Occupational Social Work in Germany

Abstract

Summary This article describes the development and current practices of occupational social workers in Germany. It provides a history of the industrial health and social welfare system in Germany, including the placement of governesses in factories to help women adjust to entering the industrialized workforce as a result of World War I, and the transformation of these early workplace helpers to purveyors of Nazi ideology with the rise of the Third Reich and the subsequent efforts to restore their credibility. The author also traces the evolution of occupational social welfare functions over the past six decades to present day and suggests how this evolution is patterned after the social, political, economic and labor force changes that have marked Germany throughout this period. The predominance of occupational social workers as employees rather than contractors or consultants and employer preferences for internal programs are also explored as is the general absence of occupational social work services in...