Manager, Social Work

Manager, Social Work

Under the supervision of the Senior Manager, Social Work, the Manager, Social Work manages the day-to-day operations of the Social Work function within the Health Services unit. This role provides frontline leadership and supervision to social work staff while ensuring the delivery of high-quality supportive counseling, crisis intervention, advocacy, care coordination, and resource navigation services to members.

The Manager, Social Work serves as a key liaison among members, healthcare and benefit vendors, Fund departments, employers, union representatives, and community-based organizations to facilitate access to services and support positive member outcomes. This role is responsible for operational oversight, staff development, workload management, and the continuous improvement of social work services that advance the 32BJ Health Fund's mission.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Provide supervision, coaching, mentoring, and performance feedback to Social Work staff
• Identify staff training needs and support professional development activities
• Monitor caseload distribution and workload balancing across the team
• Manage and assign referrals and daily workload within assigned staff
• Assist with coverage planning to ensure continuity of services
• Conduct periodic reviews of case documentation to ensure quality, consistency, and compliance with professional standards
• Monitor adherence to Funds policies, social work practice standards, and applicable regulatory requirements
• Maintain records and statistics, and generate monthly reports to key stakeholders
• Participate in drafting, editing, and updating unit Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
• Assess and evaluate needs of participants
• Provide supportive counseling, crisis intervention, information and referral, entitlement counseling and advocacy services to members
• Keep accurate documentation of interactions with members
• Coordinate requests for critical incident counseling for members at their work sites
• Maintain relationships with referents
• Serve as liaison between members and families with Fund vendors, including WebTPA, Optum Rx and John Hancock
• Act as a Health Fund liaison between the member needing social work services and the union
• Conduct educational presentations to departments, the Funds and Union
• Serve as a resource for the Funds and Union Health staff
• Participate in clinical rounds with Communitas RN Case Managers
• Collaborate with Health Services clinical staff on appropriate cases that require Social Worker intervention
• Assist in creating partnerships with providers, community organizations, and government resources
• Maintain working relationships with vendors and the union necessary to resolve member cases
• Assist in creating and maintaining a resource database
• Maintain up-to-date knowledge of Fund benefits, resources and entitlements
• Participate in planning and administration of special projects as assigned
• Perform other relevant duties as assigned by senior managements

Qualifications (Competencies):

• Minimum 3 years of counseling and social work experience
• Experience providing crisis intervention, advocacy, resource navigation, and supportive counseling services required
• Supervisory or people management experience required, including coaching, performance management, workload distribution, and/or staff development
• Strong knowledge base of the healthcare industry, community resources, entitlement programs, and care coordination practices
• Welfare/Trust Funds or Union environment background a plus
• Outstanding analytical and problem-solving skills
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office with emphasis on Excel and Word
• Ability to work on simultaneous projects with diverse working groups
• Excellent customer service skills

Soft Skills (Interpersonal Skills):

• Excellent organizational and prioritizing skills
• Strong active listening and communication skills
• Demonstrated emotional intelligence, sound judgement, and discretion when handling sensitive and confidential matters
• Strong conflict resolution, negotiation, and de-escalation skills in challenging or crisis situations
• Strong relationship-building and stakeholder management skills with the ability to work effectively across different stakeholders
• Ability to provide compassionate, member-centered support while maintaining professionalism
• Demonstrated leadership and team development skills, including the ability to motivate, mentor, and develop staff

Education:

• Master's Degree in Social Work (MSW) required

Language Skills:

• The ability to read, write and understand English is essential
• Bilingual in English/Spanish preferred

Reasoning Ability:

• High

Certificates, Licenses, Registrations:

• NY State license in Social Work (L.M.S.W. or L.C.S.W) required

Physical Demands:

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals to perform the essential functions.

Work Environment:

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.