SUBJECT: Recruitment of Social Workers in the County of Santa Clara and Child Abuse and Neglect (CAN) Center

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1 County of Santa Clara Social Services Agency DATE: December 8, 2016 TO: FROM: Finance and Government Operations Committee Robert Menicocci, Social Services Agency Director John P. Mills, Deputy County Executive SUBJECT: Recruitment of Social Workers in the County of Santa Clara and Child Abuse and Neglect (CAN) Center RECOMMENDED ACTION Receive report from the Social Services Agency, Department of Family and Children's Services, and the Employee Services Agency relating to the recruitment of Social Workers in the County of Santa Clara and in the Child Abuse and Neglect Center. COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS On November 3, 2016, the Finance and Government Operations Committee (FGOC) requested a joint report from the Social Services Agency (SSA), Department of Family and Children s Services (DFCS) and the Employee Services Agency (ESA) relating to the hiring of Social Workers (SW) in the County of Santa Clara (County) and in the Child Abuse and Neglect (CAN) Center. REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATION This joint report provides information relating to the recruitment of Social Workers in the County and in the CAN Center, as requested by the FGOC on November 3, CHILD IMPACT The recommended action will have a positive impact on the Every Child Safe and Safe and Stable Families indicators by providing the FGOC with an update on the recruitment of Social Workers to ensure adequate staffing to serve the children and families in Santa Clara County. SENIOR IMPACT The recommended action will have no/neutral impact on seniors. SUSTAINABILITY IMPLICATIONS The recommended action will have no/neutral sustainability implications. Board of Supervisors: Mike Wasserman, Cindy Chavez, Dave Cortese, Ken Yeager, S. Joseph Simitian Page 1 of 8

2 BACKGROUND Recruitment of Social Workers is a major and ongoing challenge for many child welfare agencies, including the DFCS. While several social work staff vacancies are a result of staff transferring and promoting to new positions, others are a result of the extremely challenging nature of child welfare work. In an effort to address this issue, the ESA/Human Resources (HR) Department and the DFCS have implemented a variety of strategies to enhance the recruitment process. As requested by the FGOC, this joint report seeks to provide the following information: Recruitment of Social Workers in the County of Santa Clara, including updates on staffing vacancies and recruitment strategies implemented by the ESA/HR Department Recruitment of Social Workers in the CAN Center, including updates on staffing vacancies and recruitment strategies implemented by the DFCS Updates on Staffing Vacancies Overall, within the DFCS, there are 340 authorized Social Worker III/II positions (see Appendix A) and 40 vacancies (see Appendix B), which is a 12% vacancy rate (see Appendix C). Since February 2016, ESA/Human Resources (HR) has continuous (on-going) recruitments for Social Worker III, Social Worker II and Social Worker II Spanish Speaking (see Appendix D). For each of the continuous recruitments, cutoff dates are set every four weeks, at which point the recruitment process is completed. The recruitment process includes screening for employment standards, review by the Subject Matter Expert and Human Resources Manager, sending of rejection notices, creating an eligible list, and referring candidate names to the hiring manager. The Social Worker III eligible list is also filtered for requested language (i.e., Vietnamese, Spanish) as needed. Recruitment Strategies Implemented by the ESA/HR Department In an effort to fill the Social Worker III/II vacancies, the ESA/HR Department implemented several recruitment strategies, including the following: 1. Working with a third-party vendor; 2. Revising the Social Worker III and II job specifications; 3. Providing a salary increase; 4. Notifying previous Social Worker III and II applicants; 5. Creating a differential pay for Social Worker III/II classifications in Emergency Response (ER), Dependency Intake (DI), and Continuing Units; and 6. Offering a competitive salary. Each of the aforementioned ESA/HR Department recruitment strategies is described in detail below. Board of Supervisors: Mike Wasserman, Cindy Chavez, Dave Cortese, Ken Yeager, S. Joseph Simitian Page 2 of 8

3 1. Third-Party Vendor: Since February 2016, HR has contracted with a third-party vendor to recruit for Social Worker III Spanish Speaking applicants. The vendor has referred seven applicants to apply with the County of Santa Clara. The outcome of vendor recruits are as follows: None hired; Five did not meet the Social Worker III employment standards; Two applied, met employment standards, and were referred for interviews: o One did not show up for the interview; and o One was not selected for hire. 2. Social Worker III and II Job Specification Revisions: The revision effective date was May 10, With these revisions, the employment standards, including the education fields and Master s degree requirements, were broadened to allow a larger pool of qualified applicants to apply. This revision was changed from Master of Social Work (MSW) to possession of a Master's degree in Social Work preferred or possession of a Master's degree in Behavioral Science, Counseling, Educational Counseling, Gerontology, Marriage and Family Therapy, Nursing, Psychology, Social Psychology, Vocational Rehabilitation or equivalent titles to the above degree from an accredited college. Since the revisions of the job specifications for Social Worker II and III, more applicants have been hired with Master Degrees other than MSWs as shown in Table 1 below: Social Worker II Recruitment Applicants with MSW Applicants with Other Master Degrees Table 1: Social Worker II and III Recruitment (Since Job Specification Revisions) Social Worker II # of Qualified Applicants # of Qualified Applicants Hired % of Total Apps % of Total Hires % 80% % 20% Social Worker III Applicants with % 63% MSW Applicants with % 38% Other Master Degrees Total % 100% About 20% of newly hired Social Worker II s and 38% of Social Worker III s have a non-msw master s degree. The revision of the job specifications has enabled the County to attract and hire more Social Workers. Board of Supervisors: Mike Wasserman, Cindy Chavez, Dave Cortese, Ken Yeager, S. Joseph Simitian Page 3 of 8

4 3. Salary Increase: Social Worker III and II job classifications were given a two percent salary increase as part of the job specification revisions. 4. Notification to Previous Social Worker III s and II s: Effective May 10, 2016, rejected applicants who applied prior to the Job Specification Revisions (within the last six-month period) received a notification informing them that the Social Worker III and II education requirement had been revised to include various types of degrees (other than MSW), in the event that they were interested to re-apply. This would increase the pool of qualified applicants for hiring Social Workers. 5. Differential Pay: Effective June 22, 2015, a six percent differential pay was created for Social Worker III and II positions who are regularly assigned to an ER, DI, or Continuing Unit within the DFCS. This was added to the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 521 contract (see Appendix G). 6. Salary Comparison: In a salary comparison of Social Worker III and Social Worker II against five other counties in Northern California, it was found that Santa Clara County s compensation is above the average for both classifications. Specifically, the data indicates that effective wage for Social Worker II assigned to the ER Unit, DI, or Continuing Unit is 16.7% above the average and the effective wage for Social Worker III assigned to the ER, DI, or Continuing Units is 12.9% above the average. RECRUITMENT OF SOCIAL WORKERS IN THE CAN CENTER This section provides updates relating to the recruitment of Social Workers in the CAN Center at the DFCS, as well as recruitment strategies implemented by the DFCS. Updates on Staffing Vacancies Overall, within the CAN Center, there are 35 authorized positions (see Appendix E). Currently, there are eight Social Worker III/II vacancies (see Appendix F). One of these vacancies has been placed in the Induction Training for new hire placement. The Social Worker Induction training begins November 21, 2016 and lasts for twelve weeks. This number of vacancies provided an opportunity for the CAN Center to evaluate the appropriateness of a full-range of shifts. To do so, a small group composed of CAN Center leadership, HR and the CAN Center SEIU representative used a call volume assessment to evaluate which shift adjustments were needed in order to ensure sufficient staff coverage. With determinations that a new shift was needed, HR and the DFCS management agreed to have the new shift posted internally to the existing CAN Center social worker staff prior to posting the vacancies on the transfer line, as required by the labor agreement with SEIU Local 521 (see Appendix G). Once internal staff shift movement is completed, the department will submit a transfer requisition to Human Resources to issue the Social Worker III/II postings on the transfer line for five working days. HR will screen the transfer applications and refer any transfer candidates to the department for the transfer hiring interviews. Upon completion of the transfer hiring interviews, any unfilled vacancies will be added to the open competitive Social Worker III and II requisition(s). Board of Supervisors: Mike Wasserman, Cindy Chavez, Dave Cortese, Ken Yeager, S. Joseph Simitian Page 4 of 8

5 It is of note that this option allowed existing CAN Center staff to volunteer for the new shift and, while it didn t change the number of openings, it ensures that existing staff are able to volunteer for the new shifts. This is supportive of their job satisfaction and also supportive of job retention strategies. Recruitment Strategies Implemented by the DFCS Similar to the ESA/HR Department, in an effort to fill the Social Worker III/II vacancies, the DFCS implemented several recruitment, as well as retention, strategies, including the following: 1. Implementing the SSA Student Internship Programs 2. Providing induction training to new Social Workers 3. Implementing the New Core 3.0 training 4. Employing other retention strategies Each of the aforementioned DFCS recruitment strategies is described in detail below. 1. The SSA Student Internship Program: The SSA coordinates the (a) Work-Study and (b) Title IV-E program model for the development of social work professionals: a. Work Study Program: The Work Study Program was implemented in In 1992, the Deans and Directors of the California Schools with Graduate MSW programs and the County Welfare Directors Association (CWDA) adopted the federally funded MSW Public Child Welfare (Title IV-E) Stipend Program to address a critical shortage of child welfare workers. At the SSA, one designated Social Work Supervisor manages, administers, and coordinates all aspects of the Student Internship Program while field instructors provide one-to-one direct supervision and informal mentors provide additional learning opportunities. The internship programs provide university students with an opportunity to learn the profession through practical experience, and the SSA has benefited from hiring from this pool of pre-qualified and trained interns. The Work Study Program, a collaborative effort between San José State University s (SJSU) School of Social Work and the SSA, was designed to be a professional development opportunity for staff and an opportunity to increase the number of individuals with MSW s in the DFCS. Based on these successes, the program was recently piloted within the Department of Aging & Adult Services (DAAS). Since the inception of the Agency s Work/Study Program, 172 employees have received their MSW degree. The evolution of the Student Internship Program includes Bachelor s in Social Work (BASW) interns in addition to MSWs. Many of the BASW interns have been successfully recruited to pursue their MSW and participate in the Board of Supervisors: Mike Wasserman, Cindy Chavez, Dave Cortese, Ken Yeager, S. Joseph Simitian Page 5 of 8

6 Title IV-E Program as well as positioning themselves for Social Worker I employment. b. Title IV-E Program: Title IV-E has been especially successful because it has increased both recruitment and retention of child welfare workers at the DFCS. Recipients of the stipend must agree to work two years, one for each year of stipend support, in full-time employment in a public child welfare agency upon graduation from the MSW program. Since the inception of the program approximately 215 Title IV-E interns have been placed within the SSA. On average, the SSA has anywhere from interns any given year. Currently there are thirty-eight interns in the MSW program and six BASW interns. Six interns are from the DAAS and thirty-two from the DFCS. Of the 38 MSW interns, 16 are Work Study and 22 are Title IV-E Interns. The early use of interns, along with the establishment of the Work/Study Program, the development of the Title IV-E Program, and the inclusion of BASWs in the Student Internship Program produce skilled, trained, and committed social work professionals, thereby reducing costs required to recruit and train less qualified applicants. The DFCS focuses on intern recruitment efforts, both locally and statewide. The Department s manager and management analyst over hiring provide an annual workshop for local interns that includes the benefits of working for Santa Clara County in general and the DFCS in particular, an overview of the application and hiring process and tips for successful applications. The DFCS manager and analyst s direct contact information is provided and both support interns directly over the course of the process. The intern coordinator and program manager in administration conduct mock interviews and provide the interns with feedback to improve their interviewing skills and support their success in the hiring process. The DFCS hired 10 of 12 local Title IV-E interns in 2015, and all 16 Title IV-E interns in In 2016, statewide outreach was conducted by the DFCS to all Title IV-E program coordinators, four months prior to intern graduation. Information was provided to coordinators to share with interns as with the local interns as described above; the program manager over hiring contacted all coordinators personally, collaborated with coordinators and supported interested interns directly throughout the process. The greatest interest was in San Diego County, and the DFCS picked up a number of Spanish-speaking Title IV-E graduates as a result. With the expansion of the Social Worker job specifications to include other Master s degrees, the DFCS has identified all Bay Area schools offering relevant degrees and will conduct a similar outreach effort in Additionally, the DFCS will offer to perform on-site workshops for those institutions who express interest. Board of Supervisors: Mike Wasserman, Cindy Chavez, Dave Cortese, Ken Yeager, S. Joseph Simitian Page 6 of 8

7 2. Induction Training Process: In the DFCS, the onboarding process is done through a 13-week induction training process. This training process has been in revision for the past year. It is the means by which the State-required classes, the local program and practice model training are delivered and provides the forum for the new employees to learn about the County, the Agency and the work of DFCS. Recently, in an effort to improve the onboarding and retention of newly hired social workers, Staff Development and DFCS have designed a model of onboarding that brings the newly hired staff into the 13-week Induction training as a cohort. This allows the new workers to begin training prior to receiving cases, and at the beginning of the induction classes. This way, new workers are not missing required training to attend to families and/or work overtime to keep up with case demands. The June through September 2016 Induction Training was the first cohort to experience this model. Feedback from the new workers who completed this cohort from beginning to end indicated that the workers enjoyed the learning environment; they felt supported both in the training environment and by their managers and supervisors when they were in their units and ultimately felt more equipped to do their job. This 13-week training currently includes a combination of classroom training, Statemandated classes, Court classes, Child Welfare Services/Case Management System classes (software application) and County-specific practice-related classes, elearnings, and experiential and behavioral rehearsals to practice the knowledge and skills taught. Wellness and self-care activities and support, along with reflective practice learning groups, have recently been added to support the new workers. Providing newly-hired social workers intensive training, support and supervision prior to placing them in a unit will give them the practical and hands on learning to better handle this difficult job. 3. Core 3.0: The California State Department of Social Services (CDSS) began a process of revising the Child Welfare core practice model two years ago. This new core training (Core 3.0) is scheduled to be fully implemented by February SSA Staff Development and the DFCS have been working closely together to prepare for the local implementation of Core 3.0. Effective February 2017, there will be a change to the required training that all newly hired social workers in Child Welfare will need to complete. Core 3.0 is a mandatory sequenced learning curriculum and is rolled out in blocks. Each block of essential learning builds upon one another and newly hired social workers are unable to move to the next learning block without completion of the previous block. This new requirement will push the length to 18 weeks of learning. This training will incorporate the current version where applicable as well as integrate Board of Supervisors: Mike Wasserman, Cindy Chavez, Dave Cortese, Ken Yeager, S. Joseph Simitian Page 7 of 8

8 the new requirements. elearning modules will now be required prerequisites before many of the classroom trainings. Field Advising will be a required component of Core 3.0. Field Advising will consist of nine specific activities that new social workers will be required to complete and then debrief/receive coaching from their supervisor prior to receiving credit for completion. Staff Development is facilitating an Induction Advisory Group made up of DFCS Managers, Supervisors and line workers to craft the final Induction Model proposal. 4. Other Retention Strategies: Staff Development also provides Reflective Supervision Learning Groups for new workers who have completed Induction Training and have transitioned to their respective unit but voluntarily want to continue to receive support around learning the practice. These learning groups are initiated in induction and are carried forward on a voluntary basis. DFCS currently has a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) Clinical Supervision Program which offers both Group and Individual Supervision to social workers interested in becoming licensed. Providing clinical group and individual supervision allows for social workers to increase their use of clinical judgment in their work with children and families. It is important for the department to develop stronger clinical skills as a whole in order to best assess, serve, and navigate the complexity of those in the Child Welfare System. This program draws much interest from social workers, but has limited capacity at this time. SUMMARY The ESA/HR and the DFCS continue to dedicate staff and time in an effort to fill Social Worker positions. Recruitment efforts for these positions continue in earnest as detailed in this report. While some progress has been achieved, the ESA/HR and DFCS are committed to continue filling the remaining vacancies through collaboration and implementation of strategies. CONSEQUENCES OF NEGATIVE ACTION The report relating to the recruitment of Social Workers in the County and in the CAN Center will not be received as a consequence of negative action. STEPS FOLLOWING APPROVAL The Clerk of the Board will follow the usual process for this type of legislative file. LINKS: Linked From: : Receive monthly report from the Social Services Agency, Department of Family and Children's Services, relating to the Child Abuse and Neglect Center. ATTACHMENTS: Appendices (PDF) Board of Supervisors: Mike Wasserman, Cindy Chavez, Dave Cortese, Ken Yeager, S. Joseph Simitian Page 8 of 8