The COVID-19 pandemic has placed great strain on the social service workforce. Drawing from a review of global reports and case studies, as well as from information sourced from Global Social Service Workforce Alliance members, this report explores the key challenges social service organizations and workers have faced since the beginning of the pandemic and showcases how they have been able to adapt and innovate in response to such challenges. It further considers the wide-ranging health, social, psychological, and economic impacts and magnified structural inequalities that have resulted from the pandemic and it explores the lasting impact of the pandemic on organizations and workers and the way they work, including their future needs, their changing roles and the opportunities they now have to further innovate and raise awareness of their work. It concludes with recommendations for how to build on these adaptations and innovations in practice and strengthen advocacy for further reinforcing the essential roles of the workforce. The aim of these recommendations is to help ensure the workforce is better able to respond and adjust, not only to this, but to future pandemics and global crises, and to tackle the complex social problems and deepening social inequalities that result.
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