Nagesh Chinnaswamy Formal Project Professor Farmer 4/21/2014 Proposal to Minimize TSA Turnover Rate

Introduction
Employees of the Transportation Security Administration seem to come and go as quickly as they are hired. Why do employees who go through so much of training, tend to quit so easily? The job of protecting the aviation industry and its passengers lies in the first row of defense, the TSA. Working for the government is quite prestigious and has many benefits but there must be reasons to why individuals do not want to work for the Department of Homeland Security. I must propose that the treatment of the employees by management must be handled more efficiently and appropriately; the fact that requesting time off is almost an impossible task is quite embarrassing and must be fixed. Management should place employee liaisons around the airport(s) to help hear the daily issues of their hard workers.

Problem
The turnover rate for airport screeners is estimated at 15%-25% of the employees either quitting or getting let go on a yearly basis. TSA does not set itself up to be the kind of place where good, smart workers even think about staying. There are several reasons for the high turnover rate, as well as the high retention rate of the bad apples that the current chief, John Pistole, so often speaks disdainfully of. The bad apples stem from good seeds getting planted in precarious situations. When individuals pass their background checks and other similar tests to earn employment; they get tested every day they come to work. Having the ability to handle expensive items on a daily basis, the few bad apples will tend to steal and sell them or commit a

similar crime. Its an embarrassment for the company but if the crime isnt too serious then the employees only get suspended and are eventually brought back in to the job force. Employees get hired only as part-time workers taking some a year before they are allowed to convert to full time. For many, this is difficult because the income isnt great as a part time employee and surviving is a hard thing to do. There's always somebody complaining due to either word of mouth or the negative connotation the media always gives of the TSAs employees. Passengers are complaining about what you're doing, management is complaining about how you do it. Many part-time screeners struggle because their airport work shifts sometimes change. It's almost impossible for a part-timer to have another job or go to school. Many new screeners come to the TSA thinking it is a law-enforcement agency. When they realize it isn't, they often leave for police jobs or other Homeland Security agencies such as Customs and Border Protection. Then there are the recent college graduates who chafe in the strict environment. When we first started, they were looking for a lot of military and law-enforcement people who are used to strict environments with set standards and strong standard operating procedures and rules. Now they're taking kids right out of college, and they're not used to discipline, strict, important on the job tasks.

Plan of Work
A way to solve these issues is to start offering part-time employees full-time benefits like health, dental, and vision insurance. Since management wont hire full time employees to start off, this would be an adequate stepping stone. With the harsh treatment employees have to face from passengers on an everyday basis, they should be able to get raises and earn bonus pay for doing good work. These officers are part of the first line of defense; they deal with the public while management sits behind the desks and makes their six figure salaries. The officers deserve

better treatment from the higher ups in the Department of Homeland Security. I propose that a rating system of 1 to 5 stars should be used on a yearly basis. The supervisors in charge of the employees should be the ones that determine what an employee has earned. Depending on how well youve done, a certain financial bonus should be applied. An extra $1000 for 3 stars, $1500 for 4 stars and $2500 for 5 stars, would be more than enough to keep employees happy in regards to their income. Giving part-time employees insurance benefits that full-time employees receive would be a huge reason to why they would stay on. Dental, Health, and Vision insurance is hard to come by especially if your new hire employees are all part-time workers. I would suggest this be the top priority as most employees have families that they need to take care of first. In regards to time off, employees do not always get the days off they choose. Everything is ordered on a first come first serve basis with the highest seniority getting all the good days off and good working schedules. Although this might be fair, when employees put in for a certain day for vacation they should be able to get it. Many employees have to abuse sick leave because they arent allowed to have that day off that they so desperately needed. If un needed checkpoints are shut down on slow airport days, then employees would be able to get there days off and ultimately remain happy.

Qualifications and Budget

I have been a part of TSA for the last 2 years. I have witnessed employees becoming enraged, frustrated over passengers and management. Their cries and concerns fall on deaf ears when management gets involved but those around them like me definitely are able to hear and understand. Management has never done the job these officers have done; they havent faced the same difficulties on a daily basis. For DFW Airport, there are roughly 1000 TSA employees. If you allocate $2.5 million dollars, youll be able to cover the expenses for bonuses if every

employee were to earn a 5 star rating. Since all new hire are part time workers, their hourly wages are $15 for the weekly 25 hours worked. This comes to a total of $19,500 annual salary. 40% of the 1000 employees are part time with the rest being full time. With simple calculations done, an allocation of $26,520,000 million dollars would go towards the salaries of the employees. Insurance costs would range from around $5000 dollars per person and miscellaneous items (uniforms, parking fees etc.) would roughly be $10,000,000 Therefore, a rough estimate of $45 million dollars would suffice for the proper budget of helping reduce employee withdrawal from service.

Conclusion
In order to decrease turnover rate, the management should give insurance benefit to new part time employees and bonuses when supervisors have given employees 3 to 5 star rating for on the job performance. Ive been working for 2 years with the TSA and know firsthand the grievances filed by employees on the front line. If these simple measures get completed then the workplace will be run more smoothly and efficiently. A happy workplace is a good workplace. It might not be the end all to the problems faced in this business and employee lives but a step stone in the right direction will hopefully provide a more stable structure of employee turnover rate and minimize individuals from leaving the job they trained so hard for.

Budget Allocation
$10,000,000 Salaries Bonuses $5,000,000 $2,500,000 $26,520,000 Insurance Miscellaneous