There is concern about how more services can be procured in the face of inflation. The development of occupational social work would involve the allocation of more resources for service delivery. For example, the location of childcare at the workplace may be considered an effective response to the needs of parents, but organizations may be reluctant to commit extensive resources to such services. Although the potential may exist for influencing the organizational policies and procedures of large corporations and business organizations, doing so will not be an easy task. For example, although many organizations may recognize that the increasing number of women in the workplace has created special needs, they still may resist implementing such efforts as flextime and job sharing.
Social workers have to learn patience as well as the skills of negotiation.
Because there are relatively few experienced graduate social workers in occupational settings, appropriate fieldwork placements for students may be scarce in those settings. Schools of social work should be encouraged to provide backup field instruction by faculty members and to work out other arrangements for MSW-trained field instructors. In paying increased attention to the practice area of occupational safety and health, social workers must apply existing social work knowledge, skills, and experience to victims of workplace exposures and hazards, and they must develop new practice expertise. Social workers should know the symptoms of occupational illnesses, have skills in the psychosocial assessment and treatment of injured workers, and be trained in obtaining comprehensive job and work-site histories. Successful practice requires a professional commitment and ability to advocate for prevention and actively promote legislation and regulations that prevent hazardous environmental conditions from continuing or developing at work sites.