سرمایه گذاری در مردم: دستمزد و بازده در خط مشی گذاری Investing in people: salary and turnover in policing

Investing in people: salary and turnover in policing Historically, policing has been a blue-collar occupation with relatively low salaries (Stoddard, 1968). However, over the last half century, officer salaries in the United States have increased due in large part to the proliferation of labor unions that have successfully argued that police are underpaid and that the increasing complexity of police work should result in greater compensation (Kadleck, 2003). The reasoning behind this is that salary is an important part of the incentive system used by an organization to motivate employees to comply with agency rules and regulations (Mueller and Price, 1990). Salary is strongly related to job performance and effort, as well as morale and job satisfaction (Crow et al., 2012; Folger and Cropanzano, 1998; Lambert et al., 2007). From an organizational standpoint, salary is also a means of encouraging employee retention, affecting the desirability of leaving and subsequent turnover behavior (e.g., Lum et al., 1998). In policing, research on the relationship between salary and turnover is limited. We know that salary and benefits vary greatly across agencies and that about 10.8% of municipal, county, and state officers turn over every year (Wareham et al., 2015). Although there is consensus that salary affects an individual’s decision to pursue a career in law enforcement, as well as his or her decision to continue working for a particular organization, experts disagree on the overall importance of compensation relative to other factors. This study is the first step toward evaluating the influence of salary on turnover in law enforcement. Using data from more than 2200 agencies, we tested hypotheses about the effect of pay and other economic incentives on voluntary and involuntary separations. In addition to contributing to the theoretical literature on the antecedents of turnover, examining the effects of salary on voluntary and involuntary separations has practical implications by helping officials estimate how changes in the compensation structure may affect important organizational outcomes. Current budgetary restrictions coupled with turnover make it increasingly difficult for police agencies to maintain strong police rosters, as officers are leaving police service early (Orrrick, 2008). Maintaining strong police rosters is increasingly important as agencies rely on officers to accomplish the mission of police work, making sworn police officers a valuable and expensive resource for American police agencies (Kiekbusch et al., 2003).