OIG: Needs to Improve Efforts to Retain, Hire, and Train Its Screeners
Apr 2, 2019, 12:42 pm
#1
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OIG: Needs to Improve Efforts to Retain, Hire, and Train Its Screeners
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) needs to continue to improve its retention, hiring, and training of Transportation Security Officers (TSO). Specifically, TSA needs to better address its retention challenges because it currently does not share and leverage results of TSO exit surveys and does not always convey job expectations to new-hires......
Furthermore, TSA does not fully evaluate applicants for capability as well as compatibility when hiring new TSOs.....
When comparing the most recent Census Bureau data for cities in which these two hard-to-hire airports are located, TSA pays TSOs as much as 31 percent below the per capita income amount. For example, at one airport, officials indicated that a local retail store offered comparable salaries to TSOs. Additionally, one TSA official reported that a sandwich shop chain offered a higher salary than an entry-level TSO
Furthermore, TSA does not fully evaluate applicants for capability as well as compatibility when hiring new TSOs.....
When comparing the most recent Census Bureau data for cities in which these two hard-to-hire airports are located, TSA pays TSOs as much as 31 percent below the per capita income amount. For example, at one airport, officials indicated that a local retail store offered comparable salaries to TSOs. Additionally, one TSA official reported that a sandwich shop chain offered a higher salary than an entry-level TSO
Last edited by petaluma1; Apr 2, 2019 at 12:48 pm
Apr 2, 2019, 1:55 pm
#2
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Two interesting items from the OIG's report:
Travelers screening experience will never be good until TSA gets a stable, well trained workforce. That's not what's in place a this time!
I'd be curious on seeing documentation of the $6,300 cost to hire.
During FYs 2016–17, TSA hired more than 19,300 TSOs, yet lost more than 15,500 during this same period. TSA spends millions annually to hire and train new TSOs to replace those who leave the agency.
In FY 2017, TSA reported that, on average, it spent approximately $6,300 to hire and $2,300 to train TSOs through its Basic Training Program (BTP) and the new-hire training at airports. In that same fiscal year, TSA hired more than 9,600 TSOs, costing the agency approximately $75 million3 in hiring and training costs.
Apr 2, 2019, 4:17 pm
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Yeah, particularly when TSA is allegedly spending nearly three times that amount just to hire someone.
We will see improvements like attention to exit interviews when the bonuses of the top folks reflect their management failures.
We will see improvements like attention to exit interviews when the bonuses of the top folks reflect their management failures.
Apr 2, 2019, 9:06 pm
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This is nothing new. My second year with TSA I went to LAX on a 30 day rotation to augment their workforce during hiring challenges. They were routinely losing more than they could hire to other government jobs, and even to local mid-level eateries due to better hours, better locations to work, and in most cases better salaries by a large margin. Most of the folks that left while I was out there on my rotation left for a minimum of $2-3 an hour more to work at places like TGIF or Applebys, and around $6-7 an hour more for most local government positions as admin or less security oriented positions that had less stress. It was amazing to watch, kids were getting hired, completing the required basics to become a TSO, and in less than 6 months springboarding out to a pay raise and better hours. This has been a common refrain for TSA, especially at the really large airports with densely populated areas near it - the cost of living simply prices most folks out of the job, which is why I think we get so many retirees added to the workforce. Those folks are usually more stable, have augmented income to help offset the cost of living, and they tend to have a consistent work ethic. I do not see an easy fix for the organization, if they start paying someone in NYC $85k to start, the rest of the workforce will howl bloody murder. If they do not raise the renumeration rates in large metro areas, they will continue to hire folks, and lose them consistently to better paying jobs.
Apr 2, 2019, 9:24 pm
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I think a larger factor is TSA's reliance on part time employees, then having them work split shifts. New full time hires at TSA hire on for a bit over $30,000 and part timers at $16.00+ per hour. USAJOBS.GOV will show pay rates in various areas. Add in locality adjustments and benefits we taxpayers pay a pretty high price for substandard aviation security.
Apr 3, 2019, 8:38 am
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Younger employees in urban areas generally have more employment opportunities than older employees in their late 50s and 60s (or older) working for the TSA, and turnover would reflect that.
Apr 3, 2019, 9:32 am
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Some of those that do hire on will hang around long enough to realize what a dysfunctional mess TSA really is.
Apr 3, 2019, 11:21 am
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I'd like to see hard data on the turnover among airport employees. I find it hard to believe that the folks working at an airport McDonald's are making much more than a TSO, and I'm certain they aren't getting perks like large uniform allowances and federal pensions. These businesses also face the same issues as TSA: how to keep costs down but staff appropriately for busy and slow times - and do it in a way that doesn't drive your employees away, like awkward split shifts.
Is the turnover at airport businesses comparable to TSA turnover?
Some of this might be stupid budgeting, probably encouraged and rewarded by inappropriate bonuses. Keeping labor costs down by forcing people to work awkward split shifts might be more than offset by the costs of continually replacing employees. Sometimes it actually makes more fiscal sense to staff people for a full shift, even with slow times, than to keep replacing and retraining people because no one wants to work those split shifts.
It would also be interesting to know how the turnover rates of TSOs compares with the retention rates of LTSOs and STSOs. Are many LTSOs and STSOs working split shifts?
It's true that ATL or NYC face different challenges from PSC or JAK. Nevertheless, FSDs should be given retention targets to meet for their workforce, and their bonuses and raises should be based on meeting those goals. Maybe then each FSD would be motivated to read exit interviews at their airport and find solutions. Indeed, I would think TSA already has the data and should be looking at airports with high retention rates to try to understand what they are getting right.
Not too much to ask - their job is my safety. There's no way you maintain top levels of security and peak performance with an insanely high turnover rate, constant influx of newbies who aren't up to speed, and an obviously unhappy work force.
Is the turnover at airport businesses comparable to TSA turnover?
Some of this might be stupid budgeting, probably encouraged and rewarded by inappropriate bonuses. Keeping labor costs down by forcing people to work awkward split shifts might be more than offset by the costs of continually replacing employees. Sometimes it actually makes more fiscal sense to staff people for a full shift, even with slow times, than to keep replacing and retraining people because no one wants to work those split shifts.
It would also be interesting to know how the turnover rates of TSOs compares with the retention rates of LTSOs and STSOs. Are many LTSOs and STSOs working split shifts?
It's true that ATL or NYC face different challenges from PSC or JAK. Nevertheless, FSDs should be given retention targets to meet for their workforce, and their bonuses and raises should be based on meeting those goals. Maybe then each FSD would be motivated to read exit interviews at their airport and find solutions. Indeed, I would think TSA already has the data and should be looking at airports with high retention rates to try to understand what they are getting right.
Not too much to ask - their job is my safety. There's no way you maintain top levels of security and peak performance with an insanely high turnover rate, constant influx of newbies who aren't up to speed, and an obviously unhappy work force.
Last edited by chollie; Apr 3, 2019 at 11:57 am
Apr 3, 2019, 5:26 pm
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If an operation has high employee turnover, investment in training and retaining employees tends to be retarded to a low level unless and until it involves employees who have been around for a very long time, and even then it ends up being more like a favoritism thing than a meritocracy. But who wants to stick around the TSA for very long and will stick around? Seems like people with few to no good options to move. That would suggest investing more in people with poor career possibilities, but then the operation would find that the investment increased their employability outside and the better of the bottom bunch would mostly jump ship too unless stuck in a region with bad employment opportunities.
If the TSA were undone and screening returned to pre-2001 type of screening, this whole problem with TSA rank and file would go away and there would be a net savings and an eventual elimination of the ridiculous ID-as-security nonsense that we have in play at airports currently.
If the TSA were undone and screening returned to pre-2001 type of screening, this whole problem with TSA rank and file would go away and there would be a net savings and an eventual elimination of the ridiculous ID-as-security nonsense that we have in play at airports currently.
Apr 4, 2019, 5:49 pm
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This is nothing new. My second year with TSA I went to LAX on a 30 day rotation to augment their workforce during hiring challenges. They were routinely losing more than they could hire to other government jobs, and even to local mid-level eateries due to better hours, better locations to work, and in most cases better salaries by a large margin. Most of the folks that left while I was out there on my rotation left for a minimum of $2-3 an hour more to work at places like TGIF or Applebys, and around $6-7 an hour more for most local government positions as admin or less security oriented positions that had less stress. It was amazing to watch, kids were getting hired, completing the required basics to become a TSO, and in less than 6 months springboarding out to a pay raise and better hours. This has been a common refrain for TSA, especially at the really large airports with densely populated areas near it - the cost of living simply prices most folks out of the job, which is why I think we get so many retirees added to the workforce. Those folks are usually more stable, have augmented income to help offset the cost of living, and they tend to have a consistent work ethic. I do not see an easy fix for the organization, if they start paying someone in NYC $85k to start, the rest of the workforce will howl bloody murder. If they do not raise the renumeration rates in large metro areas, they will continue to hire folks, and lose them consistently to better paying jobs.
Apr 5, 2019, 8:34 pm
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This is nothing new. My second year with TSA I went to LAX on a 30 day rotation to augment their workforce during hiring challenges. They were routinely losing more than they could hire to other government jobs, and even to local mid-level eateries due to better hours, better locations to work, and in most cases better salaries by a large margin. Most of the folks that left while I was out there on my rotation left for a minimum of $2-3 an hour more to work at places like TGIF or Applebys, and around $6-7 an hour more for most local government positions as admin or less security oriented positions that had less stress. It was amazing to watch, kids were getting hired, completing the required basics to become a TSO, and in less than 6 months springboarding out to a pay raise and better hours. This has been a common refrain for TSA, especially at the really large airports with densely populated areas near it - the cost of living simply prices most folks out of the job, which is why I think we get so many retirees added to the workforce. Those folks are usually more stable, have augmented income to help offset the cost of living, and they tend to have a consistent work ethic. I do not see an easy fix for the organization, if they start paying someone in NYC $85k to start, the rest of the workforce will howl bloody murder. If they do not raise the renumeration rates in large metro areas, they will continue to hire folks, and lose them consistently to better paying jobs.
But in my mind, morale is the biggest factor. If an employee hate his job, whether it's because he's constantly asked to "do more with less"; or because his efforts are not recognized AND rewarded; or because his employer's or supervisor's shortcomings are constantly blamed on him; or simply because everything he's asked to do is either meaningless or actively harmful to others; then of course, the employee's morale will be non-existent and he will leave the job, no matter how well or poorly he's being compensated and benefited. Such is the case, IMHO, with TSA.
The agency as a whole - with particular emphasis on management - is to blame for its high turnover. Policies are stupid, ineffective, or outright harmful to the very people and society the agency was chartered to protect. Middle-management is either incompetent or apathetic, or both. Upper management is incompetent and openly hostile to both the rank and file, and the general public. And the public itself, the very people whom TSA is chartered to protect, is inexplicably hostile toward the employees of an agency that treats them like criminals or a hostile enemy force while feeding them a line of BS that all of the abuse heaped on them by the agency is "for their protection".
My advice is, don't focus on pay - that's a red herring thrown out by both management and the union to divert attention from the real shortcomings of the agency. Focus instead on the agency's deepest, most fundamental problem: that it makes war on the the people whose safety and security are their reason for being. Stop suspecting all people, and start protecting them, and only then will TSA become both trustworthy and effective enough to actually be a decent place to work.
Apr 6, 2019, 5:19 am
#13
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Competitive pay is, of course, a major factor in employee retention in any field, but it's not the only factor. Scheduling and duties are also factors.
But in my mind, morale is the biggest factor. If an employee hate his job, whether it's because he's constantly asked to "do more with less"; or because his efforts are not recognized AND rewarded; or because his employer's or supervisor's shortcomings are constantly blamed on him; or simply because everything he's asked to do is either meaningless or actively harmful to others; then of course, the employee's morale will be non-existent and he will leave the job, no matter how well or poorly he's being compensated and benefited. Such is the case, IMHO, with TSA.
The agency as a whole - with particular emphasis on management - is to blame for its high turnover. Policies are stupid, ineffective, or outright harmful to the very people and society the agency was chartered to protect. Middle-management is either incompetent or apathetic, or both. Upper management is incompetent and openly hostile to both the rank and file, and the general public. And the public itself, the very people whom TSA is chartered to protect, is inexplicably hostile toward the employees of an agency that treats them like criminals or a hostile enemy force while feeding them a line of BS that all of the abuse heaped on them by the agency is "for their protection".
My advice is, don't focus on pay - that's a red herring thrown out by both management and the union to divert attention from the real shortcomings of the agency. Focus instead on the agency's deepest, most fundamental problem: that it makes war on the the people whose safety and security are their reason for being. Stop suspecting all people, and start protecting them, and only then will TSA become both trustworthy and effective enough to actually be a decent place to work.
But in my mind, morale is the biggest factor. If an employee hate his job, whether it's because he's constantly asked to "do more with less"; or because his efforts are not recognized AND rewarded; or because his employer's or supervisor's shortcomings are constantly blamed on him; or simply because everything he's asked to do is either meaningless or actively harmful to others; then of course, the employee's morale will be non-existent and he will leave the job, no matter how well or poorly he's being compensated and benefited. Such is the case, IMHO, with TSA.
The agency as a whole - with particular emphasis on management - is to blame for its high turnover. Policies are stupid, ineffective, or outright harmful to the very people and society the agency was chartered to protect. Middle-management is either incompetent or apathetic, or both. Upper management is incompetent and openly hostile to both the rank and file, and the general public. And the public itself, the very people whom TSA is chartered to protect, is inexplicably hostile toward the employees of an agency that treats them like criminals or a hostile enemy force while feeding them a line of BS that all of the abuse heaped on them by the agency is "for their protection".
My advice is, don't focus on pay - that's a red herring thrown out by both management and the union to divert attention from the real shortcomings of the agency. Focus instead on the agency's deepest, most fundamental problem: that it makes war on the the people whose safety and security are their reason for being. Stop suspecting all people, and start protecting them, and only then will TSA become both trustworthy and effective enough to actually be a decent place to work.
BTW:
Bullying and retaliation against Orlando International Airport employees by TSA management is pervasive, numerous former or current airport employees say, and may have contributed to a TSA employee’s suicide in February, a Spectrum News 13 Watchdog Investigation has found.
Apr 6, 2019, 12:07 pm
#14
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Even if TSA did stop suspecting all people, it's highly unlikely the agency could ever be effective at protecting anyone
BTW:
Bullying by Management
BTW:
Bullying by Management
I don't believe that this TSA can ever correct its wrongs and be trusted by the public.
Last edited by Boggie Dog; Apr 6, 2019 at 1:37 pm