Effective supervision in social work and social care.

Key messages •Research has demonstrated that good supervision is associated with job satisfaction, commitment to the organisation and retention. • Supervision appears to help reduce staff turnover and is significantly linked to employees’ perceptions of the support they receive from the organisation. • Good supervision is correlated with perceived worker effectiveness. There is some evidence that group supervision can increase critical thinking. • Supervision works best when it pays attention to task assistance, social and emotional support and that workers have a positive relationship with supervisors. • The emotionally charged nature of the work can place particular demands on people in the field. It is important to provide opportunities for reflective supervision. • In an inter-professional context, workers relate job satisfaction and professional development to their supervisor’s expert knowledge, regardless of whether respondents shared the same professional background. • The impact of supervision on outcomes for service users and carers has rarely been investigated. Anecdotal evidence suggests that supervision may promote empowerment, fewer complaints and more positive feedback. • Overall, the empirical basis for supervision in social work and social care in the UK is weak. Most of the evidence is correlational and derives from child welfare services in the U