The Evolution of
Occupational Social Work
VER THE PAST decade, human
O service programs created specifi-
cally for the complex of work, workers.
and workplace have been embraced
by the private and public sectors and
by unions. These programs are not
in themselves unique, nor do they
address recently identified problems.
Alcoholism, drug abuse, stress, mari-
tal problems. relocation, emotional ill-
ness. retirement, and termination are
aspects of the human condition that
have held the attention of clinicians
and policymakers for some time. What
is unique is the setting in which
these issues are now addressed. His-
torically, production goals of the cor-
poration and the human and social
needs of employees have existed in
uneasy tension. Work concerns and
personal concerns were assumed to be
separate spheres, appropriately (ac-
cording to conventional Wisdom) dis-
tinct. Consequently, the introduction
of human service programs such as
Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs)
and the proliferation of social workers
within the occupational setting mark
a new development for social work
and for the U.S. workplace.
Occupational social work today is
quickly evolving from isolated set
tings into a widespread field of prac-
tice. This evolution emerges from a
rich historical context that is de-
scribed at length in this article. It
also raises within the profession of
social work several fundamental
issues that deserve discussion. These
issues reflect both the tensions and
the potential that characterize oc-
cupational social work in the 1980s.
LEGACY OF THE PAST
The growth of occupational social
work in the past several years has
been dramatic. Less than 100 prac-
titioners could be identified to par-
tiCipate in the 1978 conference, So-
396 CCC Code: 00378046/85 $1.00 1985. National Association of SOCial Workers. Inc.
Bradley Googins
Joline Godfrey
The evolution of occupational
social work from its begin-
nings in welfare capitalism,
through the human relations
movement in the 1930s and
1940s, and into the occupa-
tional alcoholism programs
and employee assistance pro-
grams of the last decade is
surveyed. The article offers a
broad definition of occupa-
tional social work and justifies
that definition on the basis of U.S. Welfare Capitalism
a systemic view of the mod- The transformation of the United
ern U.S. workplace, which is States from a largely agrarian soci-
buffeted by dynamic forces. ety to an industrialized nation in the
cial Work Practice in Labor and In-
dustrial Settings, jointly sponsored by
the Columbia University and Hunter
College Schools of Social Work. Thday
the authors estimate the population
is well into the thousands, although
no accurate census is yet available.
The changing needs and realities of
the workplace have opened a new fron-
tier for the social work profeSSion and
created opportunities unthought of a
decade ago, inspiring new and crea-
tive forms of practice. EAPs abound;
many traditional community health
and human service agenCies have be-
gun to work formally and informally
with local businesses and industries;
personnel and human resource de-
partments have turned increasingly
toward examining the human factor
within the work environment; train-
ing, corporate social responsibility,
labor counseling, and health promo-
tion and prevention operations are
staffed by this new breed of practi-
tioner. Social workers are on the crest
of the wave, creating innovative pro-
grams and seizing the initiative to
meet the work world's social needs.
Although this movement seems new,
the historical record reveals a series
of events that point to a persistent if
ambivalent relationship between so-
cial work and the workplace. Three
movements have contributed to this
relationship: (1) the emergence of U.S.
welfare capitalism, (2) the develop-
ment of the human relations school.
and (3) the rise of Occupational Alco-
holism Programs (OAPs) and EAPs.
nineteenth century brought with it a
new work experience. The rise of the
factory, urbanization of the popula-
tion. and the flood of immigrants
(largely rural peasants) converged
and represented an avenue of limit-
less horizons in the New World. In
the short span of a generation, the
metamorphosiS of a SOCiety of farm-
ers into an industrial complex created
a place of work different and apart
from the home. This conversion did
not occur without great cultural and
social changes. For the early industri-
alists who needed healthy. orderly.
and loyal workers. the new work force
of immigrants. unsocialized to the
norms of the industrial workplace,
was a burden as well as a necessity.
The combination of an unsocialized
labor force. along with the constant
threat of labor's restlessness and vi-
sions of a workers' revolt. led to the
emergence of welfare capitalism.
During this period. industrialists
like Pullman built houses for employ-
ees and their families, established
schools, constructed churches, provid-
ed medical care, introduced pension
funds, established recreation centers,
published magazines, and introduced
profit sharing and stock ownership.1
Just about every problem discussed
today under social welfare programs
was addressed by industrialists in this
early form of welfare capitalism. The
problems of alcoholism and the re-
sponses to those problems by busi-
ness leaders serve as an illustration.
Early U.S. capitalists struggled with
a work force of men whose rowdy
drinking and carousing carried over
into the factories and undermined
the values on which capitalists relied:
a loyal, virtuous, and, above all, hard-
working labor force. In contrast to
today's widespread strictures against
drinking on the job, earlier industrial-
ized work sites were often the locus
of drinking, in many cases condoned
and paid for by companies as a recog-
nition of immigrant drinking prac-
tices or as a form of reward (as was
the practice on ships). Alcohol con-
sumption, however, began to interfere
with the goals of the emerging indus-
trial society for economic efficiency.
It was not until the influence of the
temperance movement that drinking
on the job virtually disappeared from
the U.S. workplace. The moral cru-
sades of the temperance movement,
cries for industrial effiCiency espoused
by the Thylorists, and liabilities under
the newly enacted workmen's com-
pensation laws effected new poliCies
in which alcohol and employee drink-
ing were banned from the workplace. 2
Although responses by companies
to the problem of alcohol were
sporadic and idiosyncratic, they were
Significant. Company magazines were
used to "educate" employees. Sears
and Roebuck, for example, exhorted
their employees to substitute the vir-
tues of diligence and thrift for the
evils of drinking and smoking. 3 Henry
Ford used harsher methods, hiring a
corps of investigators who made home
visits every six months to examine
many aspects of employees' lives from
language proficiency to amounts of life
insurance. He also required an assess-
ment of habits, including the degree
of alchohol consumption. 4
Probably the first industrial social
worker was Mrs. Aggie Dunn, who
was hired in 1875 as social secretary
for the H. J. Heinz Company of Pitts-
Googins and Godfrey I Evolution of Occupational Social Work
burgh.5 For the next 50 years, "Moth-
er" Aggie Dunn interviewed, hired,
counseled, and generally watched over
her 1.200-girl brood at the pickle firm.
A blatant form of institutional sex-
ism, this effort was aimed at the large
number of female employees who
populated the factory. From these
early gender-bound functions, occu-
pational social workers (then called
social secretaries or welfare workers)
broadened their practice to encom-
pass entire work groups, bridging
communication gaps between employ-
ers and employees and assessing the
needs of the environment.
The primary function of the welfare
worker as a socializing influence on
the work force revealed a downside
as welfare capitalists began to react
to the growing threat of organized
labor and initial unionization efforts.
Corporate leaders began using social
welfare programs (and workers) as a
tool or buttress to block the formation
of unions by developing an appealing
set of services sponsored by the com-
pany that would in effect persuade
waivering employees that unions were
not really necessary. Even though the
strategy ultimately failed and faded,
its impact on the future was cement-
ed. The social welfare tradition em-
braced by the early capitalists would
be incorporated several decades later
into a newly emerging diSCipline, the
personnel specialist. s Consequently,
the broad interest in employees' wel-
fare, work satisfaction, and environ-
mental fit demonstrated by the first
industrial social workers was passed
on to personnel departments and more
recently to human resource depart-
ments. Although services and pro-
grams began as a means of socializing
the work force and then later became
union-curbing devices, they would in
later decades become negotiated rights
and expected fringe-benefit packages.
Perhaps because social workers
were part of this movement, they
have inherited its negative associa-
tions. Even the prototype of the ac-
tivist social worker. Jane Addams,
was at times allied with this move-
ment, praising the National Cash Reg-
ister Company for its welfare program
while using her influence to promote
similar programs in other industries. 7
This association has been a tradi-
tional source of animosity between
unions and social workers, particular-
ly because many early social workers
were wives of industrial capitalists.
For all the activism of social work
within the social reform movement of
the early part of the century, there
is another side to it that naively col-
luded with industrialists to diffuse
and weaken the growing forces of
unionism. Although contemporary oc-
cupational social work can be traced
to a different ideological base, it can-
not entirely deny or dissociate itself
from these roots. These beginnings
stand as a reminder of the delicate
balance between the human needs of
working people and the competing
claims of the work organization.
Human Relations Movement
The second major building block
for human services in the workplace
is the human relations movement.
This ideology was promoted in the
1930s and 1940s, primarily as an
antidote to the mechanistic and face-
less Thylorism that emphasized indi-
vidual competitive performance mea-
sured by time and motion studies. B
The human relations school held that
performance was greatly influenced
by employees' feelings about their
work, their supervisors, etc. These feel-
ings became an important part of be-
havior and performance at work.
The line between personal troubles
and systemic or organizational dys-
functioning is difficult to identify and
even more problematic to remedy.
The danger of focusing on the in-
dividual as the source of the problem
without examining potential roots in
the organization is as real for occu-
pational social work today as it was
for the human relations movement.
The human relations school paved
the way for human services as an
alternative to the "work or be fired"
ideology and sought to satisfy securi-
ty needs through fringe benefits that
protected the employee in times of
sickness, accident, old age, loss of job,
and other external threats. In addi-
tion, this perspective encouraged
management to adopt a more person-
centered orientation, supporting and
working with groups of employees to
fulfIll their needs for belonging, digni-
ty, and participation in problem solv-
ing and decision making. Many have
charged the human relations move-
ment with possessing the same ex-
ploitive and paternalistic motivation
as that of welfare capitalism. lts
essence is nevertheless integral to
most personnel organizations today
and provides the dual benefit of en-
397
couraging a loyal. socialized work
force, while meeting human needs of
the workers and the work system.
OAP and EAP.
The third movement is that of OAPs
and EAPs. Widespread only in the
past ten years, these programs served
as a phalanx for the profession of
social work and the introduction of
new program models and services.
Prior to their development, occupa-
tional social work was limited to a
handful of programs in a few indus-
tries and isolated activities at several
schools of social work. With the ad-
vent of the OAP and EAP, human
services at the workplace gathered
momentum, and occupational social
workers flourished.
The first OAPs were formed in the
1940s. Over the next 20 years, a
number of companies set up small
counseling programs for alcoholic
employees staffed primarily by
alcoholic employees who were re-
covering. These programs pioneered
the concept of social intervention in
the workplace but were neither wide-
spread nor structurally integrated in-
to the workplace.
During the 1970s, a new program
model, the EAP, emerged, which built
on the interventions of the OAP but
overcame many of the OAP's limita-
tions by broadening the scope of ser-
vices and the basis for intervention
and treatment. 9 Drawing on a recog-
nition of the interrelationship be-
tween personal problems and job per-
formance, the EAP acknowledged the
breadth of employee problems and fo-
cused on deteriorating work perfor-
mance as the legitimate basis for in-
tervention and treatment. Whereas the
OAP dealt almost exclusively with al-
coholic employees, the EAP broadened
to include emotional. marital. and
behavioral-medical problems.
This shift to a broad-based model
resulted in a phenomenal growth
curve, which over the past ten years
has resulted in EAPs becoming an
integrated part of many corporations.
The Association of Labor & Manage-
ment Administrators and Consultants
on Alcoholism, the professional orga-
nization of the EAP field, now boasts
nearly 4,000 members. What is more
important. the legitimation and mech-
anism for addressing and treating
personal and social issues of employ-
ees became accepted and understood
by mainstream U.S. corporations.
398
A DEFINITION
Occupational social work is often
conceptualized programmatically-
that is, occupational SOCial workers
are those employed in OAPs or EAPs.
But this focus precludes a broader in-
volvement with the work milieu. The
range of roles, functions, and pro-
grams that have developed continue
to expand the scope and parameters
of the field, contributing to the lack
of a program typology, clear bounda-
ries, or an encompassing definition.
To establish a point of departure
and concept for discussion, the
authors offer the following definition:
Occupational social work is that
field of practice in which social
workers attend to the human and
social needs of employees tn the
work milieu by designing and exe-
cuting appropriate interventions
to ensure healthier indiViduals
and environments.
This definition reflects the view that
the vehicle for occupational social
work practice is the work environment
or system and the issues and needs
emanating from it. This is in contrast
to prevalent trends for practitioners
to enter the workplace having already
identified its problems. This latter ten-
dency strays from social work's tenet
to "start where the client is." Thus,
treating an alcoholic employee should
be an activity within occupational
social work practice but not necessar-
ily the sole or primary focus. Alcohol-
ism is a problem that requires inter-
vention on the organizational level
(supervisory training, employee edu-
cation, and so forth). Because the or-
ganization, much like the geographic
community served by a community
mental health center, is the client sys-
tem, other problems exist that should
be attended to by practitioners if they
are grounded in social work theory
and practice. Practice with the alco-
holic or emotionally disturbed em-
ployee too often "starts where the
social worker is," not "where the
client system is." Our pOSition does
not preclude treating alcoholics, but
recognizes the larger client system in
which particular needs emerge.
Our definition is strengthened by
the discovery of a set of circumstances
existing in work organizations that il-
lustrates a "pull" situation for social
workers that is in contrast to the
"push" of social workers of another
era. Vinet and Jones discovered in
Social Work / September-October 1985
their survey of occupational social
workers a set of conditions or events
that were cited as enhancing recep-
tivity to occupational SOCial services
and ultimately as sanctioning agents:
a) Perceived Social Problems
Violence, strikes, high turnover,
low productivity may enhance
receptivity to Occupational So-
cial Work.
Personal experience with crisis
or trauma occasionally inspires
individual managers to take the
initiative in addressing similar
issues in a systematic fashion.
b) Legal or Social Mandates for
Services
The demands of regulatory leg-
islation in hiring practices en-
courage management to take a
proactive, preventive stance in
managing the human relations
of their workplace.
Legislation in hand with new
thrusts toward 'wellness' poli-
cies have resulted in a situa-
tion in which workers in treat-
ment for alcoholism or for per-
sonal or psychological problems
cannot be fired: Treatment takes
precedence over discipline.
Union negotiations sometimes
include workers' benefits for so-
cial services.
c) lbsitive Attitudes about Employ-
ees in Public Statements
Annual reports. employee hand-
books and company folklore carry
messages of how employees are
perceived. In those companies that
espouse and act on the following
kinds of statements openness to oc-
cupational social work is not unex-
pected:
Employees are the company's
most valuable assets.
Employees are the backbone of
the company.
It is good business sense to
want employees to realize their
maximum potential on the job.
Employees' productivity is tied
to their well-being.
Workers' advice should be sought
in decision making because they
have to carry out the day-to-day
operations. lO
These factors suggest "starting
where the client is." Although they do
not define what social workers can
accomplish, they do give information
as to why and what the organization
finds useful. In many instances, so-
cial work attempts to meet the needs
of the client by discerning where the
client is in tenns of perceived prob-
lems and needs that exist within a
prescribed values framework. In the
work milieu, starting where the client
is includes understanding and accept-
ing the organization's needs and the
individual employee's needs. This con-
ception builds on the environment-
person fit, defining the needs of the
organization and the individual as the
starting points of social work practice.
Our definition of occupational social
work is further buttressed by the in-
terplay of internal professional nonns
and external realities such as:
1. The Economy. At frrst glance it
is curious that occupational social
work experienced its initial growth
(1979-821 during a serious economic
downturn. But noting that with al-
most no exception, these programs
were not cut or eliminated as the
economy worsened, one understands
that it was the depth of the problems
themselves that caused the growth.
The viability and usefulness of pro-
grams that were set up to deal with
problems of alcoholism, drug abuse,
emotional and marital conflicts, and
tenninations survived and indeed be-
came indispensable.
2. The Privatization oj Social Ser-
vices. The advent of the new feder-
alism brought with it an increased
set of expectations of the private sec-
tor. Among these is that corporations
will provide a greater share of re-
sources and services. Regardless of
political shifts that may occur over
the next several years, this movement
toward the private sector is a vector
that is likely to persist. The privatiza-
tion of social services will increasing-
ly draw social workers into the pri-
vate sphere as consultants and pro-
viders. If the federal social legislation
of the 1960s and early 1970s was the
groundwork for government-sponsored
growth over the past two decades. the
new federalism lays the base and pro-
vides the incentive for private-based
social services.
3. Changing Demographics. Fueled
by the coming of age of the baby
boom, the civil rights and equal op-
portunity movements, immigration,
and economic conditions, the work
force has changed, reflecting the
dramatically increased participation
of women, single parents, and men
whose organizational mobility is in-
creasingly defined and influenced by
working wives. These employees
bring with them multiple values and
Googins and Godfrey I Evolution of Occupational Social Work
expectations. Today's employee-and Is the Workplace an Appropriate
even more so tomorrow's-is search- Setting jor Social Workers? A profes-
ing for a balance between work and sion that had grown up identifying
family, expects greater satisfaction with the poor and beleaguered was
and involvement in deciSion making initially indignant at the idea of offer-
at work, and is increasingly aware of ing aid to people who actually had
geopolitical tensions and stress in the jobs. Some social workers conversant
larger environment. A well-educated with Marxist philosophy were hesitant
(or at least a more-educated) hetero- to support a system (the work milieu)
geneous work force is upsetting old that they saw as essentially exploi-
givens of authority and hierarchy tive. Others simply believed that the
that once enabled Taylor to advocate profession had more immediate obli-
a purely efficient work organization,u gations to those populations without
4. Productivity. At the beginning work. In traditional practice, little at-
of the 1980s. declining productivity tention was paid to the working dimen-
signaled that something was different sions of clients' lives; practitioners
on the corporate landscape. Previous- assumed that family and social rela-
ly unchallenged as the leaders in pro- tionships were the focal elements on
ductivity. the US. and Western Euro- which to concentrate.
pean nations became aware that the Thus. for social work educators,
small nation of Japan was fast be- writers. and practitioners, the primary
coming a competitive giant. and this focus of social work was on the family
factor seemed tied to productivity. and the community. Schools. courts,
This external threat forced US. (and hospitals. and street corners were
more slowly. European) businesses to sanctioned milieus because of their
look inward. rethink their assump- relationships to family and commu-
tions, and take stock. This was the nity. Work was not. As recently as the
first step in what has become an ener- late 1970s. student interns placed in
getic. often painful process in adjust- a work setting reported hostility from
ing to what is now a global and vast- peers and professors, who thought the
ly more complex economy. The kinds setting was inappropriate. The persis-
and degree of change forthcoming are tence of social work professionals who
inevitably wrenching, requiring the have pioneered in the work setting,
best minds of many diSCiplines. the growing sophistication of some
faculty members in schools of social
work. and a developing body ofknowl-
QUESTIONS AND CONFLICTS edge that encompasses the nature of
Roles in occupational social work work. culture. and human develop-
evolve as social workers assume new ment are finally beginning to change
positions within the workplace and this perspective, and work-focused
as the workplace recognizeS the skills . social work is becoming legitimate.
and knowledge base that social work- Many social workers-who entered
ers bring to its environment. In retro- US. corporations as alcoholism coun-
spect. what has occurred in the past selors or clinicians under the auspices
several years has been more seren- of either the labor union or manage-
dipitous than rationally planned and ment-had to pick up their tools and
executed. The ideas and energy of a set them down in a new environment.
handful of innovative practitioners In many companies. the early con-
are primarily responsible for what is tracts to provide clinical or single-issue
called occupational social work. Con- services are broadening. and tactics
sequently. the activities and roles are giving way to strategy. Social
generated in these early stages have workers now work in affinnative ac-
not evolved out of any carefully con- tion. human resources management.
ceived models. nor have they been uni- and labor and community relations.
versally accepted by the social work And under the authors' definition of
community. As isolated programs de- occupational social work. increasingly
veloped. a number of issues have complex issues are emerging.
come to the fore. evoking responses It is to the credit of the profession
within the profession ranging from that the issues we debate have be-
mild questioning to outright denun- come more complex and sophisticat-
ciation of occupational practice as ed. Forums of professional debate are
antithetical to the nature of social increasing. a body of knowledge is
work. Three perSistent questions are growing. and an understanding of the
discussed here. work milieu and its people is emerg-
399
ing. The question of whether the
workplace is an appropriate setting
for social workers is answered in part
by a tenacious belief in the value of
work-focused practice by a growing
body of occupational social workers
and the mainstreaming of such prac-
tice into the U.S. workplace.
Is Occupational Social Work Really
Social Work? As the debate intensi-
fies over the nature and appropriate-
ness of social work within the work-
place. certain issues relate to a more
basic question: Are social workers
whose primary practice is within work
settings in fact doing social work, or
are they building a different profes-
sion? These social workers share in
the same ideology and change orien-
tation espoused by the profession and
contained in the Code of Ethics of the
National Association of Social Work-
ers.12 Yet a certain uneasiness exists
that the goals and values of the profes-
sion are somehow being compromised.
Much of the uneasiness derives from
the profit-making nature of most work
organizations. This is problematic for
the social work profession, whose pub-
lic mandate and arena of practice have
kept it separate and ideologically dis-
tant from the workplace. However, the
value dilemma confronting the occu-
pational social worker is in reality no
different from that facing social work-
ers in public settings: Where does
service end and advocacy begin? How
does the practitioner balance profes-
sional ideals with organizational. com-
munity, and institutional constraints
and realities? Because the social work-
er who is an employee of an oil com-
pany operates in an organization that
seeks to maximize profits. it is as-
sumed that all activities in the cor-
poration, such as an employee coun-
seling service, are directly related to
this end. However, in considering the
social worker who is employed by a
state department of mental health,
one tends to oversimplify the pre-
sumed goals of achieving the common
good and to forget political and orga-
nizational realities.
Let us take this example of two
practitioners, each of whom have re-
sponsibilities-one to oil company
employees, the other to mental health
patients in a state hospital. At the oil
company, an employee in seeking as-
sistance for a marital problem details
a practice of managers who are de-
manding extra night hours. The em-
ployee feels forced to qUietly acquiesce
400
or risk losing the job. Further inves-
tigation by the social worker indi-
cates the practice is widespread but
subtle enough that it will likely be
hidden and denied without a thorough
investigation. The social worker can
ignore this situation or can risk his
or her own position by bringing the
practice to light and challenging it.
Let us turn to the social worker at
the mental health facility. Due to a
decrease in state appropriations.
physical conditions in the hospital
have deteriorated to the point where
most professional staff fear for pa-
tients' safety. To mount an effective
campaign would require exposing the
conditions, challenging the superin-
tendent. and admonishing the state
legislature. This action would also
jeopardize the social worker's job and
require an advocacy stand beyond
the duties spelled out in the job
description.
In both these situations, the con-
flicts of institutional and individual
change are clear. What might be
labeled exploitation at the oil com-
pany will be called negligence at the
state hospital. Although many social
workers would be quick to find fault
with the oil company as a case of
maximizing profit at the expense of
employees, the situation at the state
hospital is of equal concern although
not as apparent. Each practitioner
faces institutional abuses that call
for change.
The social work practitioner in the
private sector has much in common
with colleagues in more traditional
settings. In Vinet and Jones's survey,
occupational social workers viewed
their roles as having particular rele-
vance for resolution of immediate
problems and did not see themselves
as broad social reformers,13 This view-
pOint, for better or worse, parallels
that of social workers in most settings.
The same survey, however, reported
that company-based social workers
felt criticized by their peers as hav-
ing been co-opted and having sold
out to business and labor.
Perhaps these judgments and ac-
cusations are the price for moving in-
to a new practice arena. Certainly the
social work practitioner in the work
milieu is both an explorer and an
entrepreneur. The workplace repre-
sents a complex system into which
social workers have tentatively ad-
vanced, unsure of what needs exist
and what welcome awaits. People in
Social Work I September-October 1985
the setting, although not hostile, are
sometimes cautious, curious, and un-
sure of what the social worker is there
for or how best to use him or her.
The practitioner who penetrates the
workplace may be cautiously received
by the client group and may be chal-
lenged by the professional peer group.
The practitioner's development of pro-
gram models or roles can best be
characterized as ad hoc-a series of
incremental steps achieved primarily
by sensing the immediate needs of
the environment and creating mecha-
nisms to meet those needs. This pro-
cess is both frustrating and challeng-
ing. For the adventurous and those
who work well independently and with
minimal structure, the pOSition offers
an unparalleled challenge. For those
who need established program boun-
daries and directives, the experience
will be frustrating. Regardless. these
first developmental years have brought
into existence a field of practice as
diverse and innovative as any within
the social work profession. Although
the tip of the iceberg has been scaled.
it is the undiscovered and the poten-
tial that mark the future of human
services in the workplace. Yes, occupa-
tional social work is real social work.
Can Occupational Social Work
Achieve Macro as Well as Micro
Change? The authors' vision of oc-
cupational social work goes well be-
yond the micro perspective of counsel-
ing and alcoholism programs. Ozawa
spells out four stages of social ser-
vices: (1) single-service orientation,
(2) comprehensive services, (3) orga-
nizational intervention, and (4) com-
munity building.14 The first decade
has primarily focused on stage one,
with the beginnings of stage two just
recently occurring.15
Most of the activities in stages two,
three, and four are macro activities
requiring intervention and change in
large systems. Historically. social
work practice has had a clinical
focus. that is. individually oriented
practice. If. however, social work is
going to have a significant and
lasting impact on the nature of work
and the experience of workers in the
future, attention must be given to
organizational and institutional
change. During the early 1960s when
work organizations were struggling
with growth and large-scale social
change, social workers were unwill-
ing and unable to respond to this
need; organizational development pro-
fessionals fIlled the vacuum. Even to-
day. occupational social workers.
flush with the victory of establishing
countless counseling programs, are
primarily treatment oriented. and the
rush to treatment along medical lines
could well freeze occupational social
work into the traditional on-the-
ground focus. leaving the eagle's eye
view to others.
CHALLENGES AHEAD
What. then. are the challenges that
lie ahead? Consider. for example. the
following possibilities.
Social work in its totality is still
relatively unknown in the workplace.
On the one hand. traditional. some-
times negative stereotypes of social
work and social workers still exist.
On the other hand. the first decade
of occupational social work has
served to inform and demonstrate the
knowledge and skills of the profes-
sion. These programs and the work
of individual social workers in
unions. corporations. and other work
organizations have initiated the
crucial task of illuminating what
social work is and how it can be
useful in work organizations. Our par-
ticular social problem-solving skills
are very much in demand. but first
they must be tried and tested in prac-
tice. This has already begun to hap-
pen in areas as diverse as corporate
social responsibility programs. train-
ing departments. corporate founda-
tions. and human resource manage-
ment departments. What has begun
on an individual. almost serendipitous
basis. must now purposely and delib-
erately be organized by the profession
itself. The multiple problems that face
workers and work organizations often
respond to the knowledge and skills
of social workers and lie within the
interests of social problem solvers.
Take. for example. the following prob-
lems currently faced by most indus-
tries. businesses. and labor unions:
demographic shifts.
work and family conflicts.
health costs.
individual and organizational
stress.
automation. robotics. and subse-
quent implications,
change.
These are the problems to which
companies are turning their attention
and to which social workers could
have input and influence. There is
Googins and Godfrey I Evolution of Occupational Social Work
still a gap between the human prob-
lems within the work environment
and the perception by organizational
decision makers of the abilities and
appropriateness of occupational
social workers to contribute to the
solution of those problems. Until this
gap is closed through entrepreneurial
social workers and by communica-
tion of social work activities such as
have appeared in the past few years
in newspapers and articles. the
potential of this field will be limited.
However. if the growth witnessed in
the first decade is continued over the
next decade. the profession will have
to struggle just to keep pace with
ongOing developments. The challenge
of institutionalizing the range of
social services within work settings
lies at a critical juncture. Because of
the compelling nature of the pro-
blems facing the work-worker-work-
place complex. the question arises.
Who can and should provide these
services? Social work is at a distinct
advantage. both because of its
ecosystems framework and because
it has attained visibility and credibili-
ty through its counseling and em-
ployee assistance roles. Attempts to
move into new areas hinge on the
trust and competence established by
the first generation of occupational
social workers.
Finally. a few caveats are in order.
Many of the value conflicts discussed
earlier will intenSify over time. Vi-
sions of social reform and structural
change. so intimately a part of the
profession. will be challenged often
by the goals of the client system.
Although these conflicts are not
substantially different from those in
the public arena. practitioners will
have to rely on the time-tested prin-
ciple of beginning where the client is
and initiating a process that will
build alliances. so that the ideals of
social justice in the workplace can
take root. Practitioners will be forced
to develop a patience that allows this
process to develop and take hold. a
process that needs time and the pur-
posive and skilled efforts of the oc-
cupational social worker. Finally,
these vanguard professionals will
need the courage to test their own
assumptions about what is right with
respect to the clearly drawn lines.
norms. and values of each work
setting.
In summary. the current decade
can be seen as a challenge and op-
portunity-or a threat. The lessons
learned from the experience of early
welfare capitalism cannot be ignored:
Paternalism often diminishes autono-
my and respect, resulting in back-
lash and resentment. and intrusion
in the personal lives of employees for
purposes of social control simply will
not be tolerated. With these caveats
in mind, the authors still advocate at-
tending to the needs of working men
and women. Although these needs are
only now coming to consciousness in
the social work community, the meth-
ods of meeting those needs are both
ill-defined and fraught with value di-
lemmas. Developing those methods is
the work that lies ahead. On the one
hand, social workers know there is
danger of xenophobia in which the
profession, because of traditional value
dissonance with the world of work,
refuses to embrace this environment.
On the other hand. there is danger
of a rush to treatment in which all
problems become medicalized, and
treatment is confused with interven-
tion. In aVOiding either extreme,
discovering the fine balance. occupa-
tional social workers are in a posi-
tion of almost limitless challenge.
Work is a core social institution that
is faced with a variety of human and
social challenges. The groundbreaking
work of pioneering occupational so-
cial workers has opened the door to
a new frontier; it is now incumbent
on the profession to support the ex-
plorers and push forward in this world
of opportunities and challenges.
Bradley Googins. Ph.D.. is Assis-
tant Professor. School of Social
Work. Boston University, Boston.
Massachusetts. Joline Godfrey,
MSW; is Director, Imaging Manage-
ment Services. Polaroid Corpora-
tion, Cambridge. Massachusetts.
Notes and References
1. W. E. Preece: ed., Encyclopaedia
Brittanica. Vol. 9 (Chicago: Encyclopaedia
Brittanica Educational Corp., 1984), p. 297.
2. F. Taylor. Principles of Scientific
Management (New York: Harper & Bros..
1911).
3. REmanet and J. Jeuck. Catalogues
and Counters: A History of Sears Roe-
buck and Co. (Chicago: University of Chi-
cago Press, 1950), p. 145.
4. S. D. Brandes, American Welfare
Capitalism 1880-1940 (Chicago: Univer-
sity of Chicago Press, 1976), p. 23.
5. F. Miller and M. A. Coghill, "Sex
401
and the Personnel Manager." Industrial
and Labor Relations Reivew. 18 (October
1964). p. 35.
6. A. Sloane. Personnel: Managing
Human Resources (Englewood Cliffs. N.J.:
Prentice Hall. 1983).
7. Brandes. American Welfare Capital-
ism. p. 45.
8. Thylor. Principles of Scientific Man-
agement.
9. P. Roman. "From Employee Alco-
holism to Employee Assistance." Journal
of Studies on Alcohol. 42 (March 1981),
pp. 244-272.
10. M. Vinet and C. Jones. "Social Ser-
THE DESISTO AT HOWEY SCHOOL
402
vices and Work." Unpublished manuscript.
Washington Chapter of the National Ass0-
ciation of Social Workers. Seattle. March
1981.
11. Thylor. Principles of Scientific Man-
agement.
12. Code of Ethics of the National
Association of Social Workers (Silver
Spring. Md.: NASW. 1980).
13. Vinet and Jones. "Social Services
and Work."
14. M. Ozawa. "Development of Social
Services in Industry: Why and How?"
Social Work. 25 (November 1980). pp.
464-469.
Howey-in-the-Hills, Florida
The DeSisto at Howey School
provides its students with a highly
-structured but informal living and
learning environment. The school's
program addresses both the intellectual
and emotional aspects of the individ-
ual. The intellect is stimulated in a de-
manding academic program while
emotional development is facilitated
through a therapeutic program that is
based on peer support, community in-
teraction and weekly therapy sessions.
The aim at DeSisto is to create a
loving environment in which problems
can be confronted and resolved in
order to reveal the creative, function-
ing, responsible human being. Students
who graduate from the DeSisto pro-
gram are prepared for college having
achieved substantially more than aver-
age self awareness and stability.
Michael DeSisto founded his first
school at Stockbridge, Massachusetts
in 1978. After receiving considerable
national recognition, a second school
at Howey-in-the-Hills, Florida, was
opened based on the same successful
model as the one used in Stockbridge.
Social Work I September-October 1985
15. S. H. Akabas. "Industrial Social Work:
Influencing the System at the Workplace;'
M. Dinerman. ed.. Social Work in a Thr-
bulent l:lrld (Silver Spring, Md.: National
Association of Social Workers. 1983). pp.
131-141: M. Fine, Akabas, and S. Bell-
inger, "Cultures of Drinking: A Workplace
Perspective," Social Work, 27 (September
1982), pp. 436-447: and P. A. Kurzman
and Akabas. "Industrial Social Work as
an Arena for Practice, Social Work, 26
(January 1981), pp. 52-60.
Accepted November 14. 1984
The DeSisto at Howey campus
situated on Little Lake Harris, in Lake
County, Florida, consists of 35 acres,
eleven buildings, a boathouse and sta-
ble. Located 45 miles from Orlando,
the school is within easy access to sev-
eral amusement parks, Kennedy Space
Center, historic st. Augustine, and sev-
eral picturesque fishing villages pro-
viding excellent opportunities for out-
door recreational as well as cultural
activities.
For more information contact:
DeSisto at Howey School
c/o Director of Admissions
Howey-in-the-Hills, Florida 32737
(904) 324-2701