NADDP Participant Guide Module 5: Workforce Development

Description: Workforce development is the process of recruitment, screening, selection, retention, and training. Retention is the ability to keep staff and reduce turnover.
Learning Objectives:

  • Understand the challenges in recruiting and retaining the Adults Services workforce. Discuss and describe the workforce landscape and agency workforce needs.
  • Create Workforce development framework.
  • Identify and establish relationships with key workforce organizations to support agency needs.
  • Organize and oversee collaboration with key workforce development organizations to support agency needs.
  • Develop and strive for a stable workforce.
    • Understand that Adult Services is new compared to Child Welfare, so far less articles and documents supports Adult Services, so in this Module, there will be Child Welfare supportive documents/ videos that will be used.
Module name: Workforce Development and Retention
Total time: learning objectives, reading and activities: 5.5 to 11 hours
Total coaching: 6 hours
Segment #: 1   Leadership’s role in workforce development

Reading and Activities: 2 to 4 hours (longer if Director needs to complete leadership assessment)

Coaching: 1.5 hours
Learning Objective
  • Understand the importance of the Director’s role in recruiting and retaining Adults Services staff for every level of the organization.
  • Discuss and describe the active steps a Director can take to address effective workforce development. In this section, “staff” refers to line staff, support staff, supervisors, and managers.
Content
  • Effective leaders identify the recruitment and retention of excellent staff, whether line staff, supervisors, or managers, as a top priority.
  • Leadership is a primary determinant of staff retention. Workers’ perceptions of leadership are related to their job satisfaction and commitment. Adult Services agencies can improve worker performance and effectiveness by strengthening the quality of Adult Services management and leadership.
  • The Director’s vision and the agency’s code of ethics can guide workforce development, i.e., where are we going, who is leading us there, what approach will we take to get there?
  • An effective Director has a long-range recruitment plan which includes
    • Examination of the labor market.
    • Determination about whether compensation and benefits packages are viable.
    • Guarantees of equal opportunity, cultural sensitivity, competence, and fairness.
    • Development of a comprehensive understanding of the skills and attributes necessary for Adults Services jobs.
    • Relationships with colleges and universities to heighten awareness of Adults Services work as a career and to ensure colleges and universities produce graduates with necessary skills and attributes.
  • An effective Adults Services Director seeks to address the most common reasons positions become or remain vacant, e.g.:
    • Budget limitations that cause hiring freezes and restrictions.
    • Slow recruitment/hiring processes because of the length of time for administrative approval and getting through hiring system requirements.
    • Inadequate/unqualified candidates apply for the positions.
    • Internal reasons, e.g., promotions, retirements, transfers, leaves.
    • Normal turnover and difficulty in retaining workers.
    • Non-competitive salaries.
    • Lack of benefits and overtime compensation.
Activities
  1. Review the elements of a long-range recruitment and retention plan as stated above.
    1. Does your agency have those elements in place?
    2. Meet with your Executive Director, and your direct reports about recruitment and retention strategies
    3. Meet with your county Human Resources Director to find out what is in place.  If a plan is in place, what’s working and what is not?   If there is no plan, what needs to happen and how can you get started in putting those elements in place?
  1. Review the reasons stated above that positions become vacant.
    1. Which of these reasons apply to your agency?
    2. How can you obtain good information about which apply to your agency?
    3. What steps can you take to start to address these reasons?
    4. Talk with your Director, your direct reports, members of your Adults Services line staff and supervisors, and your Human Resource Director to get a full perspective.
  1. Given the importance of all leadership, including managers, in helping to establish the organizational culture and climate, and given the correlation of effective leadership and management to retention of good staff, create a word document and
    1. assess your managers’ performance
    2. develop learning needs plans for each of your managers, and
    3. think about their performance and learning needs individually and for the team.
  1. Take a strength finder assessment to learn about the Director’s leadership style or Director can submit one that was completed within last six months as a Director- (a few are listed below)
    1. StandOut Strengths Assessment. https://www.tmbc.com/standout-assessment
    2. CliftonStrengths Assessment. https://www.gallup.com/cliftonstrengths/en/252137/home.aspx
    3. VIA Character Strengths Survey. https://www.viacharacter.org/survey/account/register
Materials
  • 10 Practices: A Child Welfare Leaders’ Desk Guide to

Building a High-Performing Agency

Overview of Use of Specialized Staff in APS Practice (acl.gov) and Training Supervisors in Adult Protective Services: Guidance and Resources (acl.gov)
Preparation for next segment
Segment #2: Workforce Development Framework

Reading and Activities: 1 to 3 hours

Coaching: 1.5 hours
Learning Objective Learn how to provide a framework for all activities related to workforce development.
Content
    • Screening and selection – how do we hire people who have the right values and bring a skill set that will easily facilitate their use of the practice behaviors?
    • Training – how to ensure all staff receive orientation to Adult Services and on-going training
    • Coaching – how to provide staff, supervisors, managers and leaders with coaching to translate the practice and leadership behaviors to actual practice. Understanding your staff learning styles.
    • Modeling – how to ensure leaders, managers and supervisors are modeling the leadership behaviors to provide a critical parallel process for how they want staff to work with families.
    • Strength-based approach
    • Discuss the strength finder assessment- (a few are listed below)
    • Discuss Adaptive Leadership Approach and how it can be beneficial to developing a strong leadership team, article in material section.
  • Discussion on workforce strategies.
Activities
  1. What resources and services exist for the professional development of your staff at all levels.
    1. For example, is there coaching available?
    2. Are Performance Evaluations meaningful?
  2. Should the Director consider having their management team complete a strength finder assessment and see how to maximize the strength in their team.
Materials
Preparation for next segment Review video:

  • Keeping Track of Our Most Valuable Resource: Using Workforce Data to Improve Adults Services Programs (9 minutes) https://youtu.be/ODxsZUKGsDA
Segment #3: Recruitment, Screening, Selection, & Hiring

Reading and Activities: 1.5 to 2 hours

Coaching: 1 hour
Learning Objective Understand what a comprehensive recruitment and hiring process includes.
Content
  • CWDA 2006 turnover study recommends:
    • Collect data continuously to track vacancies, turnover, and exit reasons.  This will help you identify trends and craft recruitment and retention strategies.
    • Provide realistic job previews.
    • Offer tuition reimbursement as an incentive.
    • Offer increased incentives to Journey and Advanced Journey level Social Workers. They experience burnout at these levels.
    • Offer leadership training and mentoring as an incentive.
    • Expand recruitment efforts to non-traditional local sources.
    • See full report here: The County Welfare Directors Association of California Turnover Study (2006)

https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=a31ca0f020f8e818c4cfb15040400f34ef961067801a0da29da19bce4e262130JmltdHM9MTczOTkyMzIwMA&ptn=3&ver=2&hsh=4&fclid=36513c9f-2d2f-6af9-3e1f-2ef62cbd6b7f&psq=2006+CWDA+turnover+study&u=a1aHR0cHM6Ly9zb2NpYWxzZXJ2aWNld29ya2ZvcmNlLm9yZy93cC1jb250ZW50L3VwbG9hZHMvMjAyNC8wMy9UdXJub3Zlci1TdHVkeS5wZGY&ntb=1

  • It is important for the Director to understand their role in the collaboration with your Human Resources colleagues to ensure that the recruitment, screening, selection, and hiring processes include all the needed elements.
    • Job descriptions are specific, meaningful and relate to Adult Services behaviors and outcomes. They should be updated regularly to reflect the current work environment and job duties and responsibilities.
    • Recruitment: An ongoing, well-defined recruitment process includes the following recruitment strategies, in descending order of effectiveness
      • University-agency training partnerships and/or stipends for students.
      • Job announcements posted on websites.
      • Early and aggressive recruiting at social work schools.
      • Emphasis on continuing education/training and supervision opportunities within the agency.
      • Increase personal contact with potential candidates to encourage their application.
      • Involve all levels of management and direct service staff in recruitment. Tell staff what openings exist and ask them to refer candidates.
      • Recruit continuously in order to have a pool of pre-qualified candidates. Have predefined ads, pre-identified websites, and a list of contacts for recruitment.
    • Screening & Self-screening processes are frequently omitted but are critical to success on the job and retention. These can help a candidate decide whether to apply for a job. Self-screening can result in a smaller but better-suited pool of candidates.
      • Offer a web-based screening process for prospective employees so they can get to watch a Realistic Job Preview (that includes job stresses) and get information about the job (salary, benefits, schedule, typical workday).
      • Consider developing a “Is this work for you?” self-assessment. E.g., ask questions about their thoughts concerning making unannounced home visits with dangerous situations (dogs, guns, etc.), dealing with irate clients who curse at you, etc.  Alternatively, ask these questions during the hiring interview.
      • Screening can also include a telephone interview, to determine if a candidate should advance to an interview, using a standard list of questions and candidate-specific questions too.
    • Application process: Include a personal statement (motivation, career goals) in addition to the application form. Screen applications as soon as they are received.
    • Interviews:
      • Ask behaviorally based questions to elicit 3 types of skills:
        • Content skills (job specific)
        • Functional or transferable skills (organizational, time management, planning, communication, etc.)
        • Adaptive or self-management skills (punctuality, dependability, self-direction, teaming)
      • Assess candidates’ personal commitment, i.e., does Adults Services work reflect their personal beliefs?
      • Require candidates to complete several verbal or written Adults Services vignettes. Grade on how they resolve situations, technical skills, and writing or verbal ability.
      • Expand the interview to include exercises such as prioritization of tasks, simulated client interviews, simulated group discussion (e.g., a case discussion or a problem-solving discussion).
      • Ask candidates to complete a skills inventory.  Provide training for supervisors and managers who will conduct the interviews.
    • Discuss Article: American Public Human Services Association, 2010. Positioning Public Child Welfare Guidance.  Function of HR – page 15-17  and Recruitment and training page 18-29 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TXP0LFTpee75xSAfDNaK1peuD5KOREcM/view?usp=sharing
Activities
  1. Review Strategies for Staff Engagement and Retention article by National Child Welfare Workforce Institute from August 2013: Child Welfare Staff Engagement & Retention in Washington, DC: Alternative Work Schedules, Telecommuting & Other Supports https://ncwwi.org/files/CW_Staff_Engagement__Retention_1-pager.pdf
  2. Meet with your Human Resource colleagues.  Find out your agency’s current recruitment and retention plan and process?  How’s it working? What’s missing?  What can you build on? Ask the same questions about promotional opportunities for staff.
  3. Individual Exercise: Review your county’s job descriptions.  Are these included in your job descriptions: What does it take for a person to succeed as a Social Worker? Ability, skills, motivation, personality, behavioral characteristics, technical skills, social skills, etc.
Materials
  • A Day in the Life of APS Investigator from Sonoma County as a recruitment video The Role of Sonoma County Adult Protective Services (APS)
  • A Day in the Life of APS Investigator from Arizona as a recruitment video “Adult Protective Services Recruitment: What We Do” Bing Videos
  • Child Welfare “Day in the Life” Realistic Job Preview Video-California  Recruitmentv2.mov
  • Alaska Office of Children’s Services Realistic Job Profile
  • This Realistic Job Preview describes the difficulties and satisfactions of the Child Welfare  job. https://vimeo.com/97872205
  • Adult Protective Services Action Plan (az.gov) March 2020 – Arizona’s APS work plan that included their plan for cross training plan and their recruitment and retention plan. Page 11-13
  • 10 Practices: A Child Welfare Leaders’ Desk Guide to

Building a High-Performing Agency Practice #2 page 12-13 “Emphasizing Human Resources, Training and Supervision”

Staff Engagement and Retention article by National Child Welfare Workforce Institute from August 2013: Child Welfare Staff Engagement & Retention in Washington, DC: Alternative Work Schedules, Telecommuting & Other Supports https://ncwwi.org/files/CW_Staff_Engagement__Retention_1-pager.pdf

The County Welfare Directors Association of California Turnover Study (2006) https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=a31ca0f020f8e818c4cfb15040400f34ef961067801a0da29da19bce4e262130JmltdHM9MTczOTkyMzIwMA&ptn=3&ver=2&hsh=4&fclid=36513c9f-2d2f-6af9-3e1f-2ef62cbd6b7f&psq=2006+CWDA+turnover+study&u=a1aHR0cHM6Ly9zb2NpYWxzZXJ2aWNld29ya2ZvcmNlLm9yZy93cC1jb250ZW50L3VwbG9hZHMvMjAyNC8wMy9UdXJub3Zlci1TdHVkeS5wZGY&ntb=1
Segment #4: Partnerships that Support Workforce Development and Retention

Reading and Activities: 1 to 2 hours

Coaching: 2 hours
Learning Objective Organize and oversee collaboration with key workforce development organizations to support agency needs. Working towards maintaining a stable workforce.
Content
Activities
  1. Get to know the leaders of these organizations. Have an introductory meeting with them and find out what their working relationship with your agency has been like previously, and what kind of relationship they would like.
    1. At that meeting or a subsequent meeting, share with them what you have learned about your agency and its workforce development strengths and challenges. Ask for their feedback and about how they might be able to help.  Find out how you might be able to support them.
  2. Find out if your agency has MSW internships.  With what schools? Do the schools have a particular expertise or focus?
  3. Think about who else can you partner with, both internally and externally,  e.g., local media, to improve staff recruitment and retention?
  4. Think about active steps can you take to develop good relationships with yet another partner -- the media -- and have positive stories in the news?
Materials
  • Recruitment and Retention | Child Welfare Information Gateway – although it focuses on child welfare, it has really good briefs and articles about recruiting, and retaining.
  • National Adult Protective Services Association (NAPSA) – Supporting APS across the country since 1989. A forum for sharing information, solving problems, and improving the quality of services for victims of elder and vulnerable adult mistreatment. Home - NAPSA. NAPSA offers a National Certificate Program and it is highly encouraged for all APS staff to complete 205-The-NAPSA-Certificate-Program.pdf
  • The National APS Training Center (NATC) - serves as a source of quality education for APS  professionals throughout the United States. APS professionals encounter a vast array of situations in their daily work that require them to be well trained to respond to older adults and adults with disabilities who may have experienced abuse, neglect, or exploitation. Home | NATC