Flexible working in Scottish social work a report from SASW and SWU

A report from SASW and SWU on the current state of flexible working in Scottish public sector social work

Flexible working in Scottish social work calls on social work employers to embrace flexible working to help tackle ongoing recruitment and retention crisis. 

The report by the Scottish Association of Social Work (SASW) and the Social Workers Union (SWU) shows that the number of social workers working flexibly varies widely across different local authorities.

Flexible working can help maintain a happier, healthier workforce. Flexible working opportunities can stop people from leaving a job or sector entirely.  It can assist with reducing the gender pay gap, by enabling women to remain in and re-enter the workforce and support people with caring responsibilities to thrive and excel in the workplace. Part-time are roles often more valued by older workers. Therefore, flexible working arrangements should be seen as an important employment tool to support employee wellbeing and aid staff retention and recruitment.

The report points out the recruitment and retention challenges the social work profession in Scotland is facing. 19% of the workforce are aged 55 or over, 82% are female and 25% of social workers leave the profession within 6 years of qualifying.

The number of part-time social workers in Scotland has also remained stagnant over the last decade and the number of social workers working flexibly varying hugely between employers.

55% of the social work employers who were asked were offering flexible working in job adverts there is also a long way to go before every social work employer is proactively engaging potential employees in the opportunities of flexible work.

National Director of SASW, Alison Bavidge, commented: 

“Social work is an immensely rewarding profession, but we know it can bring a high level of stress if the supports for social workers are not there.

“Flexible working arrangements can benefit our communities and our workers and could be a key element in improving both recruitment and retention for social work.“

General Secretary of SWU, John McGowan, commented:

“With recruitment of social workers still proving challenging for employers, now is the time for concerted action. We need to see social work employers offering more roles on part-time or flexible hours contracts.

“Flexible working provides clear opportunities to address social work staffing shortages; it will attract and retain present workers who need a flexible working environment. This can only improve well-being and work-life balance which is much needed in our challenging profession.”