Children’s Services set to overhaul staff caseloads

New model seeks to decrease turnover, increase interaction time with families

Social worker caseloads in Alberta are about to undergo a seismic shift as the child intervention system looks to battle skyrocketing job vacancies and mental-health issues among workers.

It marks the first time in more than 25 years that workloads are being overhauled to benefit Alberta’s vulnerable children and give front-line workers more time for face-to-face interaction with families, balanced caseloads, and less staff turnover. Children’s Services is rolling out the new Workplace Assessment Model (WAM), which will see every case worker and supervisor receive training between July 4 and Sept. 30.

“We’re intentionally embedding this into what we do every single day,” says Donna Bell, who works with intervention initiatives in the Children’s Services department.

FROM THE FRONT LINES

The WAM model was two years in the making, relying on a vast amount of front-line worker input.

Officials sat down with staff across the province to figure out what is done each day and how long each task takes. They used the data to develop the new model. Feedback from case workers was crucial to ensure WAM has the front-line workers top of mind, Bell says.

In 2011, an attempt to move in a similar direction was met with resistance, but Melanie Metcalf, a case worker and chairwoman of AUPE Local 6, says there’s now greater understanding among staff about why the shift is crucial.

A provincewide pilot of the most recent version of WAM was completed in March. The majority of the 140 staff who took part responded positively.

PLUGGING THE GAPS

There are also plans to develop a pool of full-time “floater staff” who could be deployed around their region or to different parts of the province as required.

Currently, if a case worker is away, others in the office have to cover those files. It creates the potential for families to fall through the gaps.

THE RETENTION QUESTION

Social Services faces ongoing challenges in recruiting and retaining staff, but Bell hopes WAM will change that.

Divvying up cases according to intensity, and increased communication between workers and supervisors, are both key. Until now, senior workers have ended up with the bulk of high-intensity files. Under WAM, each worker’s caseload will comprise 20 per cent high-intensity files, 60 per cent middle intensity and 20 per cent low intensity.

Newer workers will be mentored by more experienced staff, reducing burnout while simultaneously increasing staff development.

Where workload discussions in the past were seen as adversarial, under WAM it’s “simply a conversation about what’s in the best interests of the workers we hire, and the families and positive outcomes we want to achieve.”