Early Intervention: The Recipe for Retention in Public Safety Agencies

Because of the special obligations public safety agencies have to the communities they serve—as well as the high stakes and potential liabilities involved—a proper strategy for retaining high-quality employees is critical. A passive approach to staffing and leadership is simply not an option.

Some red flags that an organization’s current practices may be at the root of its staff retention issues include:

• Leaders are not transparent and explicit in their efforts to reduce turnover.
• Hiring, training, and staff development are done without proper forethought and intention.
• Responsive coaching and proactive accountability systems are absent.
• Promotions are based on seniority or field experience, not leadership qualities.

The importance of retention

In general, the determining factor in retention is job satisfaction. An employee’s satisfaction with their work, in turn, is largely a function of how meaningful they believe their role is and how well they feel they perform it.

Through the standards and expectations they model and communicate, public safety agency leaders are instrumental in shaping these perceptions—and addressing opportunities for improvement as they arise.

Many of the benefits of improving retention at public safety agencies are apparent:

• Hiring and training are expensive and time-consuming.
• Experienced employees tend to be more productive and reliable—and less of a safety and legal liability.
• The regular turnover of employees is disruptive to departments and projects and can hurt staff morale.

But some benefits may not be so apparent:

• Low turnover is often an indication of good overall quality of leadership.
• Longer careers at one agency mean more opportunities for developing leaders and strategically promoting from within.
• The institutional knowledge of long-term staff members is valuable and very difficult to replace.
• Internal relationships developed over time can build trust, streamline communication, and boost productivity.

Intervention must come early

• Investing in affirmative, proactive performance management tools can indeed be costly and time-consuming.
• But the value of catching performance issues as early as possible—even before they arise—is the greater benefit in the long run, when longer retention is the result.
• As distinct from early warning systems (EWS), early intervention efforts:
• Send the message that agency leaders are attentive and responsive and take responsibility for helping everyone continuously meet standards and uphold the agency’s mission.
• Motivate employees to adopt positive behaviors.
• Show employees that they add value to the agency and are therefore expected to perform at their level of potential.
• Provide employees with a better framework for understanding their job going forward, reducing confusion and frustration.
• Avoid a “punishment model” of management, where the emphasis is placed on reacting to negative behaviors that could have been prevented earlier.
• Involve employees in an ongoing collaborative process grounded in transparency.