Social Worker Impacts of Organizational-Level Changes during COVID

Background & Purpose: On the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic, job satisfaction, burnout, and organizational commitment remain significant concerns for administrators, educators, and researchers concerned with maintaining an effective workforce of human service organization (HSO) professionals, including social workers. The pandemic forced managers from all industries to change the work environment for employees' and clients' physical and mental health and safety, such as adding telework options and increasing paid time off. Recent studies indicate that social workers who worked for HSOs that emphasized employee well-being during the pandemic had higher levels of organizational commitment. However, due to reduced resources, rural communities continue to be especially vulnerable to minimal health and social service access. Further, understanding organizational-level approaches to increasing job satisfaction and commitment while reducing stress and burnout is critical to micro, mezzo, and macro outcomes. The present qualitative study examined ways that organizations responded to the COVID-19 pandemic related to well-being and how social workers responded to organizational-level adaptations, or lack thereof.

Methods: Social workers practicing in North Carolina (n=102) participated in a 30-minute structured interview via Zoom. The interview consisted of questions about the social workers’ experiences and adjustments in their employing agencies related to the COVID-19 pandemic. No compensation was provided to participants. Three researchers participated in the two-cycle coding of the data. In the first cycle of coding, researchers independently used descriptive coding. Then, they met to discuss the coding to address discrepancies. In second-cycle coding, researchers utilized pattern coding to identify themes.

Results: Participants identified supportive organizational responses during the COVID-19 pandemic, including precautionary steps prioritizing social workers' health and safety, such as adequate PPE, social distancing measures, COVID testing and screening requirements, and vaccine access. Additionally, participants associated supportive organizational response with factors related to scheduling flexibility through virtual meetings and work-from-home options; access to childcare; compensation for sick leave and COVID pay; morale-building opportunities like regular check-ins, listening circles, and resiliency coordinator programs; and clear communication from leadership. Participants also defined organizational response to the COVID-19 pandemic within the context of client treatment, including changes to in-person service delivery and COVID-related precautions such as social distancing during client visits, encouraging mask-wearing, and requirements for preventative testing and symptom checking. Increased client needs for mental health and social services emerged as a prominent theme of the study, referencing higher caseloads, school disengagement among children and youth, increased needs for mental health services among youth and families, and difficulty accessing services.

Conclusions & Implications: Through the lens of crisis response, this study locates social workers’ well-being within the organizational environment and shifts the burden of burnout and job satisfaction from the individual worker to employing organizations that control environmental conditions. Findings identify action steps HSOs can take to improve crisis response efforts, prevent burnout, and strengthen employee well-being support. Future qualitative research is needed to understand leadership perspectives on organizational supports for employee well-being and crisis response. Organizational case studies are also needed to demonstrate best practices for implementing support for social workers.