Workers are provided, however, with large monthly desk pad calendars, weekly planner books, and daily small desk-type flip sheet planners. The monthly planner provides maximum utilization and flexibility to the assistance payments worker. In fact, the assistance payments worker is always working on two months at a time. In May, for example, the worker completes case reviews scheduled from April and budgets due in May and sees clients with emergencies. An effective tool for the assistance payments worker is the use of a two to three month calendar system which makes possible scheduling for maximum utilization of work time.
Men typically have fewer social supports to fall back on.
The way work in the United States has been organized has placed every man virtually in competition with virtually every other man. According to Alvin Baraff, clinical psychologist at the MenCenter in Washington, DC, rarely does a man have two or more really good friends. At the Department of Social Services, each assistance payments unit will have a weekly meeting during which new policies and procedures will be discussed, district performance items noted, and announcements are made. There is typically little support given to each member or any member of the group in terms of difficulty with the job or with specified difficult clientele during these meetings. Following the separation of assistance payments and social services, this approach to worker support and training gradually faded from the scene.