Personnel Today backs Stand Up Now for Social Work

Community Care’s sister title Personnel Today has signed up to the Stand Up Now for Social Work campaign to improve media portrayals and public perceptions of the profession.

Personnel Today has lent its support because it is widely read by local authority human resources staff, who are concerned about the impact that negative press coverage has on recruitment and retention of social workers in their councils.

“Personnel Today’s public sector readers have identified the recruitment and retention of social care employees as a huge issue for them, so we are happy to throw our weight behind this campaign,” said the magazine’s dep[uty editor

Gill Hibberd, president of the Public Sector People Managers’ Association and frequent contributor to Personnel Today, recently wrote on her blog: “We have to find new solutions to [improving] the image of social work along with sustainable solutions to the attraction and retention of candidates.”

Stand Up Now for Social Work is calling on the media to be more balanced and for employers to offer more support to by promoting positive images of social workers.

“It is really positive that a leading HR title for local authorities is behind the campaign,” said Community Care’s deputy editor Emma Maier, who is working on the campaign.

“It goes to show that they recognise the importance of this issue. Promoting respect and understanding is vital to tackling problems with recruitment, retention and morale.”

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