Title

SOCIAL CARE

Penna view

Recruiting experienced social workers remains a challenge for councils in 2023. Sonia Tanda of Penna sets out the current, most-effective practices in talent attraction and retention,

Recruitment of experienced social workers remains an ongoing challenge, with no easy solution.

Throughout 2022 we supported a record number of local authorities in attracting and retaining experienced social workers.

Our learnings taught us the best practice in talent acquisition, which helped councils secure the talent they need to fill vacancies and retain employees, and is a strategy we can carry forward into 2023.

The current, most-effective practices in talent attraction and retention are:

  • Creating distinctive branding and messaging to cut through the noise in the marketplace. To get noticed we have been bolder in creating a point of difference for clients. There's a lot of similar messaging throughout the public sector, with phrases like "making a difference" becoming common in recruitment and therefore less effective.
  • Identifying social worker's motivations for moving on and what they want from their next career move. In 2022 the top three motivators were a better work/life balance, increased salaries and less stress.
  • Developing research-led channel strategies that target social workers passively. For example, using social and digital channels to increase engagement among underrepresented groups.
  • Having an ‘always-on' approach and consistent brand awareness by using both paid and organic advertising to ensure our client's brands remain top when social workers look for their next role.
  • Ensuring first-class candidate experience when client resources have been limited and require ‘high-touch' candidate management to secure talent quickly.

If you need to review your current attraction strategy or employer brand proposition to ensure that your messaging resonates with what social workers currently want, we're happy to share our experience.

Sonia Tanda is director of business development at Penna

Sonia.Tanda@penna.com

SOCIAL CARE

Shining a light on mental health

By Jessica Mullinger | 16 October 2025

Wellbeing is not a luxury, it is core to a healthy organisation. Jessica Mullinger looks at some of the ways to protect mental health and wellbeing in the wo...

SOCIAL CARE

The politics of shaping place

By Annabel Smith | 07 October 2025

Annabel Smith detected a shift in focus towards local leadership at this year’s Labour Party conference.

SOCIAL CARE

The essential role of agencies in council's recruitment and retention

By Cieran Donnelly | 02 October 2025

At a time of ongoing change, temporary staff can fulfil a vital role in maintaining the high performance of your organisation – and strategic agency partners...

SOCIAL CARE

Productivity is not nirvana

By Nigel Wilcock | 24 September 2025

Nigel Wilcock challenges traditional economic metrics and outlines how local government can lead on shaping an economy that delivers for people, places and t...

Popular articles by Sonia Tanda