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Addressing the Complex Needs of Children & Families
From the University of Montana's Center for
Children, Families,
and Workforce Development
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Issue 10, October 2018
Navigating a Changing Workforce
Montana's human service agencies are facing new challenges as baby boomers rapidly leave the workforce and more millennials enter it. Human service agency structures, role descriptions, and performance expectations were shaped by and for baby boomers. Many of these same organizations are now finding it difficult to recruit and retain millennials who enter the workforce with opposing technological, mobility, and work-life balance needs and expectations. As more millennials replace baby boomers in human service agencies, administrators might consider intentionally redesigning the workplace to increase their success in attracting and retaining high achieving and talented people. This might include integrating technologies that promote mobility, creating virtual project teams, flexible scheduling, and creating highly structured mentoring and coaching programs.
Millennials have also inspired more creative and fun workplaces that promote new ideas and imaginative ways to solve longstanding problems. Montana's human service agencies will never match the free lunches provided by Apple or the yoga classes available at Zappos, but it might have room to develop more challenging hands-on learning experiences, locate internal coaches, or provide low-cost snacks in vending machines.
This month's Montana Minute focuses on better understanding how to develop multi-generational workplaces. The resources included describe population trends, workforce changes, and tips for all generations to work more effectively with one another.
The University of Montana's Center for Children, Families, and Workforce Development was established in 2015 to partner with the child protection, health, educational, and judicial systems to develop and deliver educational and training resources to professionals and caregivers statewide. The Center also conducts research that focuses on solving problems that impact children and families. The Center receives support from the University of Montana, College of Health Professions and Biomedical Sciences, and School of Social Work.
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The unique challenges of integrating millennials into the workplace have been well explored. But what about the other side of the coin? Gen Y'er Patrice Thompson explores the issue from the Gen Y perspective. She charts the differences between Gen X and Gen Y, and maps out a few ways that organizations can create environments where workers of all ages can collaborate and succeed.
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Fostering Cooperative Relationships with Stakeholders and Partners in Child Welfare
This training will be on November 7, 2018 in Billings.
The training is intended for all partners and stakeholders in child welfare, to include child protective staff of all kinds, kinship and foster families, parents, CASA/GAL, service providers, mental health and chemical dependency providers, in-home services workers, attorneys, tribal representatives.
This training is designed to reinforce the importance of collaboration and teamwork in improving outcomes for children and families in child welfare. We will assess communication, engagement & partnering skills, professionalism and cultural competence as they all relate to successful practice in child welfare.
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