Question

RETAINING EMERGENCY DISPATCHERS Discussion Guidelines Initial Response: Due by posted due date Responses: Response to initial response of at least two others: Due Date by posted due date. In city and county offices nationwide, dispatchers receive calls from worried people who dial 911 for help in an emergency. As you might imagine, the job is extremely stressful. The result? Dispatchers, who often earn low wages and work extra-long shifts, become burned out and call it quits. Turnover is high. This makes for a big staffing headache for supervisors. Consider the Shawnee County's Emergency Communications Center, which dispatches about 251,000 calls per year. The optimum staff to cover the three shifts of 24/7 service is 45 employees. But for the five-month period from January 1 to May 1, 2013, only 27 dispatchers were employed at the Kansas center. A primary factor is that, given their resources, supervisors cannot solve the problem of finding candidates who are qualified to be emergency staffers. A short staff means extra stress for overworked dispatchers. In addition, supervisors must request—even demand—that employees work overtime to fill the gaps. “Staffing and overtime [are] a concern in not only our center but others” across the country, confirms a Shawnee Country supervisor. “We are trying to get some people in here,” he says. But “emergency dispatcher” is not a position that can be filled by anyone who walks in off the street. An experienced supervisor reports that the job requires about six months of training, so the many vacancies cannot be filled overnight. Once trained dispatchers are on the job, why is it so difficult for supervisors to retain them? The reason so many employees give is the inherent stress. In addition to the crises that dispatchers must respond to calmly, knowledgeably, and immediately, overwork adds to the strain. In Shawnee County, dispatcher shifts are eight hours, but the workers must work 12 hours straight in many cases. Considering family to care for and other obligations, that can mean only a few hours’ sleep at night. Tired dispatchers can make mistakes. Then there is the issue of life–work balance. Less control over one's personal time can add to the already emotionally charged nature of the typical dispatcher's work time. Lacking a creative alternative, one emergency call center supervisor in Dallas made the decision to deny employees the earned days off they wanted to take for such important events as family graduations. The practice backfired. Absenteeism rose, leaving those at work under even more stress. Another problem in many areas is pay. In Shawnee County, a new dispatcher's initial salary was around $13.50 an hour in 2013. Supervisors must try to invent creative ways to retain dispatchers when there are less stressful jobs offering comparable or greater pay.

Questions: 1. If you supervised an emergency call center, what steps would you take to try to solve the problem of dispatcher retention? 2. How would you apply your decision-making skills to approach the problem creatively?

Answer 1

answer-

1- The first step i would take to solve the problem of dispatacher retention by finding what things attract and motivate to work as Dispacther and how they can remain in the emergency center for longer period of time. second step i would take is to use the right motivational reinforcement to boost the morale and increase thier interest to work at the center. This can be done by Providing Flex time, increase thier pay, Praise their efforts, Organize bonus systems, overtime pay etc.Then third step will be use the right reinforcement to change thier behavior related to the job and make them stay at the job.

for example- Dispatacher in Shawne county face issue of low wages per hour so as supervisor i would increase thier wages so that they can be satisfied with thier compensation.I would also give them bonus for taking more calls.

Another example- Dispatachers who have issue of balancing thier work and personal life so flex time will be good policy where they can choose to right time slot to work.

2- I apply my decision making skill by first identifying the problem that dispacthers do not like thier compensation, their work stress is more etc. Second, Then i would identify alternatives like increase compensation is good idea. We can increase bonus and praise thier efforts, Introduce flex time etc. The choose the right alternative to solve thier problem. for example- if problem is low pay then we will increase thier wages . If problem is work life balance then we will introduce flex time. then we take final decision. Monitoring and reviewing of decision is important. In this i would see and observe that dispatchers are staying and working at the job for longer period of time.