Work and Well-Being
The Occupational Social Work Advantage
Sheila H. Akabas
In 1890 the United States officially declared the frontier closed. Although the
population would continue to grow and new settlements would be established, the parameters
of the country were set, and from then on, Americans would inhabit this continent from
coast to coast. A century later the same could be said for occupational social work.
Heralded throughout previous decades as the frontier of social work, occupational social
work had, by 1990, won widespread acceptance not only in work settings, but among social
agencies of every ilk that identified their mission as reaching clients, influencing
systems, or both. The world of work and its auspices—trade unions and employing
organizations—have proved fertile ground for nurturing and expanding social work
practice. The further growth of occupational social work, a likely trend, will involve
more agencies, more professionals, more settings, and more and different interventions,
but the relationship of social work to world-of-work issues is well accepted and
widespread in its application.
Occupational social work deals with all the practice and policy issues that link social
welfare to the world of work—from unemployment to stress on the job, from policies on
fringe benefits to efforts to establish an inclusive, balanced work force, and from
programs that are designed exclusively for employees at a specific work site to service
delivery systems that are based on partnerships between the world of work and community
resources to provide facilities for child- and elder care. Many would claim that
occupational social work is the only new field of practice in social work since World War
II.
The term occupational social work, itself, conveys the evolution and settlement of this
field of practice. The field covers policies and practice targeted at workers, under the
sponsoring auspices of trade unions and employers, that are available at the workplace or
in the community, to individuals whose eligibility results from their status as workers or
their dependent relationship to employees. Initially, it was called "industrial
social work." The word industrial partly reflected the primary economic activity of
the nation at the time and partly conveyed the prominence of the field in industry, that
is, in the manufacturing sector that was ruled, largely, by collective bargaining
agreements.
The world of work has changed noticeably from those early days, and the word industrial
no longer can be applied to most workplaces. Today, fewer than 25 percent of all employed
persons work in manufacturing, the home of "industrial" workers, and fewer than
one worker in six is represented by a trade union (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1992). The
use of the term occupational is an attempt to be relevant in the present. It has been
adopted here with a nostalgic look back to the editors' earlier works and terminology
(Kurzman & Akabas, 1981).
In fact, this volume represents the editors' second foray into this subject matter. A
comparison of the two helps clarify the evolution that has occurred . In 1982, Work,
Workers, and Work Organizations: A View from Social Work (Akabas & Kurzman) conveyed a
theoretical picture of the coincidence between social work objectives and professional
activity in labor and management settings. It suggested what might be possible if
practitioners turned their attention to policy and the delivery of service within the
world of work. This volume combines theory with practice and reviews the state of the
field. It projects a futurist agenda based on actual experience and research findings. In
the interim, some significant features have been identified that characterize the field.
As this book begins, it seems appropriate to consider the history of this evolution; the
distinguishing qualities of occupational social work; and what the fit, between it and
expected trends in society, suggests about its future path of development.
A Historical Overview
The close connection between work and well-being has been clear to social workers from
the outset of the profession. Early charity workers recognized that the families they
served were plagued by the lack of jobs or low-paying employment, so that the health and
welfare of family members required financial assistance from the community (Popple, 1981).
But work provides much more than subsistence. It helps define a person's status, provides
satisfaction and a sense of self-worth, is a milieu in which social interactions and
friendships develop, offers an activity around which to organize one's time (Perlman,
1982); and, for adolescents, is an important step toward independence (Chestang, 1982;
Vailliant, 1978). The many functions that work serves help to reaffirm Sigmund Freud's
often-quoted statement that the ability to work is one of the two hallmarks of adulthood
(the other being the ability to love).
With work so significant to human development and functioning, it is not surprising
that social workers have had a long-term interest in the world of work. For example, Jane
Addams, director of Hull-House, an early settlement house, is given credit, historically,
for settling a long-term strike in the men's clothing industry by visiting one of the
owners of Hart, Schaffner and Marx and pointing out the extreme deprivation experienced by
families of the industry's workers (Germain & Hartman, 1980). Bertha Reynolds
(1951/1975), a radical social work theorist and the then-revered associate dean of Smith
College School of Social Work, directed an extensive social work service for merchant
seamen during World War II. Her belief that social work should take place in the natural
life space of clients is a guiding principle for occupational social work, and her
interpretation of that principle has been an inspiration to social workers since she
formulated it.
Despite these early activities, in the mid-1960s, Wilensky and Lebeaux (1965) still
considered industrial social work a frontier in continuing need of settlement, noting that
social work's relationship to the world of work was erratic, never seeming to have gained
a secure foothold. But during the 1960s, social work emerged from a period of
introspection to pursue its dual interest in dealing with both person and environment to
obtain a better fit (Caplan, Cobb, French, Harrison, & Pinneau, 1976). The world of
work presented a natural arena for considering the possibilities of such initiatives. At
the same time, the unions' long-standing hostility to social workers abated as more
psychologically sophisticated labor leaders identified the many ways in which counseling
could assist members to resolve substance abuse and other presenting problems (Perlis,
1977). Furthermore, unions began to look for new means of securing the loyalty of their
members, and some decided that the road to such loyalty might be paved with the provision
of social services.
Management also developed an interest in providing extensive services to employees.
Starting with World War II, when wage increases were barred in an attempt to control
inflation and employers created fringe benefits to increase the compensation for their
workers, management has been a major provider of health insurance and health care to
employees and their families. As part of this development, employers began to view social
workers as valued allies in the delivery of mental health services (Wagner, 1967). It is
estimated that over 10,000 work organizations have employee assistance programs (EAPs) or
their parallel, union-sponsored membership assistance programs (MAPs), with social workers
as the prime professional providers of services. In addition, the gurus of management
organization began telling Americans that the road to productivity is paved with the
concern for the needs of workers (Ouchi, 1981; Peters & Waterman, 1982). Attentiveness
has taken the form of programs of information and referral for child care, elder care, and
substance abuse; efforts to help workers meet the demands of shift work; and policy
initiatives to soften the insecurity of employment in an era of corporate mergers and
downsizing. All these activities are part of an appropriate agenda for social work
attention. Most recently, work organizations' interest in managing a diverse work force
and recognition of the importance of responding to the needs of the most vulnerable
workers— single working mothers, those serving in the military, workers responsible
for the care of fragile elderly relatives, recovering substance abusers, and workers with
disabilities—has increased the arena for social work action in the workplace. Thus,
it is not surprising that the representatives of auspices in the world of work redefined
social work as a profession that is relevant to their primary interests.
In parallel, social workers recognized that the functional community of work is as
appropriate a target as any other functional or geographic community. Some social workers
were hired by unions and employers, and much broader channels developed between social
agencies and the world of work. Community resources received referrals of clients from
occupational social workers. Community agencies began to offer services to work
settings—not only EAP contracts, but an array of programs to meet other needs, such
as work-focused treatment, stress-management training, counseling for families of cancer
patients, and referrals for child- and elder care. Social agencies that are involved in
vocational rehabilitation, the employment of youths, community mental health care, and
related issues have received financial support and received greater acceptance from
corporations and unions. Policy alliances between social work interests and those of labor
and management have also been formed. Often, an employer who offers EAP services is likely
to support legislation like family leave or funding for local child care services. The
policy interests of unions are often even more closely associated with a social work
agenda.
Distinguishing Features of Occupational Social Work
Today, 110 million Americans spend the better part of their waking hours in the world
of work. They are more diverse by gender, national origin, race, sexual orientation, and
any other variable that characterizes a working population than ever before. And the
rewards they receive are equally diverse. Some labor for long hours eking out a
subsistence little better than that of their ancestors of many generations ago. Others,
much fewer, appear to have caught the golden ring, particularly during the heyday of
supply-side economics. The specific occupations people choose can determine who their
friends are; what neighborhoods they live in; which schools their children attend; and
what, if any, health care coverage is available to their dependents (Akabas, 1984, 1990).
Perhaps more important, their choice of occupation and the jobs they find may decide
whether they will be protected by a union contract and experience a preventive, supportive
work environment or one dominated by stressful circumstances and unhealthy experiences
(Stellman & Daum, 1973). Numerous studies have shown that reaching people through
their work connections increases their ego strength (Strauss, 1951), empowers them to make
choices for themselves, and equalizes the roles and responsibilities of professional and
client (or, in the case of union-directed MAPs, subordinates the former because the social
worker is actually the "employee" of the memberÂclient). For the assertive
professional, true organizational change is a potential outcome, making the work
environment better for all.
Legislation has assumed a major role in that connection. A steady stream of laws
dealing with equal employment opportunities, including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act
of 1963, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, and the Americans with
Disabilities Act of 1990, have influenced the nature of the work force. From the Hughes
Act of 1970, which established two occupational alcoholism advisers in each state, to the
Drug-free Workplace Act of 1988, federal attention has been focused on the world of work
as a site for dealing with substance abuse. Conditions of employment are established, in
part, by such laws as the Occupational Safety and Health Act; pensions are protected by
the Employment Retirement Income Security Act; and most income-support entitlements
resulting from the work connection are provided for in the Social Security Act.
Methods of practice and service delivery systems, themselves, have been influenced by
the work connection. Presenting problems in the world of work often are defined in
relation to the clients' ability to maintain a work role. It is not surprising, therefore,
that attention to functional performance, achieved through planned, short-term
intervention, has been a preferred model of care. Peer-group support, mutual aid, and
supervisory consultation are modalities that have met the dual demands of good-quality
care and cost containment, which are regarded as the criteria for service delivery systems
in the workplace or those that are targeted at employees. Prevention and early
intervention have been heralded as appropriate and feasible goals for practice with a
population that has universal access to services.
Change and the Response
As is apparent throughout this book, the world of work is experiencing significant
changes that have already had or promise to have a significant impact on its relationship
to occupational social work. These changes include the following:
- competition in a global economy that has made American industry "leaner and
meaner" and has resulted in increased unemployment and pressure to reduce benefits
and to contain the costs for those who remain
- the increasing diversity of the labor force, which reflects high rates of immigration;
proportionately higher birthrates among Americans of color; and economic pressure that,
along with their own interest, pulls women into the labor market and may keep older
workers in it later in their lives
- technological changes that limit the low-skill jobs available and place a premium on
education, training, and retraining during the time a person is in the labor force,
increasing the "investment" that employers have in their "knowledge"
workers
- skyrocketing health care costs that have exerted financial pressure on all service
delivery systems to contain costs, sometimes losing sight of the importance of
high-quality care
- severe pressure on the trade union movement from the combination of the extensive
reduction of jobs in its customary blue-collar turf, 12 years of pressure from a
politically unfriendly administration, the inability to protect benefits in the highly
competitive environment, and its lack of responsiveness to the changing composition of the
labor force and the nature of work.
Most of these changes increase the challenges faced by occupational social workers.
Challenge is not a new experience for occupational social work. The positive tone of this
introduction should not conceal the history of ideological struggle that the profession
has undergone in accepting the world of work as an appropriate arena for practice or its
auspices as appropriate partners for the profession (Akabas, 1983).There is concern that
social workers may be co-opted by the mission and goals of their corporate employers
(Bakalinsky, 1980). The needs of those in poverty are so compelling that some believe that
all the profession's energy should be focused in that direction. Still others question
whether the professional image can be changed sufficiently for social workers to exert any
real influence in the world of work (Fleming, 1979).
These issues are subjects of debate but have not deterred occupational social workers
from pursuing service to individuals, families, groups, systems, and communities in a way
that has proved effective, cost beneficial, and promising. If this is a field of practice
with more than the average number of challenges, it is also one that offers more than the
usual opportunities for influence. The profession of social work, the editors believe,
will be shaped measurably by the new ideas, techniques, and outcomes that emerge from
occupational social work practice.
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