Organizational Interventions in Private Child Welfare Agencies: Change from the inside out
Organizational Interventions in Private Child Welfare Agencies: Change from the inside out
Schedule:
Friday, January 16, 2015: 3:50 PM
Preservation Hall Studio 9, Second Floor (New Orleans Marriott)
* noted as presenting author
Background:
Fourteen private, not-for-profit child welfare agencies in one state self-selected into a design-team intervention. Agency design-teams worked with external facilitators to design and implement change initiatives to address workforce issues specific to their organizations. A mixed-methods longitudinal design tested the impact of the intervention and the implementation process. Pre-post surveys of workers (n=567) measured demographics, organizational climate, worker commitment, job satisfaction, perceptions of child welfare work, and intent to leave. Staff from three agencies served as a comparison group (n=153). Propensity scores matched the treatment group with the comparison group to determine the average treatment effect of the treated (ATET). Qualitative reports collected data on the process and accomplishments of design-teams as they planned and implemented organizational initiatives. Comparative case analysis identified differences in agencies that successfully implemented their organizational initiative compared to those that did not.
Agencies that successfully implemented their initiative had statistically significant differences in four workforce dimensions at baseline: demographics, commitment to child welfare work, perception of organizational climate, and job satisfaction. Demographically, for example, staff in successful organizations were more likely to be younger (p=0.03), have a social work degree (p=0.01), and be in their first child welfare job (p=0.03) compared to unsuccessful agencies. Qualitative findings indicate that design-team perceptions of how their initiative would impact day-to-day experiences of co-workers was an important driver of successful implementation. Overall, the intervention showed positive effects for agencies that achieved moderate to full implementation. Areas of statistically significant improvements in key workforce measures differed, however, with some organizations showing positive change in job satisfaction (ATET=6.06, p=0.03), others in collective ownership (ATET=2.08, p=0.04), and others in workers’ perceptions of child welfare (ATET=3.75, p=0.00).
Conclusions:
Design-team interventions show positive impacts in non-profits, yet not all organizations are able to implement initiatives that translate into beneficial changes for workers and the effects of the intervention vary across agencies. Investments in organizational and management practices that support readiness for change and successful implementation are a key first step for private agencies before we can reduce turnover for the non-profit child welfare workforce and, ultimately, improve outcomes for children and families.
The U.S. child welfare system suffers from high workforce turnover, which has significant negative impacts: turnover threatens psychological well-being and permanency outcomes of children, reduces the morale of workers who stay, and drains resources from already-stressed agencies. Researchers have worked for years to build evidence-based approaches to employee recruitment and retention that reverse high turnover.
One effective approach is the design-team model, an organizational-level intervention shown to reduce workers’ intent to leave their public child welfare job (Strolin-Goltzman, 2010). However, many child welfare service providers are private agencies, where turnover is estimated to be higher, sometimes reaching twice that of public agencies (Casey, 2003). Private agencies operate under distinct fiscal and governance conditions, thus interventions proven effective in public organizations may perform differently in private ones. This study tests if design-team interventions are effective in private agencies and what factors are related to their successful implementation.
Methods:
Fourteen private, not-for-profit child welfare agencies in one state self-selected into a design-team intervention. Agency design-teams worked with external facilitators to design and implement change initiatives to address workforce issues specific to their organizations. A mixed-methods longitudinal design tested the impact of the intervention and the implementation process. Pre-post surveys of workers (n=567) measured demographics, organizational climate, worker commitment, job satisfaction, perceptions of child welfare work, and intent to leave. Staff from three agencies served as a comparison group (n=153). Propensity scores matched the treatment group with the comparison group to determine the average treatment effect of the treated (ATET). Qualitative reports collected data on the process and accomplishments of design-teams as they planned and implemented organizational initiatives. Comparative case analysis identified differences in agencies that successfully implemented their organizational initiative compared to those that did not.
Results:
Agencies that successfully implemented their initiative had statistically significant differences in four workforce dimensions at baseline: demographics, commitment to child welfare work, perception of organizational climate, and job satisfaction. Demographically, for example, staff in successful organizations were more likely to be younger (p=0.03), have a social work degree (p=0.01), and be in their first child welfare job (p=0.03) compared to unsuccessful agencies. Qualitative findings indicate that design-team perceptions of how their initiative would impact day-to-day experiences of co-workers was an important driver of successful implementation. Overall, the intervention showed positive effects for agencies that achieved moderate to full implementation. Areas of statistically significant improvements in key workforce measures differed, however, with some organizations showing positive change in job satisfaction (ATET=6.06, p=0.03), others in collective ownership (ATET=2.08, p=0.04), and others in workers’ perceptions of child welfare (ATET=3.75, p=0.00).
Conclusions:
Design-team interventions show positive impacts in non-profits, yet not all organizations are able to implement initiatives that translate into beneficial changes for workers and the effects of the intervention vary across agencies. Investments in organizational and management practices that support readiness for change and successful implementation are a key first step for private agencies before we can reduce turnover for the non-profit child welfare workforce and, ultimately, improve outcomes for children and families.