It is apparent that federal prisons and correctional facilities are experiencing detrimental staffing shortages. Just a few months ago, the Federal Corrections Complex in Florida cited a 14% vacancy among employees in its correctional department. There are many possible causes to this staffing shortage which could include retiring workers, difficulties with attracting and retaining workforce, and lack of proper compliance training or emphasis on career development. This severe staffing issue poses many threats to correctional organizations such as:
Retiring Workers:
As employees get older and approach retirement, it is crucial for the current employees to stay current with compliance training. Not only is compliance one piece of the puzzle, but it’s also important that federal organizations address any gaps in skill levels and development so that they are competent to take over as some mature and knowledgeable employees leave.
Workforce Retention:
Being short staffed can cause additional stressors on current workers to compensate for more experienced workers leaving and creating a larger knowledge gap. As a result, this could lead to increased burnout among employees, inadequate approach to workplace incidents, and employees taking on tasks they are unequipped to handle. By upskilling and reskilling your workforce this could lead to a stronger foundational set of skills that your organization can continue to work from.
With proper training programs in place, this could allow federal agencies to efficiently conduct onboarding. In doing so, your workers are getting to work quicker and learning important processes on the job. Additionally, with an LMS that has Career Development capabilities it allows government agencies to have insight to strategically plan training related to any knowledge gaps or course to refresh employees on certain critical skills.