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Books & Papers

Employee Retention, How Do We Recover

Matt Burgess, Michelle Hicks, and Angela Hill

Greensville — Virginia's largest prison — was losing seasoned staff as fast as it could train them, $40,000 invested per officer only to watch them leave. This Working Dialogue confronts a retention crisis that COVID made sharper still.

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Greensville Correctional Center; Virginia's largest; used Working Dialogues to address an employment crisis exacerbated by COVID-19. Staff leave after receiving $40,000 of VADOC-funded training; seasoned professionals burn out from overwork. A conference participant noted McDonalds pays $21/hour while correctional officers get $18.27. The dialogues focused on what participants could actually change, not pay rates controlled elsewhere. Key findings: employees across all roles shared the same concerns; new staff need trusted colleagues during integration; the relationship between new employees and Dialogue Practitioners could be a retention starting point. Conference discussion highlighted the difference between supervisors and leaders: "People will follow leaders. If they set the model, if they're living it, if they're using dialogue." Participants proposed proactive "interim progress reviews" rather than exit interviews; checking on everyone, not just new hires. The authors note this is a nationwide challenge as workers seek different employment styles including remote work, which corrections cannot offer.

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Books & Papers

Topics

Dialogue in prisons and justice settingsUS corrections

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10 min

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Members only

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