SINGAPORE: Social workers will see their salaries go up by 14 to 16 per cent from 1 April. The pay hike is part of measures to attract and retain dedicated professionals in the sector. The revision will cost the government an additional S$3.9 million per year. In a job that has seen more than its share of people joining and leaving, Teo Tee Loon has tremendous "staying power". He has been a social worker for 18 years - much longer than the average three to five years that others would stay on. Mr Teo attributed the shortage of social workers to the demands of the job. It is often high pressured where he said the "burn out rate is quite high". There is usually a turnover after three to five years. Like his peers, Mr Teo welcomed news that his pay is going up. Mr Teo, who is the executive director of Lakeside Family Service Centre, said: "It's not just a matter of the pay increasing but the recognition that goes with it. So, when people begin to see that social work is a profession that is recognised and pay is just part of that recognition, then the status of that profession goes up. "It's fine to say that this is a profession that's very noble and so on but if the pay is very low then people will always have the perception that maybe this is not a very credible profession. "If the profession commands a certain level of pay then people will say, 'OK, this is something people will take seriously as a profession, just like being a doctor or a lawyer'. "We are always mindful of the need for staff welfare, training and development so those are HR issues that each organisation will have to contend with and improve in order to improve staff retention." Assistant Professor Ester C L Goh at the NUS Department of Social Work agreed that more needs to be done. "There must be a more long-term and comprehensive plan to keep people in their jobs. One of the very important aspects is really professional supervision. "Without professional supervision and quality supervision, young social workers find it very hard to stay in their jobs because the nature of social work is that it is very demanding in every aspect. "So if they are thrown into the deep end when they first start the job, it is quite understandable why they want to quit after a while because it is just too demanding." There are now 600 social workers in Singapore. The number is not enough to meet the increasing demand for social services. It is also estimated that there will be a shortfall of about 60 social workers every year for the next five years. The last time the salaries of such workers were revised was in 2007. Speaking in Parliament on Wednesday, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, Vivian Balakrishnan, said: "We will benchmark their pay to the pay of medical social workers and we need to make sure our social workers get the respect and remuneration which they so richly deserve." As the government works to build a pool of dedicated workers to provide professional support, it will also push on with its "many helping hands" approach. To meet the needs of vulnerable families, five new Family Service Centres will be opened in areas of high demand, with the first three in Bedok, Telok Blangah and Tampines. The first is expected to start operations in the first quarter of 2010. The additional centres will bring the total number of Family Service Centres to 41. Dr Balakrishnan said: "So the key is to continue to work on our many-helping- hands model, but even as we do so, never, never lose sight of the fact that we still want people to own their own lives and owning their own lives means owning their problems, taking responsibility for it and making the right choices and living with the consequences of those decisions." Separately, to enhance the quality of childcare, MCYS announced a slew of measures, including a Child Development Network to provide technical help and consultancy to childcare centres. The network will play an active role in reaching out and connecting with 800 childcare centres, as well as 10,000 professionals and workers in the sector. There will also be an Early Years Development Framework (by 2011) to review the training and quality standards.
Channel NewsAsia by Imelda Saad Posted: 10 March 2010 1945 hrs
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