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Published On: Thu, Jan 5th, 2017

Solutions Needed to Make Social Work a More Enticing Career

The social work industry isn’t for the faint hearted, which is why it is an industry that has loads of jobs, but not enough social workers to cover them. The industry does suffer because of this, and sometimes social workers themselves wonder why they bothered with the industry in the first place. With that being said, the industry is very rewarding in the sense it makes social workers feel good about themselves because they help so many people on a daily basis – but the job can be so emotionally draining at times nobody else wants to get involved. Governments need to make MSW careers more enticing for more people to take it on as a career, and they can do that by implementing the following solutions.

Pay Increase

public domain pic from May 4 1916

This would be the obvious solution to the problem, but it isn’t a solution that is going to be implemented quickly. Governments are on strict budgets and they can’t offer good wages for one government job sector and not the other. Social workers don’t get a bad wage, but for what they do in terms of long hours and the emotional effect it has on their lives, this means it should be a job that pays more. If the government were to increase the wage in the different social work sectors, many more people would choose it as a career path, but right now, it doesn’t pay well enough for the type of work that is involved.

Less Hours

Another obvious solution to the problem would be to decrease the amount of hours or workload a social worker has to undertake on a weekly basis. Whether social workers get paid an hourly rate or are on a salary, they seem to do a lot more work than they should and it has an adverse impact on their lives. Again, the wage isn’t a bad salary, but it still isn’t worth it for the time, effort, and emotional impact it has on their lives.

Does it need to be such a stressful job?

Recent surveys with social workers in the industry suggest the job itself is too stressful, and workers end up having extra time off due to stress and depression. While social workers are doing great for other people, they don’t seem to be doing themselves any favors, which is again one of the many reasons why workers do not want to go down the social work career path.

All in all, there are many social work jobs available to choose from, and plenty of opportunities in terms of career advancement in social work, but a lack of workers to fill them. If governments were to find solutions such as the above to make the social work environment a little easier on people, then the chances are good that a lot more people would start at the bottom of the social work career ladder and try to find their way up. The social work industry is currently crumbling because there aren’t enough younger workers looking to get involved because they have heard what a tough job it is. Can you help?

Author: Carol Trehearn

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