More Kids, More Families:

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• More Kids, More Families
• Securing the Human Services
• Workforce for a Growing Arizona
• Cornerstones For Kids
• March 9, 2007

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HSWI Mission

• HSWIs mission is to work with others to raise
  the
• visibility of, and sense of urgency about,
• workforce issues. We hope to
• Call greater attention to workforce issues
• Help to describe and define the status of the
  human services workforce
• Disseminate data on current conditions
• Highlight best and promising practices
• Suggest systemic and policy actions that can make
  a deep, long-term difference

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The premises

• Human services matter they impact the
• lives of vulnerable children and families,
• often at critical times.
• There is a correlation between the quality
• of the frontline workers and effectiveness
• of the services they deliver.
• We cannot produce better outcomes
• without addressing the workforce.

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• The best policy reforms and program innovations
  will have only minimal impact without quality
  staff to translate reforms into good practice for
  children and families.

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We often think that passing legislation or
adopting a new program model will lead directly
to improved outcomes. We forget that it takes
workers to apply policies and deliver services.
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The way change really happens. The road to
reform runs through the workforce.
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The problem

• The human services workforce is in crisis --
  characterized by excessive turnover, inadequate
  pre-professional and/or in-service training,
  burn-out, unrealistic expectations and
  antagonistic relationships between line staff and
  administration. And in some ways it is getting
  worse.

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The challenge

• The challenge is to assure a high quality human
• service workforce one that is stable,
  motivated, well prepared, subject to realistic
  expectations and well supported by supervisors
  and the organization.
• There are no quick, easy, inexpensive answers.
• The key to improving the quality of the workforce
  is improving the quality of the jobs.

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Getting and keeping quality staff

• Good young people consider entering human
  services every day, because they want to make a
  difference.
• Large numbers do not commit to a career because
  
• compensation and benefits are not commensurate
  with education and importance
• working conditions are unsatisfactory and
• there is little recognition.
• The issues play out differently in the different
  human service fields.

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Child Welfare

• The average tenure of child welfare workers is
  less than two years.
• 90 of states report difficulty hiring and
  retaining qualified staff.
• Caseworker turnover is associated with childrens
  multiple placements in foster care, longer
  lengths of stay for children in foster care, and
  lower rates of finding permanent homes for
  children.

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Child welfare in Arizona

• In December, 2005 only 35 of Arizonas DCYF
  staff had social work degrees.
• Only 15 have the preferred degree -- MSW.
• The largest percentage of staff have Bachelor
  degrees
• in related fields (39).
• There is also an unknown but substantial number
  of staff members who have less than a Bachelor
  degree.
• Many staff are relatively new the number of
  Case
• Managers has increased by almost 50 in the last
  three
• years.

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Juvenile justice

• Absence of national data.
• The juvenile justice field is changing in some
  jurisdictions from monitoring to mentoring.
• Disparities between public and private employees
  creates a feeder system, as does movement from
  juvenile corrections to adult.
• Staff in correctional facilities have very
  different profiles than probation officers.
• Youth needs are changing prominence of
  substance abuse and mental health issues.

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Its not just about public employees

• Disparities in salaries between public and
  private child welfare workers present a retention
  challenge.
• In Arizona, private human service agencies,
  providing publicly funded services, pay an
  average of 25 less than a state agency for a
  comparable position.
• Many private agencies cannot provide retirement
  benefits, which cause staff to leave for state
  jobs.
• Over 90 of all human service providers reported
  that they frequently or sometimes hire staff
  that dont meet minimum standards.
• In youth development and early childhood nearly
  all publicly funded services are provided by
  employees of private agencies.

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Child Care andEarly Childhood Education

• Nationally, in 2004, ECE teachers and
  administrators earned only 10 per hour, compared
  to 19.23 for all female college graduates.
• Nationally, 28 of ECE teachers and
  administrators live at below 200 of the poverty
  level. In Arizona 38 are below this level.
• The share of U.S. center-based teachers and
  administrators with at least a four-year college
  degree averaged 43 from 1983-85, but only 30
  from 2002-04. In Arizona, the most recent figure
  is 28.
• Some fear the field is being de-professionalized.
  
• (from Losing Ground in Early Childhood Education)

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ECE Turnover

• Because teachers are compensated so
• poorly, it is not surprising that the ECE
• workforce is plagued by turnover.
• At 30 the annual ECE turnover rate stands in
  stark contrast to the 16 among K-12 teachers.
• THE EARLY CARE AND EDUCATION
• TEACHING WORKFORCE
• AT THE FULCRUM

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Youth development workers

• Two recent studies report high levels of job
  satisfaction for youth workers, but they do not
  tend to stay in their jobs for very long.
• Inadequate pay is cited as the number one factor
  influencing whether people leave the field.
• For many frontline staff, career advancement
  (especially salary increases) requires job
  changes.
• In the absence of organizational career ladders,
  frontline workers committed to staying in the
  field find themselves job-hopping jobs to get the
  recognition and rewards they believe they
  deserve.

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The importance of WHO provides the services

• The right people, with the right skills in the
  right places at the right times.
• Not interchangeable parts not just warm bodies
  -- not just about filling the positions on an
  organization chart.
• The importance of experience, judgment,
  temperament, and the ability to build trusting
  relationships.

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Arizona

• The good news More than most states, Arizona is
  focusing on human service workforce issues.
• The hard news Arizona faces all the usual
  workforce challenges, plus particularly
  challenging issues of growth and diversity.

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Population Growth

• While the US population grew 5.3 from 2000-05,
  Arizonas population increased 15.8.
• The 2030 Census estimate projects a further
  increase of nearly 5 million more people in the
  next 25 years.
• Today's population is estimated at nearly 5.9
  million. Growing to 10.7 million in the next 25
  years would be almost an 83 percent increase.
• People 65 and older are expected to be a huge
  component of growth, surging from 13 percent of
  the state's population in 2000 to an estimated 22
  percent in 2030.
• Although the number of children under 18 is
  projected to grow by at least 1.1 million, to 2.6
  million, that pace is no match for the 65-plus
  age group.

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Competition for staff

• Baby boom impact on the workforce.
• Human services are not alone health care,
  education, other professions are competing for
  candidates and addressing their own workforce
  crisis.

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Diversity

• Latinos constitute 28 of the Arizona
  population and 42 of those receiving state
  funded services.  Most human service agencies
  have less than 10 Latino staff.
• Successful services are built on communication
  language skills and cultural competency are
  vital.

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Big problems require big solutions

• We need to reject piecemeal, quick fixes that
  have at best marginal impact.
• We need to adopt a long term set of goals that
  address whole systems.
• We need to understand that attracting and
  maintaining a high quality staff is a forever job
  and doing it well should be a normal part of
  doing business.

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What to Do?Comprehensive workforce planning

• A mechanism that provides managers and leaders
  with data to make decisions.
• An accepted model used by business and
  government.
• It establishes goals, timetables, resources
  needed and fixes responsibility.
• Helps to build a partnership between human
  services, human resources and political
  leadership.

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A Workforce Planning model.
Gap-Closing Strategies
Strategy Assessment
Environmental Scan
Gap Analysis
Evaluation
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Workforce planning

• Strategy Assessment
• Establish Leadership Commitment and Resources.
• Review Strategic and Operational Plans.
• Determine Workforce Implications Related to
  Strategic and Operational Plans.

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Environmental Scan

• Data Collection
• Forecast Trends
• Conduct Internal and External scans
• Describe Current Workforce
• Project Workforce Supply and Demand
• Identify Competencies

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The frequent absence of data

• Most jurisdictions lack even rudimentary data
• about their workforce
• Who works for us?
• What are their qualifications?
• Where are they coming from?
• How long are they staying?
• What trends are we seeing?
• How do they feel about their jobs? What factors
  are contributing to job satisfaction?
• How is the work we are doing changing, and what
  changes will be needed in the workforce?

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Competencies

• What does it take to do this job well?
• What are the characteristics of successful front
  line workers?
• What skills, attributes, competencies do they
  bring?
• How can we spot these attributes in the selection
  process, what recruitment techniques are most
  effective?
• What can we do to nurture, reward and develop
  these behaviors?

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The turkey joke

• Some things cannot be taught some can be taught
  but only with great difficulty
• You can teach a turkey to climb a tree
• But it probably makes more sense to hire a
  squirrel.

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Gap Analysis

• Data Analysis
• Compare Current Talent to Future Talent Needs
• Identify Gaps and Surpluses

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Gap-Closing Strategies

• Recruitment
• Retention
• Restructuring jobs
• Succession Planning
• Training
• Performance Management

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Evaluation

• Continuing Review and Assessment
• Monitor and Review Implementation
• Evaluate Outcomes and Processes and Revise as
  Necessary

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A Workforce Planning model.
Gap-Closing Strategies
Strategy Assessment
Environmental Scan
Gap Analysis
Evaluation
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Advantages of a plan

• Relating workforce needs to strategic plans
• Workforce implications of reforms
• Clearly stated, publicly known goals
• A tracking system, monitoring benchmarks
• Identifying unintended consequences

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Some action ideas

• The workforce needs to be seen as everyones
  problem program administrators, executive
  branch leaders, legislators, professional
  associations, universities all need to be on
  the same page.
• Partnership between human services and human
  resources is vital.
• Some things not rocket science living wage
  reasonable hours career ladders recognition
  good supervision.
• Get really serious about job satisfaction
  changing the system so that human services
  professionals get to do the work that brought
  them into the field.
• Assess the impact of public-private disparities.
• Focus on caseload, but not only caseload.

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Actions, continued

• Learn how to provide services that are not quite
  so dependent on the stand-alone skills of
  individuals greater use of protocols decision
  tools quality assurance more effective
  supervision.
• But be mindful that staff are already drowning in
  paperwork.
• Look to new sources of professional staff.

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Actions, continued

• Recruitment innovations
• Get em early
• Loan forgiveness
• Teach for America
• Provide greater support.
• Look at new ways to do the work.
• Streamline Court processes.
• Deal with bogus referrals.

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What can elected officials and other leaders do?

• Recognize that very little in human services will
  get done well in the absence of facing the
  workforce crisis.
• Tackling the workforce requires uncommon
  leadership to take on a long term, not very sexy,
  potentially expensive and controversial subject.
• Focus on data and hard-headed analysis set
  goals make decisions include stakeholders keep
  the subject alive don't settle for quick fixes
  don't forget the private agencies.
• Ask the workforce questions, over and over.
• Lead, lead, lead.