis on critical thinking and analysis. Social Work education is generic covering the entire life cycle from birth to palliative care, student social workers with a Bachelors degree spend three years studying which includes 200 days practical experience through Placements.

Once qualified Social Workers to need to register with the governing body (currently the HCPC but with the rate of change, this could be different by the time this article is written!)Social Work, in general, is predominantly engaged with local authorities and charities but more recently we have seen the growth of non-profit organisations either employing Social Workers directly or being started and operated by Social Workers. Private Business has historically only worked with social work through charitable donations.So how can Social Work and Business work together for mutual benefit?Social workers are trained to be critically reflective decision makers, assessors of need and critical decision makers.

Social Workers are also trained to have knowledge of mental health and are experts in mental capacity. They also have an understanding and working knowledge of counselling theories; communications theory and skills, mediation, legislation and sociology theories such as systems theory to name just a few of the skills and knowledge a Social Worker has.Social Work co-operation with business allows for business to access knowledge and skills to create both a preventative and a reactionary service within their business.  

The Office for National Statistics (2017) advises there was a total of 137 million working days lost to sickness and injury in 2016.A Social Work led preventative service with the business could help reduce sickness both long term and short term, through Social Work support in the creation of positive mental health atmospheres within the workplace reducing long-term sickness due to mental ill health and increasing employee productivity. This could include bi-weekly or monthly surgeries run by Social Workers to offer support to employees with; practical advice, signposting to services or mediation within the company.

This preventative service within businesses could impact on the wider community by reducing pressures on public Mental Health Services, NHS and other public bodies.Social Work also has a role as a reactionary support service within the business, being able to support employees who have become ill due to mental or physical ill health or support business in employing someone with health difficulties. A Social Workers assessment of an employee’s needs and the creation of a plan with real and achievable goals, practical support to ensure a speedy, a safe return to work that is sustainable, or in assessing new employees needs and creating a plan to ensure the company can meet their needs, ensuring their employee is able to be at their best.theundercoverrecruiter.com (2017) explains hiring a new employee with a salary of £27,600 per annum has a hidden cost in the first year of a further £22,400.  

Whilst there would be an initial cost to an employer both for the Social Work engagement and for any other services such as physiotherapy, counselling services, this should be balanced against the loss of skills, training and possible recruitment expenses. The further benefit for business is loyalty, in a generation where the average employee works for six different companies over the lifetime, retaining skills and knowledge is an important factor for any business, and the greater the benefits offered by a company the higher chance of retaining employees.

So why Social Work support for business instead of Occupational Health?

Social Work support for business shouldn’t replace Occupational health but be complimentary, offering a different level and type of support to employees.Social Workers are trained to work with the whole person. Crisis can be defined as when a person’s normal coping mechanisms are overwhelmed, when we look at Systems theory there are a wide variety of systems that could overload an employee’s coping mechanisms. This could be marital problems, a parent being diagnosed with dementia, a child having difficulties at school.

A Social Work surgery allows employees to have a safe environment to discuss any difficulties in their life allowing for a therapeutic discourse to take place, this may be enough to increase the employees coping mechanisms and avoid a crisis. Social Workers are also able to provide practical support and signposting to relevant services again increasing the employees coping mechanisms.The benefits of such co-operation are two-fold, firstly the benefits listed above to the company and their employees but secondly to the wider society, as a preventative service social work engagement with business in this way could reduce the impact on health and social care frontline services.