Policy & Practice | February 2022

president‘smemo By Tracy Wareing Evans

The Human Services Workforce: Ingenuity, Intentionality, and Adaptability

I write this column a few weeks into the new year, feeling both excited about the possibilities ahead and weary as we continue to witness the cumulative toll of ongoing hardship in the nation. We chose the theme of this first issue—the human services workforce—with purpose. There is no greater resource on which we depend to deliver effective services and supports for people experiencing adversity. In our first Cornerstone series, we captured the fundamental role the human services workforce plays: The human services workforce is an essential part of the skilled construction crew that allows us to build well-being. Like a registered contractor who knows the best tradesman and tools for the job, the human services workforce helps assess the need and connects people to services and supports that will work for them. To unleash the full potential of the workforce, we must ensure they are healthy and well, and have the modern tools they need to do their jobs. We must create more opportunities for workers to spur innovative approaches and to partner with families to co-create solu- tions together. And, we must promote workplace cultures and environments where staff and community work trans- parently together to build the muscle we need to redesign our systems and put an end to structurally driven inequities. Put another way, absent a workforce that is healthy and well-equipped, it is nearly impossible to achieve the outcomes we desire for communities. How best to support the human services workforce is not a new

progress has been incremental and too often fleeting. Notably, these challenges are not unique to the United States. Just last week, I was on a call with colleagues from the European Social Network (ESN), a membership network in the European Union (EU), and workforce challenges are top of mind for govern- ment leaders there as well. Like the United States, the challenges have been exacerbated by the direct and indirect impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, as it has stretched demand on both health care and human services systems,

issue—indeed, it has been a top contender of what keeps agency leaders up at night for as long as I have been asking that question of our members. Health and human services agencies—both public sector and com- munity based—struggle to recruit and retain quality staff at all levels; equip them with the necessary training, tools, and resources to do the job; and keep them safe and well-supported. Over the year, agencies have deployed a multitude of recruitment and reten- tion strategies, training approaches, technology investments, and trauma- informed support systems. Some have had more success than others, but

See President’s Memo on page 19

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February 2022 Policy&Practice