Low staff retention and heavy workloads are pervasive issues in Santa Barbara County’s Social Services Department, employees told the Board of Supervisors earlier this month.
Social workers, child welfare workers and eligibility workers spoke during a public comment period before a consultant report reiterated many of their concerns.
Yuri Gomez, a supervisor in Child Welfare Services, said the county is losing employees because of issues like wages, benefits, after-hours work, high caseloads and overall stress of the job.
“In my work I see the most unimaginable things happen to children on a daily basis, and I’m still here to support the children in our community,” said Jasmin Mera, a social worker.
Employees who work after hours are “walking on eggshells for the rest of the night” because it’s common to get a call and work into the early hours of the morning, she said.
“If you can only imagine staying up all night, up until 2, 3 in the morning, and then trying to sleep, only to wake up for, an example for myself, wake up at 5 in the morning to get my own child ready for school, to get her to the next day, and then to manage a whole caseload,” Mera said.
Social Services is the county’s largest department, with more than 700 employees, and most of the funding comes from the State of California, County Executive Officer Mona Miyasato noted.
The KPMG consulting firm has been reviewing each department’s operations and submitted a report on Social Services on Tuesday.
The report was a buffet of buzzwords, but the recommendations came down to improving data tracking to ensure clients don’t fall through service gaps, and scheduling staff better with more manageable workloads.
There was a significant difference in caseloads: Some Adult Protective Services staff had a caseload that was more than 300% higher than other employees, according to the consultant report.
Social Services director Daniel Nielsen said his department is open to the recommendations and is already implementing some of them.
“The process KPMG recommends is useful, but becomes more useful the more fully we’ve staffed,” he told the supervisors Tuesday. There are currently 14 vacant social worker positions in Child Welfare Services, which is a 19% vacancy rate.
Deputy director Amy Kreuger said the department has worked with Human Resources on ways to improve recruitment and retention. Social Services has relocation incentives, reduced the training period, and has “day in the life” information to make people better understand the job they’re applying for, she said.
Low staff recruitment and retention are issues other county departments are also dealing with, Nielsen noted. He is currently interim director of the Public Health Department, which has a 20% vacancy rate, he said.
County supervisors accepted the report and commended the department for being open to the recommendations. They also directly addressed Social Services employees who attended the meeting.
“You have one of the hardest jobs,” Third District Supervisor Joan Hartmann, the board chairwoman, said after the public comments, adding that she now has a fuller appreciation for the work Social Services employees do.
Click here to read KPMG reports on Santa Barbara County departments.
Click here for the staff report, presentation and KPMG report on the Social Services Department from Tuesday.
— Noozhawk managing editor Giana Magnoli can be reached at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.