Any administrative or management position in corrections is likely to be very challenging and frustrating. Prisons and jails are complex organizations that have to operate in a cost-effective manner with a greatly outnumbered staff and an endless stream of violent and dangerous inmates. To succeed, a prison administration must have clear-cut policies and procedures, crystal-clear lines of communication that transmit unequivocal expectations, access to budgetary resources, a fair and efficient inmate disciplinary process, and most of all, the ability to recruit, hire, train, and retain good, quality staff. The staffing function is perhaps the most important because staff can undermine all the other functions.

The key challenges in prison staffing are best represented as a balance between:

• Work hours; Nights are easier than Days
• Overtime; Too much causes fatigue, stress and safety issues. Too little causes morale problems
• Fairness; Good vs. Bad shifts (rotations), Using Seniority, Collective Bargaining

The current trend in corrections reflects that money is tight and cutbacks are a sad fact of life. Often, vacant positions cannot be filled because of budget shortfalls, requiring the use of overtime to fill critical posts. Forced overtime is an issue in corrections due to the fact that shift work requires flexible childcare schedules and other arrangements. Usually, overtime pay is attractive to employees, but a pattern of forced overtime and double shifts tends to wear staff down and generate resentment.

On the flip side of the coin, overtime can be abused. In some systems, especially those in which unions are powerful, employees control the overtime assignments and the amount of allowable overtime, usually based on seniority. This has resulted in some line officers making double or triple their base salaries in overtime. Some of these practices have been eliminated by agency budget reductions, but abuse is an ongoing problem. New agency employees do not have the opportunity to earn overtime money, while longtime employees pad their salaries.

From the administrator’s perspective, top issues include:

• Controlling overtime costs while
• Balancing employee stress
• Reducing turn-over

From the personnel / guard perspective:

• Minimizing stress
• Ensuring fairness

Personnel costs are, by far, the largest contributor. And since overtime can be a major cost-center on its own, it is often targeted in cost-cutting programs. Administration must balance the personnel morale when cutting or creating overtime: too much overtime and personnel get fatigued and stressed – decreasing safety of others or increasing employee turn-over. Too little overtime can cause low morale as the low-pay of prison work can be supplemented in OT.

While maintaining the balance between budget, abuse and morale, the associated problems can be mitigated using ScheduleExpress workforce scheduling automation. Utilizing the same technologies that have been integrated into business applications over the last decade, ScheduleExpress can help to reduce the burdens of the scheduling process, while delivering to administrative and managerial requirements. This allows overtime to be managed effectively, while providing the control and oversight that administration requires, and empowering individual personnel to maintain their work schedule balance.