Trends Affecting Recruitment and Retention of Social Work Staff in Human Services Agencies

Working conditions will have a marked influence on employee recruitment to and retention in the social work profession. People are unlikely to enter or stay in a profession if salary, influence on environment, and sensitivity to values are unsatisfactory. Ability to exercise professional judgment, an enduring goal of social work education, will influence graduates' expectations, as will three emerging trends: increased career orientation of women, frequency of midlife career change, and entry of newcomers from non-Western cultures. People exemplifying these trends bring expectations to the workplace that must be recognized. A sufficient supply of social work graduates will not solve the recruitment problems of agencies that are unresponsive to workers' attributes and aspirations.