Policy & Practice December 2018

n Include, among others, related administrative functions such as human resources and risk manage- ment staff or providers. n Focus on our roles as system influ- encers. We need to be leaders who frame and position a career in human services as valuable and satisfying. n Focus on expanding the model beyond just our public agency workforces and include our com- munity-based service providers and constituent groups. n Acknowledge that hiring practices, onboarding, employee training and development, as well as promotions and supervisory development, are critical to building strong orga- nizational cultures and enhance workforce well-being. n Recognize the importance of peer- to-peer support for workforce well-being. n Include salary and benefits, including flextime and transporta- tion subsidies, as part of the model. n Invest in the tools and skillsets of our staff—a critical indicator, especially as we tend to disinvest as service demands and financial constraints stress the workforce. n Emphasize the power of staff reward and recognition—these jobs don’t literally have to be “thankless.” n Include facilities and general working conditions as key indicators in our model. n Help us learn and evolve in step with our corresponding models of effec- tive leadership. Completing the initial version of the model will enable us to move forward in a range of ways: n Launching a range of pilot studies, in selected counties as well as national tribal contexts, where agencies are using the model to drive continuous improvement plans and activities to improve workforce well-being and understand its impact on health. n Continuing to deepen the research basis for our model, drawing from a wide range of fields that have already studied workforce improve- ment efforts and their impact, utilizing first responder fields, private industry, and those public

agencies already addressing work- force health and well-being. n Developing a separate, but related, device to define and study the stress- related behavioral and psychological indicators that underly more general workforce health indicators. This model will also enable us to establish a broader theory of change and impact that links workforce well-being and health to that of the people and communities being served. Establishing this link will substantiate the return-on-investment that will break through previous patterns of disinvesting in the workforce where the investments are most important. Reinforcing these theories of change will ideally positively validate and working to assist them inan effort to impact their individual health andwell-being. Wemust continually let ourH/HS workforce know that we understand their challenges and are

impact our H/HS professionals who work tirelessly for their communities. We must continually let our H/HS workforce know that we understand their challenges and are working to assist them in an effort to impact their individual health and well-being. We must also inform them that we are working on ways to enhance their ability to support their community impacts—the reason why many of them entered the human-serving field in the first place. Our next steps include staging a program, hosted by UC Davis in 2019, bringing together staff from a range of local agencies from California, tribal representatives, and two additional states. The general program agenda will focus on these objectives: n Raise awareness about workforce well-being and health and its impact on community well-being and health. n Introduce organizational improve- ment tools and methods that pilot sites can utilize. n Discuss and critique the emerging model of factors and indicators to strengthen and build a common understanding. n Plan next steps for pilots and investi- gational studies. We would appreciate any ideas, examples, and forms of support that readers might suggest to us. Please send this information to Jennifer Kerr at jkerr@aphsa.org.

Photograph via Shutterstock

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December 2018 Policy&Practice