Introduction
Effective recruitment and retention of newly hired employees is a hot topic for various lines of business, not only for commercial organizations but also for government agencies. One such institution with a heightened sensitivity to hiring practices is correctional institutions because “correctional officers experience more work-related stress at both the individual and organizational levels than individuals in other occupations” (Dula, 2022, p. 5). Shortages of productive and motivated staff, combined with high turnover rates, can lead to decreased efficiency in correctional institutions, stressful conditions for employees and inmates, and a loss of fundamental functionality in such organizations. Moreover, in an increasingly competitive job market, companies are willing to offer employees more lucrative options, leading to their transition between organizations — hence, there is a need to develop practices that will retain employees for the long term (IET, 2022). For this reason, evaluating, studying, and developing HR policies for prisons is of increased practical value and is the objective of this research paper. This paper focuses on performing a literature review for the study and developing a specific and clear project development plan.
Statement of the Problem
As a detention officer at Callaway County Jail, which includes receiving, moving, and securing inmates, I am aware of the problems my organization faces. Most of these problems lie in HR practices and are solved by implementing an effective method of hiring and staffing. Thus, the critical problem facing correctional organizations, which will be explored in depth in this paper, is ineffective hiring and working conditions that result in low retention rates.
Literature Review
Effective Hiring Practices
Research on adequate hiring opportunities for correctional institutions in the academic field needs more meaningful prevalence mainly due to the narrow specialization of the professional direction of such institutions. Nevertheless, several relevant sources were published after 2018 to identify how optimized and quality hiring can be achieved. Major themes found in the literature search include the importance of professional training, cultural background, and the need to develop extensive and relevant hiring practices. Specifically, Perry (2019) wrote that contemporary correctional institutions practice hiring practices that lost relevance twenty years ago: “Putting up a job announcement on a state website or in a newspaper is not recruiting” (para. 7). According to Perry (2019), there is a shortage of qualified staff in jails, leading to an HR crisis and the likelihood of creating an unsafe environment for inmates. One consequence of this low-quality hiring is hiring staff with inadequate competencies. More specifically, interactions with inmates with criminal histories and in the correctional phase are compassionate and must be managed with special attention. Instead, as Elton (2022) observed, organizations in the United States have a problem with hiring employees who need a relevant baccalaureate education, leaving such individuals unprepared and potentially creating problems for the institution, including those related to future termination. An important contributing factor to poor hiring rates is the negative culture of correctional organizations, particularly concerning women. Burdett et al. (2018) proved that female employees continuously face sexism and insinuations that they cannot do quality “men’s work,” which in turn creates a negative image of the industry for potential female applicants and hinders effective hiring. Thus, according to sources, poor job applicant training, poor recruiting practices, and an underdeveloped corporate culture are fundamental problems underlying unsatisfactory hiring.
The problem raised needs to be addressed, and the authors offer recommendations for improving hiring practices in prisons. For example, Perry (2019) suggested that managers of such institutions should develop a strategy that includes creating a positive organizational culture by improving working conditions and providing competitive wages and benefits. Burdett et al. (2018) also wrote about the need to develop such a culture, pointing to its critical attributes, namely inclusiveness and respect for all colleagues regardless of demographic differences. Regarding formal requirements, COE (2019) outlined several factors that HR professionals and correctional management should pay particular attention to during recruitment. These include examinations of biographical and demographic data, as well as assessing applicants’ preparedness and psychological stability. This is also found in Elton (2022), who wrote that institutions should hire employees with at least a bachelor’s degree to avoid negative impacts on the safety of the correctional environment. However, even though newly hired employees have competencies and education, management should ensure that they receive regular training and education to maintain knowledge and skills (COE, 2019). In general, prisons should move to innovative hiring practices that are personalized, inclusive, free of bias, and critically evaluate hired employees (Perry, 2019). This will build an environment that is critical to the safety of both inmates and staff.
Staff Retention
Another fundamental issue is employee retention after they are hired: it was also necessary to turn to the academic literature for a more detailed study. Many authors mainly addressed identifying factors that lead to high turnover rates. In particular, Bigembe (2021) indicated that low job satisfaction, lack of or poorly developed work/life balance, and poor management are significant predictors of low employee retention: dissatisfied, they do not want to tolerate such work and quitting. Dula (2022) reported that the leading cause of high turnover might be hidden in role conflict, in which employees implement misconduct. This combines with the results of Elton (2022) and collectively confirms that untrained employees can cause harm to the safety of the jail, leading to their forced termination or their resignation. Intriguing results were found by Thompson (2020), who showed that gender (female), race (white), and age (< 35) were more likely to leave the institution. There is a strong focus on leadership practices, as management style significantly impacts correctional officers’ job satisfaction (Schofield, 2018). Thus, the literature shows various reasons employees do not stay at a correctional organization for an extended period.
There are also recommendations on how such organizations can maintain high employee retention rates. Thompson (2020) summarized, “The organization’s policies and strategies are [should be] effective toward minimizing role ambiguity, uncertainty or instability, and lack of clarity of the job, which enables Cos [stuff] to acquire the skills, knowledge, and abilities to be successful on the job and to remain committed to the organization” (p. 81). In addition, a comprehensive training program should be implemented to professionalize employees and reduce turnover costs (Bigembe, 2021; Elton, 2022). Such a program should emphasize leadership practices to ensure employees are motivated and engaged (Schofield, 2018). It follows that correctional organizations must be responsible and initiative-taking in order to achieve high retention without ignoring current HR management practices.
Solution Set
Dissemination of Information
One option to address the identified barriers is to disseminate helpful information through communication channels, including increased advertising and social media presence — LinkedIn, Facebook, Monster, Indeed, and Instagram — to increase the popularity of job postings. This includes revising the currently available job information with a rewrite in a more appealing manner for the modern job seeker (Perry, 2019). The advantage of this strategy is that more potential job seekers will be able to learn about hiring opportunities, which means the organization will have more choices among employees, but the disadvantages include the resource, financial, and time costs of HR marketing. More specifically, such a recommendation will require additional costs for advertising production, regular social media postings, travel expenses, and transportation costs to job fairs. In addition, it would have to leverage current staff or hire new staff to become recruiters and attend events to attract an audience. It is important to emphasize that the foundation of this recommendation is transparency and impartiality, so recruiters will have to do a quality job and talk about all the nuances associated with working in prisons (COE, 2019). Thus, information dissemination is expected to contribute to the problem of under-recruitment.
Implementation of Training
An alternative solution is implementing a training and education program to streamline recruitment and retention. The benefits of such a strategy are the spread of Callaway County Jail’s corporate culture values, including non-convictions, the ability to retrain employees to perform necessary tasks, and their expected higher performance upon completion of training (Elton, 2022). The disadvantages of this solution are the financial and time costs associated with training, hiring additional employees to do the training, and the lack of job security, or in other words, a low return on investment in training. A potential obstacle is finding qualified training-ready personnel who must also pass mandatory prerequisites such as background checks, written tests, typing tests, voice tests, and drug tests (COE, 2019). Thus, this approach solves the problem of employee retention due to unpreparedness or stress but does not eliminate the possibility of low return on investment in training.
Potential Implementation Schedule
Once the solutions have been prepared, it is necessary to decide on a timeline for implementing the intervention at Callaway County Jail. The overall projected period for the work is one year, which means that if the project begins in March 2023, by April 2024, the results will be ready and processed, and the benefits of the intervention will be determined. However, it is important to emphasize that collecting interim results is a supportive tool for change, as it will allow phase shifts to be identified and responded to promptly. One year after the implementation of the intervention, a summary report on the project’s success will be prepared, and, if necessary, recommendations for further adjustments or improvements will be offered. It should be emphasized that the timeline shown in Table 1 is indicative and may be shifted depending on budget and resource constraints, as well as unforeseen circumstances.
Table 1. Detailed timeline for implementing the intervention for Callaway County Jail
Conclusion
Corrections, and Callaway County Jail, in particular, are highly sensitive to issues of effective HR practices for recruiting and retaining employees. Multiple factors can become predictors of lack of interest in working in a correctional organization and high employee turnover, so sound solutions must be implemented to optimize this area. Developing and critically evaluating two potential solutions allows us to accept their benefits and plan to implement changes at Callaway County Jail. Success will require continuous monitoring of the results of these efforts and evaluation of the overall benefits after roughly a year of implementation. Ultimately, a well-designed and executed plan can lead to higher levels of employee satisfaction and job stability, which in turn leads to improved overall productivity, a safer environment, and lower levels of perceived stress among correctional officers.
References
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