CHAPTER 1

Strategic Process to Evaluate Turnover

At present, Wyoming state government does not have a means of tracking turnover by occupation.  Individually, state agencies maintain little uniform and longitudinal data on occupation-specific turnover and its costs.  In addition, central analysis of turnover in state government is limited and does not provide information about trends in occupations that cut across agencies. 

Consequently, turnover has been addressed more in reaction to perceptions than on the basis of criteria or systematically collected data.  This report takes an in-depth look at the costs of and possible reasons for turnover in four occupations:  information technology staff, highway patrol officers, correctional officers, and caseworkers.  Our analysis of the four occupations provides “lessons learned” that can be applied to evaluating turnover in other occupations across state government.

To analyze the causes of turnover in these four occupations, we grouped the reasons staff voluntarily leave employment with the state into three categories:  wage-related reasons and working conditions (these two categories include factors such as salary, benefit package, and staffing levels, which are within an employer’s control), and personal reasons (such as family reasons, which are beyond an employer’s control).

We gathered statistical data about turnover from a variety of sources; see page iii for a summary.  In addition, since perceptions about wages, working conditions, and personal needs form the basis on which individuals make decisions to stay or leave an occupation, we needed to gather perceptual information.  We reviewed exit interviews, conducted surveys of former employees, and held focus groups with current employees, to determine by category the reasons reported for terminating employment with the state.

From the four case studies, we learned that turnover rates, in and of themselves, do not indicate whether the issue should be of concern to an organization.  Instead, it is the financial costs incurred because of turnover, plus the qualitative effects of turnover on an agency’s mission, that are the most important gauges of whether a certain level of turnover is acceptable.  The crucial issue in analyzing turnover is not to know how many employees are leaving, but to understand the impacts on the program, the agency, and the public when staff leave.

We identified three risk factors that indicate the need to actively monitor turnover in certain occupations:  level of investment in employees, criticality of the function, and size of the occupation.  The four occupations we reviewed meet those criteria.  The financial costs of turnover were fairly significant for all four, and there are more than 100 persons employed in state government in each of those occupations.  Furthermore, all four occupations provide either critical public safety functions or, in the case of information technology staff, vital infrastructure support for state operations.  It is important to add that in all likelihood, other occupations are also facing turnover that meets these criteria. 

We estimate that in 1999, the state incurred over $2 million in total turnover costs for these four occupations alone.  If the state collected and analyzed information about such “high-risk” turnover, it could provide more active management of personnel resources.  By increasing retention, the state could potentially reduce these and other such costs.  Thus, we recommend the executive branch develop a process for strategically considering high-risk turnover as it occurs in occupations across state government.  We also suggest the Legislature monitor problem turnover and consider the need for additional resources to increase retention in high-risk occupations. 

Recommendation:  A&I should develop a plan for identifying and managing high-risk turnover.

A central entity in the executive branch needs to take the lead in developing a system to identify occupation-specific high-risk turnover in state government. The Human Resource Division (HRD) of the Department of Administration and Information (A&I), with its responsibility for administering compensation and personnel statutes, is a logical focal point.  A&I should present a plan to the Legislature outlining how it proposes to work with the agencies to carry out this expanded responsibility.  If additional staffing, tools, or statutory authority are needed, it should also bring a request for resources to the Legislature for consideration.

Recommendation:  The Legislature may need to take actions necessary to reduce high-risk turnover.

Policymakers may decide to reduce high-risk turnover by improving retention of workers.  Some strategies that could improve retention revolve around matters that agencies cannot address individually, such as the number of authorized positions in an agency, or the costs of dependent health insurance coverage.  In such cases, executive branch proposals to address problems deserve careful consideration by the Legislature.

Statistics

Technology Workers

Highway Patrol Officers

Correctional Officers

DFS Caseworkers

Authorized

209

130

280

126

Vacancies

26

5

38

9

Average Tenure

10 years

13 years

3 years

4 years

Median Tenure

7 years

12 years

1 year

2 years

Turnover Rate

8.1%

10%

29.6%

30.2%

Separations

17

13

77

38

Starting Monthly Salary

Varies by agency

$1,926

$1,535

$1,837

Average Monthly Salary

$2,839

$2,180

$1,698

$2,061

Turnover Costs

$286,230

$813,148

$590,490

$466,217

Cost per Turnover

$22,018

$54,210

$7,114

$12,269

CHAPTER 2

Turnover of Technology Staff

The turnover rate for technology staff in cabinet agencies was 8.1 percent in 1999, the lowest of all four occupations we reviewed.  It was not as high as expected, given the prevailing perceptions that turnover of technology staff has been problematic for the state.   We also tracked lateral transfers between agencies for a two-year period because “agency hopping” was thought to be common among technology workers.  However, we found agency hopping to be minimal; if lateral transfers are included, the turnover rate for 1999 increases to 10.5 percent. 

Under the state’s distributed information technology system, there are small numbers of technology staff in many agencies.  As a result, turnover rates for individual agencies vary widely.  We found the turnover rate for seven cabinet agencies with small technology staffs (five or fewer) was 20 percent, five other cabinet agencies had no turnover, and two had turnover of 50 percent or more.

The aggregate costs associated with turnover of information technology staff were $286,000, the lowest among the four occupations studied.  Nevertheless, because of the investment made in training individual technology workers, costs per individual turnover were relatively high, with each departure costing $22,000.  Over half the costs of this turnover can be attributed to training, while the remaining costs are primarily incurred during times of staff vacancies as expenditures for contractors, temporary personnel, or overtime.

Some costs associated with turnover cannot be quantified, and we refer to these as the “intangible costs of turnover.”  Because information technology is a vital part of the infrastructure for state government, the intangible effects of turnover in this occupation can be significant.  The impacts pervade different levels of state government:  turnover affects agencies as a whole, users within agencies, and remaining technology workers. 

Although turnover among state government technology staff has been lower than perceived, wages are a strong cause of the turnover that does occur.  Nationwide, the information technology industry has been highly competitive.  This has resulted in plentiful opportunities for technology workers employed by the state to make higher wages by leaving Wyoming or entering the private sector.  Wages for technology occupations in surrounding states are higher than Wyoming’s, and it appears likely that technology workers who leave the state are moving to other states for that reason.  Also, research conducted by the Department of Employment’s Research and Planning Division (R&P) shows technology workers formerly employed by the state, who then moved to Wyoming’s private sector, increased their wages. 

While agency hopping does increase turnover somewhat, we found it is not a pervasive practice and wage competition among agencies is minimal.  A&I reports it is in the process of assisting agencies in developing standard pay zones for technology occupations, and this could bring further uniformity to wages.

HRD and the employing agencies have already taken several steps to reduce turnover among technology staff.  They have restructured the career ladder, increased wages, and obtained authorization to give lump-sum bonuses for IT staff.  It is possible these moves have helped the turnover rate remain relatively low.

Turnover cannot be eliminated completely, but selected retention strategies may decrease it somewhat.  In the case of technology staff, better aligning wages with the private sector may be an effective retention strategy; currently, changes in how the state determines wages are in progress. 

Some non-wage options could be explored to decrease turnover of technology staff.  HRD could give employing agencies latitude in personnel rules to award signing bonuses, add-ons for acquired skills, or recruitment bonuses.  Additionally, a “grow your own” program could provide technical training to non-technical staff who have demonstrated both ability and a preference for state employment.  A grow your own program might increase the applicant pool and improve retention.

Next Steps to Decrease Turnover Costs.  Evaluating the costs and benefits of retention strategies for information technology workers will be challenging because this occupation cuts across many agencies.  We believe A&I, with input from the employing agencies, would be the best entity to carry out such evaluation.  Our analysis shows turnover in this occupation has potentially large effects and it should be included among the occupations to be monitored if the executive branch creates a strategic process to track high-risk turnover.

CHAPTER 3

Highway Patrol Turnover

Despite widespread perceptions to the contrary, the turnover rate for the Highway Patrol (HP) has been relatively low, remaining under ten percent for the past five years.  However, two factors make even relatively low HP turnover a problem:  its significant financial cost, and the criticality of its mission to provide public safety.  HP has the highest turnover costs among the four occupations studied.  For FY99, HP’s estimated total cost of turnover was $813,148, with each officer’s departure costing $54,210. 

We learned that the primary reason HP officers left employment with WYDOT was dissatisfaction with wage-related issues; this was followed closely by, and interdependent with, dissatisfaction with working conditions.  Furthermore, officers often discussed wages in conjunction with health insurance benefits for dependents, stating that the insurance is not affordable.  On average, former HP officers who took private-sector jobs or who left Wyoming received higher pay.  According to the 1999 Central States Survey (CSS), Wyoming offered the lowest starting salary for HP officers among the reporting states, paying 22 percent less than the average minimum for those states.

Because replacing an officer can take 8 to 12 months, losing even one HP officer can have a negative effect, especially in areas of the state with only a few officers.  Vacancies have an immediate and pervasive effect on working conditions for those officers who remain.  Vacancies result in less coverage and back-up for officers, additional on-call requirements and stress, and decreased safety and customer service.  Scheduling was also a major factor in HP officers’ dissatisfaction with working conditions.  As one officer stated, “Scheduling affects family life and morale, and this is directly due to turnover.”  

Since 1998, new leadership at HP has taken actions that may have already decreased turnover.  Changes include:  increasing communication efforts and proactively seeking feedback; establishing a new leadership-training program for management, a new canine program, and a spousal-support network; and working to increase opportunities for advancement without moving officers to a different location, as had been required in the past.  Recently, WYDOT adopted a new pay plan which increased wages and flexibility, added three new job codes for non-supervisory/non-managerial HP officers, and offered greater opportunities for advancement and pay.

Next Steps to Decrease Turnover Costs.  Considering the high financial and public safety costs associated with HP turnover, WYDOT could choose to collaborate with HRD in identifying next steps.  Together they could engage in a strategic process to determine whether it is more cost-effective to accept the current level of turnover, or to put more effort toward increasing retention.  WYDOT could begin to identify more cost-efficient ways to provide quality screening and training, as these account for the majority of turnover costs.  It can also improve recruitment efforts to fill reported vacancies, and may be able to decrease the per-officer costs of recruitment and training.  Other retention strategies would require legislative action, such as increasing position authorizations, salaries, and health insurance benefits.

CHAPTER 4

Correctional Officer Turnover

In 1999, 29.6 percent of DOC’s correctional officers left their jobs.  Historic-ally, turnover among officers and corporals has been high, and it is currently higher than turnover for the agency overall, the executive branch, and other states.  Nationally, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), correctional officers will be the fastest-growing protective-service occupation in the next decade because of turnover and rising prison populations. 

DOC has not been able to recruit enough staff to fill all its positions at the Wyoming State Penitentiary (WSP), and faces the need to hire additional staff to operate a new facility.  As a result of turnover, staff at WSP must work overtime to cover vacancies, and many of the correctional staff on the job are relatively inexperienced.  Almost half the 280 correctional officers employed by DOC in 1999 had less than one year of experience, and most of these inexperienced staff worked at WSP.  This is in direct contrast to the tenure of the executive branch as a whole, where 71 percent of all employees have more than five years of experience.

The financial costs of correctional officer turnover are significant.  In 1999, DOC incurred the second highest turnover costs, $581,000, among the four occupations we reviewed.  Of this amount, DOC’s costs for overtime were $271,000, or more than three times as much as for any of the other occupations.  DOC also had high total training costs, although this translated into the lowest training cost per turnover because of the large volume of replacements being trained.  

Turnover has impacted DOC in the performance of its mission.  From our interviews with DOC managers and correctional officers at WSP, we learned of the qualitative effects of turnover, or effects that cannot be assigned a dollar value.  For example, staff must work overtime to cover vacancies and maintain a minimum complement on each shift at WSP.  New correctional officers lack institutional knowledge and represent a potential risk to the safety of other officers as well as to the security of the institution.  In addition, attrition requires DOC to allocate a disproportionate share of its training budget to pre-service training, when funds could otherwise be directed toward additional training for more tenured staff. 

Since individual perceptions form the basis for employment decisions, we sought to understand the views of current and former correctional staff about why individuals voluntarily leave employment with DOC.  We learned that the two major factors influencing individual decisions to leave these jobs are dissatisfaction with wages and benefits, coupled with concerns about the day-to-day work environment at WSP.  We identified a third factor, “poor job fit,” as a possible contributor to turnover.

Wyoming correctional officers tend to earn less than other law enforcement personnel in Wyoming. In addition, the starting monthly salary of $1,535 for Wyoming correctional officers was 18 percent less than the average minimum salary of $1,870 reported by other states in the 1999 CSS.  Many current and former correctional staff we contacted reported needing to augment their primary wages through overtime, second jobs, or public assistance. 

DOC officials and the Legislature have been working to improve wages, and in each of the past five years, the Legislature provided additional funding to increase correctional staff salaries.  Nevertheless, it appears that local law enforcement agencies and surrounding states have also continued to increase their wages and are still paying more than DOC.

Although local and other state law enforcement agencies pay more than DOC, the analysis conducted by R&P found that correctional officers earned an average of 26 percent less after leaving DOC.  These results led us to conclude that dissatisfaction with working conditions may play a larger role in turnover.  Dissatisfaction with working conditions at WSP centers around four main issues:  communication, management support, professionalism, and staffing.  Current and former employees at WSP said problems in these areas have contributed to an environment of low morale and a diminished sense of safety and security.

DOC officials report ongoing efforts to work with correctional staff to improve working conditions at the WSP.  We believe DOC may need to redouble its efforts to address dissatisfactions with working conditions that appear to be influencing individual decisions to leave.  Establishing more feedback mechanisms may help DOC better understand the perceptions of remaining staff, and this could help improve efforts to retain them.

Additionally, some correctional officer turnover may be caused by “poor job fit,” since applicants undergo very little pre-screening to ensure they are physically and psychologically suited for corrections work.  One-third of the officers who terminated during 1999 left within 12 weeks of being hired, and DOC dismissed a higher percentage of staff than the other occupations we reviewed.

Next Steps to Decrease Turnover Costs.  Due to the critical nature of the correctional officer function and the financial costs associated with turnover, we believe this occupation warrants monitoring by DOC, A&I, and the Legislature.  Approaches we suggest include improving staff’s perception of management through increased communication, providing consistent policies, and improving management support and recognition.  Other retention strategies that depend on additional funding, such as increasing recruitment efforts, implementing more rigorous screening, and addressing wage and benefit issues, may require legislative action. 

CHAPTER 5

Caseworker Turnover

In 1999, roughly one-third of DFS caseworkers left the agency, making this the highest turnover among the four occupations we reviewed.  DFS has had ongoing difficulty in retaining caseworkers and filling vacancies:  turnover rates for caseworkers have been increasing over the past five years, and increased dramatically in 1999.  Professional literature we reviewed identifies turnover among caseworkers as a problem nationwide. 

Many caseworkers are leaving DFS before they have the training and experience they need to be fully productive and able to work independently.  We found that 61 percent of those who left in 1999 had completed two years or less of employment.  Overall, 71 percent of DFS caseworkers in 1999 had tenure of five years or less.  The longer tenure and stability provided by DFS’ 38 supervisors and managers may offset caseworker inexperience, but the large number of inexperienced frontline caseworkers adds to these supervisors’ workloads.

At $466,217, the dollar costs of this turnover were the second lowest of the four occupations, but we found that the greatest costs were intangible or societal costs and thus not quantifiable.  For example, high caseworker turnover compromises the effectiveness of service delivery by causing vacancies that increase workloads and stress for the remaining caseworkers and undermine morale.  Turnover also disrupts the community networks and continuity essential to casework, and leads to less experienced caseworkers assuming greater responsibilities.  The effectiveness of a social service agency such as DFS is dependent on the knowledge, skills, and abilities of caseworkers when serving clients.  Effective ongoing casework cannot be accomplished with constant entering and exiting of employees.

Although wages and working conditions are intertwined causes of caseworker turnover, we found that working conditions are of most concern to caseworkers.  Nearly two-thirds of former caseworkers responding to our survey ranked working conditions as the overriding reason for leaving DFS.  The working conditions they cited most frequently were workload, organizational morale, management responsiveness, and supervisor relationships.  These responses are supported by research conducted by R&P which shows that many former caseworkers left DFS and took jobs where they earned an average of 20 percent less than their DFS wages.

Survey responses show that a second cause of caseworker turnover is dissatisfaction with wages, coupled with dissatisfaction with the state’s health insurance benefits.  Wyoming’s caseworker wages are among the lowest of the 24 states reporting to the CSS.  In this group, Wyoming pays caseworkers the second lowest starting salary and the lowest average wage.  The monthly starting wage for a caseworker in Wyoming is $1,837, compared to an average starting wage of $2,166 reported in CSS.  In both cases, starting wage and average wage, Wyoming pays caseworkers less than all six contiguous states.

DFS has taken some actions to address wage-related problems, such as instituting on-call compensation and increasing the entry-level pay of caseworkers.  However, we believe DFS leaders also need to focus attention on dissatisfaction with working conditions, since this appears to be an even more significant cause of turnover than wage-related issues.  Although DFS has tried to decrease workloads by reallocating staff when possible, we believe turnover will likely continue to be high until workload issues are satisfactorily addressed.  Increased retention of workers might result from innovations such as increasing the opportunities for aspiring caseworkers to do internships with the agency.

Next Steps to Decrease Turnover Costs.   Our November 1999 program evaluation on Child Protective Services called upon DFS to develop a plan of action in response to issues raised, one of which was caseworker turnover.  Because client services are jeopardized by turnover, we believe there is some urgency for DFS to develop strategies to increase retention of caseworkers.  In light of the additional information developed for this report, we recommend that policymakers consider DFS’ plan carefully.

CHAPTER 6

Conclusion

Nationally, the BLS projects significant job growth during the next decade in each of the occupations we evaluated.  BLS predicts that growth in various computer occupations will increase at least 70 percent through 2008.  Demand in the social worker occupation is expected to increase by 36 percent, correctional officers by 39 percent, and patrol officers by 32 percent. 

Wyoming’s labor market has been characterized by a fluid attachment of workers, wage levels below surrounding states, and low job growth.  Given this picture, and barring dramatic changes, national labor market issues may continue to cause Wyoming to experience an outflow of workers.  State economists forecast that over the next decade, the number of individuals leaving the state will exceed the number of people who move to Wyoming.

Although state government has a more stable workforce than other industries in Wyoming, the national context creates compelling reasons to monitor high risk turnover.  The state can set in place a process that provides a better ability to monitor the real costs of turnover, both financial and intangible.  Then, it will be positioned to develop effective, targeted retention strategies, both for the occupations we reviewed and for other high risk occupations yet to be identified.  The process need not be expensive or time-consuming to administer; it should simply provide policymakers a more precise level of information about high-risk kinds of turnover and their true costs.