Exit, loyalty and focus. Dutch social workers’ responses to swing-of-the-pendulum policies

Many social workers are confronted with tidal wavescyclical or swingof-the-pendulum policiesin the course of their career.Policies oscillate between harsh and lenient, emphasising safety and family unity, equality and tailor-made arrangements.In addition, social work organisations are being organised and reorganised in recurrent modes as well: from largescale to small-scale, with or without team coordinators, from a generalised to a specialised division of tasks.In this article, we pose the question how social workers respond to cyclical changes in policy and management.We use a dataset of 35 interviews with Dutch social workerstrained in the early 1990s, early 2000s, and early 2010sabout their careers.We found that some social workers respond to cyclical changes in policy and management by exiting their profession or contemplating exit.Others adjusted to the policy circles and management fashions, sometimes grudgingly, sometimes because they endorsed the new policies, and sometimes because they just went along.Yet other social workers practised focus, that is: they sought refuge in the core of their profession, delivering the best possible social work, ignoring the tidal waves as far as possible.The latter response seems to be based on a strong professional identity SAMENVATTING Veel sociaal werkers worden gedurende hun loopbaan geconfronteerd met cyclische beleidswijzigingen of 'pendulebeleid'.Beleid gaat heen en weer tussen soepel en streng, tussen 'veiligheid voor alles' en 'gezinnen intact laten', tussen rechtsgelijkheid en maatwerk.Sociaal werkers hebben daar bovenop ook te maken met pendulebeleid in de organisaties waar ze werken: die worden gefuseerd of weer opgesplitst, managementlagen worden ingevoerd en weer afgeschaft, nu eens moet er generalistisch en dan weer specialistisch worden gewerkt.In dit artikel stellen we de vraag hoe sociaal werkers reageren op pendulebeleid en -management.We gebruiken een dataset van 35 interviews met Nederlandse sociaal werkersopgeleid in de vroege jaren '90, rond 2000 en rond 2010over hun loopbaan.