human resource Managment

Developing Diagnostic and Analytical Skills 48 Case Application 5: TURNOVER AND MORALE PROBLEMS AT TSA Next time you go through security on your way through the airport, security jobs such as the Secret Service or Border Patrol. The pay and smile and say thank you to the screeners who help you send your promotion system has been widely viewed by employees as not fair, bags through screening and wave you through the scanner. Low credible or transparent. Employee ratings are seen as more arbitrary morale runs rampant through the screeners that work at the Trans- than based on merit. portation Safety Administration (TSA) and odds are that the While over 90 percent of screeners feel that their work was screener you smile at is thinking about quitting.46 important, only 20 percent felt that promotions were based on A recent government report revealed concerns that the low merit. Most admit that they feel that the screener position is a diffi- morale of the screeners may be a distraction to them on the job and cult "dead end" job. "It's menial labor," observed Michael Boyd, an may even cause them to be less focused on security and screening aviation consultant who advises airports and airlines. "These are responsibilities. About one in five of the nation's 48,000 screeners people who paw through luggage." quit every year due to low morale, low pay, discrimination and fear of retaliation if they complain." Questions: An ambitious program aimed at reducing turnover was imple- 1. Why do screeners describe the position as a "dead end job"? mented in 2006, paying bonuses of $500 to $1000 to screeners as a How can job design be used to correct that perception? retention incentive. Although $18 million in bonuses was paid, the 2. Using sources like O*NET, develop a job description for a number of screeners leaving their jobs was unchanged. Screeners screener position. earn an average of $30,000 a year. TSA also started a program that 3. How might job enrichment concepts be used to increase would raise salaries of high-quality veteran screeners to a new pay morale and retention at TSA? grade and a better opportunity to be promoted to other government 4. Why didn't the bonuses reduce turnover