As a social worker, in my time with the company I have learned that social workers are highly undervalued. I feel we are viewed as glorified secretaries. The social work leads even notice this but are very limited in what they say. I've been very observant of what is said and not said. If the company and clinic manager don't know what to do, they give it to the social worker. As social workers, our work and the positive things we contribute cannot be quantified so without being able to show numbers (something important to this company), you're not as valued as the other roles (e.g. dietitians). The dieiticans have A LOT of down time (I won't specify how I know this), yet many projects are consistently assigned to the social workers. Social workers are even required, as part of their role in this company, to provide support to dietitians, who tend to earn more than social workers and a Masters degree is not required. This review is based on my personal observations and experience. When I first started, I would hear a lot of negative things about the company and how they view social workers etc. However, I never believed any of it because I like to create my own experience and see things for myself. And now, I've been with the company long enough to have my own thoughts/opinions on what the social work experience is like in this company. I'm not a negative person and my experience has not been all negative. But it's reached a point where there is resentment due to feeling undervalued and feeling like other roles are more valued. I'm providing a thorough review for my fellow social workers looking for honest reviews as they go about their employment search and also because I'm hoping corporate sees this review and it strikes a cord with them to make some needed changes where social workers are concerned. One might say, well maybe it's just your particular clinic that this happens. And I would think that too but the thing is, at my SW meetings, ALL SW's express feeling the same way. So, it's not just me and my experience. It seems to be the majority of SWs in this company, at least in my region. And the high turnover is proof.
