Changing conditions for human service work in social services during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic changed the conditions for human service organisations and also for carrying out social work in social services. This study, based on interviews with nine social workers, focuses on the terms and conditions of interaction and relationship work with both staff and vulnerable people in need of help and support from social services. The interview results and the analysis indicate that the rapid transition to working at a physical distance via technical solutions contributed to the work being carried out, but that interaction rituals were changed in a way that in many cases affected the social workers in a negative direction - this applied both to the interaction between co-workers as well as the work with clients and service-users. In addition, the results indicate that social work with socially vulnerable people in certain situations is not possible or appropriate to carry out through physical distance or through technical solutions but needs to take place in direct interaction between social workers and clients.