Evaluation of Job Stress and Morale at a Federal Law Enforcement Agency's District Facilities

Details

• Personal Author:
  Brown, Stefanie M. ; Wiegand, Douglas M.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  The Health Hazard Evaluation Program received a request from a union regarding a federal law enforcement agency's district facilities in Illinois. The request concerned perceived low morale, job stress, and communication problems between employees and the employer. The district facilities we evaluated served as a court and processing center for adult immigrant detainees. Approximately 400 detainees were processed every week. Thirty employees were recently promoted
  
  leaving vacancies that had not been filled. The employer encouraged employees to cross-train, volunteer for additional duties, and become enrolled in the mentoring program to improve chances for promotion. We visited the facilities in November 2012 to survey employees about job stress, morale, work organization, organizational commitment, job satisfaction, mental health symptoms, and use of sick leave. We also talked to randomly selected employees about work-related health concerns, communication, and morale. Employees reported that fatigue and symptoms of depression and anger were common, and high workloads, unfair treatment, and dissatisfaction with supervisors contributed to job stress and low morale. Our interviews revealed that (1) nearly half of the employees reported a work-related health concern, (2) employees wanted important information through meetings and email, and (3) most employees felt management was approachable, but did not believe their concerns or complaints would be addressed. We recommended the employer (1) talk to employees about how workload could be better managed, (2) work with the human resources department to improve transparency in hiring and promotional practices, and (3) communicate and enforce policies for holding employees accountable for poor performance. We recommended employees (1) get emergency help if thinking about harming themselves or someone else, and (2) seek counseling from a licensed clinical psychologist or psychiatrist if feeling depressed or angry, or having other mental health problems.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Emergency Responders Fatigue Hazardous Substances Law Enforcement Men Mental Health Occupational Health Safety Sleep Initiation And Maintenance Disorders Stress, Psychological Women Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Emergency-responders Health-hazards Humans International Affairs Job-stress Job Stress Law-enforcement Law-enforcement-workers Law Enforcement Mental-health Morale Morale At Work OSHA Region 5 Sleep-disorders Stress Work-environment Work-organization Workers

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• Source:
  Cincinnati, OH: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, HETA 2012-0160-3212, 2014 Jun ; :1-15
• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA201201603212
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Illinois ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  20 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Galloway, Ellen ; Watts, Shawna
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20044578
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2014-106368
• Citation:
  NIOSH [2014]. Health hazard evaluation report: evaluation of job stress and morale at a ; federal law enforcement agency’s district facilities. By Wiegand DM, Brown SM. Cincinnati, ; OH: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and ; Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, NIOSH HHE Report No. ; 2012-0160-3212,
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2014
• NORA Priority Area:
  Services
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  928120 - International Affairs - (NAICS)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:a720557004dce6e77c2de7778895d9492e2cfe54422926bad2ab7f5109876eaaca3e73b12dd220332f0b2bba1303fcec2598d48f32c22fee5657117c41e472bb
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/172444/cdc_172444_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.76 MB ]