The FAMCare Blog

The American social service sector employs over 680,000 caseworkers. As the industry expands, record numbers of new caseworkers join the ranks. There will always be a learning curve, but in an industry, that's experiencing large numbers of job burnout and turnover, tips for newcomers can be a lifesaver. Let's share some diehard tips for the newbie case managers and a refresher for our brilliant veterans.  

Employee burnout exists, and according to a recent survey, 23% of full-time workers in the United States experience burnout the majority of the time during the work week. So, if you're a nonprofit leader and you notice that your case workers aren't as enthusiastic as they used to be or are falling behind in their daily tasks, it may be time to look into whether job burnout could be the issue.

While there are numerous traditional methods for motivating caseworkers, we have compiled a list of steps that social service agencies can take on their own. This is to ensure that your case managers are not neglecting themselves or their mental health while serving their communities.

Research shows that social service professionals exhibit a greater capacity for empathy than most of their contemporaries in other professions. Studies also show that this “ability to understand and share the feelings of another” is what motivates well-meaning young people to go into social work in the first place. The irony, however, is that this same capacity to “share the feelings of another” is also the primary cause of burnout among caseworkers.

We like to celebrate a New Year when the calendar turns its annual page. We believe that a “new” year offers us another chance to turn the bad into the good. However, case workers who work with the most vulnerable among us know that a “new year” is simply an artifice. Every day that case workers go into the office they believe they have an opportunity to turn the bad into the better. Every day is New Year’s Day for case workers.

Today's blog is written by guest blogger, Sharon Wagner, from Senior Friendly.  We truly appreciate her for sharing these wonderful insights for social workers to help avoid burnout.  

As a social worker, you’re dedicated to your job. You’ve chosen the path that God meant for you, and you truly love what you do. Yet it can be hard for you to set boundaries between your work and your life, which can quickly lead to burnout. If you’re struggling in your career, Global Vision Technologies has some tips to help you avoid stress and heal from burnout.

Performance anxiety can often add to the high stress experienced by social work case managers. After all, social worker performance isn’t about how many widgets you make or how much profit you brought to the bottom line. It’s about helping real people deal with real life problems. If your performance is lacking, it could mess up someone’s life or even end it. That's the mindset that leads to social worker performance anxiety.

We understand that being a case manager can be extremely stressful. There is never enough time, money, or resources to complete all of your goals. And the work that you do is critical. People's lives are affected. As a result, our case management software is designed to help alleviate some of the stress in your daily workflow.

Louise, a crusty journey-woman social worker had three pairs of glasses hanging from tiny chains around her neck and a sharpened yellow number two pencil plunged into her beehive hairdo. How unlikely that this woman would teach us how to use humor in social work.

Burnout

Over the course of the 20th century, as American society became ever more complex, industrialized, urbanized, and a safe haven for the world's most vulnerable, our society gradually became more socially conscious and the case worker's burden more laden. The paperwork required for patient safety, privacy, accountability, and continuity has grown algebraically alongside documentation to secure funding. More vulnerable clients with more complex problems requiring more complex documentation have begun to overwhelm the modern caseworker and "burnout" is becoming epidemic. Social service professionals are particularly susceptible because of the high levels of empathy required by their jobs. Striving to ease the suffering of clients who are often in crisis leads to emotional and physical depletion, and case worker burnout is the primary cause of the high turnover rate in social services.

Most of us have the luxury of spending the holidays relaxing with our loved ones. But not everyone’s that lucky. Some are separated from their families; others don’t have a home to go back to. And for many, this new year doesn’t hold the normal excitement. Many have experienced another long, dreadful year due to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.

 And who is there for all of these vulnerable people during the holiday season? — Social workers, societies selfless care givers, of course!