Employees at the District of Columbia鈥檚 911 call center arrived at work Tuesday morning to find an email from their boss telling them that effective immediately, they would be eligible for an $800 bonus if they show up for all their assigned shifts in August.
The email from Office of Unified Communications Director Heather McGaffin explained the payment is part of a 鈥減ilot鈥� to address staffing issues. McGaffin鈥檚 email to OUC staff was first reported by
In her email, McGaffin wrote that, 鈥淯nscheduled call outs of all kinds are up and causing a hardship for fellow employees,鈥� who often have to come in early or fill shifts on their days off.
WTOP has contacted the agency to ask about the staffing issues and the pilot program.
Anna Noakes, OUC spokesperson, wrote, 鈥淲e appreciate how hard our team at OUC are working and will continue to acknowledge and reward those efforts. Staffing is crucial to the success of the agency, and we will continue to explore ways to enhance agency performance while being good stewards of District resources.鈥�
OUC鈥檚 call center is among the busiest in the country and, according to the agency, recruitment efforts are ongoing.
The statement didn鈥檛 address the volume of call outs by 911 staff members or what鈥檚 behind the increase of absences by staff.
The shows that in July, 58 of 66 shifts were completed with the “Staffing Target Not Met.” That data is updated monthly.
鈥淭he fact that they have to offer people $800 just to show up for their job 鈥� I think it鈥檚 highlighting how bad it鈥檚 gotten and it鈥檚 a management and a leadership failure,” D.C. Council member Charles Allen told WTOP.
Allen said he believes the agency 鈥渋s in crisis鈥� and added, 鈥淭here鈥檚 not a week that goes by that I don鈥檛 hear from a constituent鈥� about 911 calls that ended with a hang-up, a busy signal or what he calls 鈥渁 bad answer.鈥�
The agency has also experienced technical issues linked to its computer-aided dispatch system. The most recent outage lasted 20 minutes.
Ward 2 Council member Brooke Pinto, chair of the D.C. Council Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety, issued a statement saying, 鈥淥ur 911 call takers and dispatchers do challenging, high-stakes, and lifesaving work,鈥� adding that it鈥檚 critical 鈥渙ur essential workers are fairly compensated.”
Pinto went on to say, 鈥淚 am concerned about the trend of low staffing levels we are seeing at OUC鈥� and urged exploring incentives, including hiring and performance bonuses.
Council member Christina Henderson wrote to WTOP saying that OUC has 鈥渟uffered from significant staffing challenges in the past few years.鈥�
She said she has encouraged D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s administration to raise their wages 鈥渢o increase the caliber of individuals applying for these positions.” Henderson also noted that offering the current level of bonuses doesn鈥檛 require council approval, 鈥渟o long as funding is available in the agency budget.鈥�
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