Why is Expertise Important in Social Welfare?
Recently, there have been consistent concerns about the declining quality of services in the social welfare field. This is closely related to the poor working conditions and low treatment of social workers, as well as the practice of hiring non-experts. Social welfare is not just a simple volunteer activity but a field that requires professional knowledge and skills. Social workers understand and empathize with the psychological and emotional difficulties of clients, and play a role in helping them become self-reliant and adapt to society. Therefore, the expertise of social workers directly affects the quality of life of service users.
However, reality falls short of the ideal. Many social workers suffer from low wages and excessive workloads, and their expertise is often not recognized. As a result, social workers experience burnout and ultimately choose to leave their jobs, creating a vicious cycle. The statistic that more than 50% of social workers leave their jobs within 5 years clearly illustrates this reality.
How Poor is the Treatment of Social Workers?
The treatment of social workers is significantly lower than that of other professional occupations. According to a 2023 Ministry of Health and Welfare survey, the average annual salary of social workers is around 28 million KRW, which is much lower than the average annual salary for all occupations. In addition, social workers are exposed to irregular working environments such as night shifts, weekend shifts, and overtime work, and the intensity of emotional labor is also very high. These poor working conditions lower the job satisfaction of social workers and can ultimately lead to a decline in service quality.
In particular, social welfare facilities operated by local governments often face difficulties in hiring social workers due to budget shortages. This inevitably leads to the hiring of non-experts, which creates a vicious cycle that leads to a decline in service quality. The government is promoting various policies to improve the treatment of social workers, but many point out that it is still insufficient to alleviate the difficulties in the field.
Specific Measures to Strengthen Expertise
In order to improve the quality of social welfare services, it is paramount to strengthen the expertise of social workers. To achieve this, the following specific measures are needed:
- Increase Social Worker Wages and Improve Treatment: Increasing wages and improving treatment are essential to increase the job satisfaction of social workers and lower the turnover rate. The government must comply with the guidelines for personnel expenses of social welfare facility workers and actively improve the treatment of social workers through additional financial support.
- Strengthen Social Worker Education and Training: Education and training programs must be strengthened to enhance the expertise of social workers. The curriculum of social welfare-related departments should be improved, and opportunities for field practice should be expanded. In addition, in-service training for social workers should be mandatory, and in-depth training courses should be developed for each specialized field.
- Improve the Social Welfare Facility Evaluation System: The social welfare facility evaluation system should be improved to conduct service quality-oriented evaluations. The evaluation items should include the expertise of social workers, working environment, and service user satisfaction, and the evaluation results should be reflected in the operation of social welfare facilities.
“Improving the treatment of social workers is not just a welfare issue but is directly related to improving the quality of services for society as a whole. We must recognize the expertise of social workers and provide them with compensation commensurate with their hard work.”
The Future of Social Welfare: Entrust it to Experts
Social welfare services play a role as a safety net for our society and have a significant impact on the lives of all members of society. Therefore, in order to improve the quality of social welfare services, it is essential to strengthen the expertise of social workers and improve their treatment. The government, social welfare facility operators, and social workers must all work together to improve the quality of social welfare services and create a happy society for all citizens. With the goal of expanding the social welfare budget by 15% by 2026, the government should invest more actively in improving the treatment and strengthening the expertise of social workers. We must build a denser and warmer social safety net through the training of social welfare experts and the improvement of their treatment.