Recruitment and Retention News Flash...Now available: Recruitment Strategic Planning Guide...California POST asked me to write this guide. While many agencies have felt the pain of not being able to recruit qualified candidates, very few agencies have developed a recruitment strategic plan. This guide is designed to help agencies develop such a plan.
Is your agency challenged by recruitment and retention issues? If so, you are not alone. Law enforcement agencies across the
nation are challenged to fill and maintain the ranks. The reality, however, is that recruitment and retention will become more challenging in coming years.
“Why,” you ask? The key factor has to do with demographics. As Baby Boomers retire, they are leaving a large gap in the national workforce due to the fact that the Generation X'ers are 30 million smaller in number. While the Millennial Generation is large, the oldest of this group is just reaching employment age. It will take some years before there are sufficient numbers to ease the recruitment crunch.
Other issues impacting recruitment and retention, especially for law enforcement, include:
Declining interest in government employment
Significant shift in demographics as minority groups make an increasingly larger percentage of many communities, yet are generally under employed in law enforcement
A growing number of women in the labor pool, but are under represented in law enforcement
Increasing competition for qualified workers as the need for knowledge workers grows
The California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) contracted with Merle to study best practices in recruitment and retention. The result of this study is a report entitled, Recruitment and Retention – Best Practices Update, and was published in April 2006. You can obtain a free copy of the report at BEST PRACTICES UPDATE. This is among the most current and extensive reports available. Even if you are not law enforcement, you will find this to be an excellent resource!
Research found that recruitment and retention are a problem for law enforcement agencies…more than 90% struggle to fill the ranks and more than 70% are challenged to keep the officers they hire. Yet, only a small percentage of agencies have developed written strategic plans…26% for recruitment and 10% for retention. The old adage…failure to plan is planning to fail… certainly holds true. Traditional recruitment practices are not working for many agencies. In spite of this, few agencies have taken the time to lay the groundwork for a successful recruitment program.
Attrition exacerbates the recruitment challenge. Nearly one-quarter of
California peace officers have switched agencies at least one time. Many others have chosen to leave the profession. The cost of replacing these officers is staggering considering the investment necessary to recruit and train an officer. Consider the training process alone:
Six-month academy
Three-four months riding with a field training officer
Increased level of supervision as the officer begins to ride solo
In some sheriff’s offices, this training may include another three months of jail training
A federally funded study found smaller agencies are disproportionately impacted by attrition. Working short exasperates already limited resources in many agencies.
Workforce planning is a more holistic approach that focuses on the employee life cycle and is needed to better manage an agency’s valuable human resource and intellectual capital. Such an approach takes into consideration recruitment, hiring, training, retention, succession planning and employee involvement after retirement.
Succession planning involves identifying what leadership competencies current staff possess, analyzing competencies future leaders will need based on changes anticipated to occur, determining the gap that exists between current competencies and those needed in the future and developing strategies to close the competency gap. This is more critical now than ever before because of the changing demographics, as well as changing expectations of younger workers. There is a chapter in the BEST PRACTICES UPDATE that addresses succession planning.
Unfortunately, few public agencies have taken time to do recruitment, retention, or succession planning let alone workplace planning. Until agencies are willing to take such steps, recruitment and retention will continue to be daunting, existing staff will be taxed and leaders will be challenged to address community needs.
Merle established a Recruitment and Retention Advisory Council comprised of a cross-section of
California law enforcement agencies. He coordinated the 2005 POST Recruitment and Retention Symposium and two Recruiter Workshops in 2006 each accommodating 150 recruiters. Additional training programs are in the planning stages. Merle is a popular conference speaker and consultant on leadership topics. He has assisted the following groups with recruitment and retention:
2005 - POST Recruitment and Retention Symposium 2005 - California League of Cities – Public Safety Committee 2005 - California Highway Patrol 2005 - POST Consortium 2005 - Northern California Personnel Testing Council 2006 -
California Network of Learning Professionals Conference 2006 - POST Recruiter Workshops (May and November) 2006 - National Sheriff’s Association Annual Conference 2006 - IPMAAC Annual Conference 2006 - National COPS Conference 2006 - California State Sheriff’s Financial Manager’s Conference 2006 -
California Public Employee Labor Relations Association Annual Conference
2007 - Law Enforcement Leadership Management Symposium (San Francisco PD/University of San Francisco)
2007 - Annual Training Manager’s Conference/Bay Area Training Officer Association
2007 - IACP State & Provincial North-Atlantic Regional Conference
2007 - Commission on Peace Officer Standards & Training
2007 - Los Angeles Police Department
2007 - Los Angeles County Police Department
2007 - Article Published: "Fillin' the Ranks," Law and Order Magazine, October Issue
2008 - Los Angeles Police Department
2008 - Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board Executive Institute
2009 - Los Angeles Police Department
2009 - Commission on Peace Officer Standards & Training - Develop Recruitment Strategic Planning Guide
Switzer Associates can help you improve leadership and address recruitment and retention challenges. Call us today at (916) 788-1094 (916) 788-1094.
