The Cost of Social Worker Turnover

There is a national
epidemic of social
30-45%
Nationally, 30 45% of child welfare
staff leave within 2 years

2 years
worker turnover

Factors impacting those Cost of Turnover:

who stay more than 2 years:
Organizations Pay
a. Education those with a Social Work degree
(BSW/MSW) stay longer.
30%-70% of Salary
When Social
30%
However, only 28 percent of
child welfare staff hold either a
Workers Leave
BSW or MSW, and fewer than
15 percent of child welfare
25%
Costs Range from
agencies require caseworkers
to hold these degrees.
20%
$6,600-$24,800
15% 28%

$
10%
15%
5%
Direct costs
0 Direct costs such as advertising, time
spent interviewing, background and
reference checks, training
Work Supports personal
b. safety, addressing secondary We Can
trauma, realistic caseloads, Deliver!
professional development and
competent supervision

c.
Organizational Climate
supportive v. reactive approach of
leadership, celebrating successes,
workforce resiliency and direct
practitioner input
Indirect costs
We Can such as low morale and increased
Deliver!
workloads when staff leave, liability of
the organization due to inexperience
& impact on outcomes of safety,
permanence and well-being

d. Personal Sense of Mission in Child Welfare

 215%
Why It Matters
Turnover Impacts Outcomes Negatively
Federal Child & Family Reviews cited workforce deficiencies including
turnover as a reason states did not meet at least one or more of their measures.
Higher
The National Center on Crime and Delinquency (2006) determined that there was
a direct correlation between high turnover rates and higher rates of maltreatment
Child welfare agencies with a
reoccurrence after three, six and twelve months. Child welfare agencies with a turnover rate exceeding 15%
turnover rate exceeding 15 percent had a six-month recurrence rate (an important had a higher six-month
yardstick in the federal Child and Family Service Reviews) that was 125 percent recurrence rate
higher than those with turnover rates below 8.5 percent

74.5%
Flower, McDonald and Sumski (2005) discovered that an increase in the number of
direct practitioners decreases the chances of timely permanence for children. For
example, within a cohort of children who had only one social worker, 74.5% achieved
timely permanence, with the percentage drastically dropping to 17.5% if the child had
two social workers. In fact, there is negative impact on both length of stay in foster
care and achieving reunification if multiple practitioners are involved with the family
(Ryan, Garnier, Zyphur & Zhai, 2006).
children with one direct
practitioner, achieved permanency
80% 74.5% of the time
74.50%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20% 17.50% Flower, C., McDonald, J., & Sumski, M. (2005).
Review of Turnover in Milwaukee County Private
10% 5.20% Agency Child. Welfare Ongoing Case Manage-
.30% 2.20% ment Staff. Retrieved from: http://legis.wiscon-
.10% .10%
0 sin.gov/lc/committees/study/2008/ SFAM08/-
Workers 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 files/turnoverstudy.pdf

References:
Barak, M.E., Nissly, J.A & Levin, A. (2001). Antecedents to retention and turnover among child welfare, social work, and other human service employees: What can we learn
from past research? A review and metanalysis. Social Service Review, 75(4), 625-662.
Flower, C., McDonald, J. & Sumski, M. (2005). Review of turnover in milwaukee county private agency child welfare ongoing case management staff. Retrieved December
13, 2015, from http://www.uh.edu/socialwork/_docs/cwep/national-iv-e/turnoverstudy.pdf
Ryan, J.P., Garnier, P., Zyphur, M. & Zhai, F. (2005). Investigating the effects of caseworker characteristics in child welfare. Children and Youth Services Review, 28(9),
993-1006.
Childrens Defense Fund & Childrens Rights, Inc (2006). Components of an effective child welfare workforce to improve outcomes for children and families: What does
research tell us? Retrieved from Childrens Rights, Inc. website on February 9, 2016 http://www.childrensrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/com-
ponents_of_effective_child_welfare_workforce_august_2006.pdf
CPS Human Resource Services (2006). The Turnover Tool Kit: A Guide to Understanding and Reducing Employee Turnover. Retrieved from CPS Human Resource Services on
February 9, 2016 http://www.cpshr.us/workforceplanning/documents/ToolKitTurnover.pdf
United States General Accounting Office. (2003). Child welfare: HHS could play a greater role in helping child welfare agencies recruit and retain staff (GAO-03-357).
Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.