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 US