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Incentives for Tecumseh Prison Workers

By John Nixon

10/03/2017

(KLZA)--Since opening in 2001, the Tecumseh State Correctional Institute has faced significant staffing shortages.

Monday, Nebraska Department of Corrections Director Scott Frakes announced new incentives will be offered in an attempt to fix employee recruiting challenges and high turnover rates at Nebraska prisons.

A $2,500 signing bonus is available to the first 100 new employees hired between Monday and November 17, to work at the Tecumseh State Correctional Institution, just north of Tecumseh and the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln.

In addition, experience-based merit raises will be paid to staff members at the Tecumseh prison.

Employees with one to three years of service will get a 2.5 percent raise, and the amount will increase, up to 10 percent for employees with more than 10 years of service.

Frakes noted that maintaining normal operations at the Tecumseh prison with vacancies approaching 30 percent is challenging. The vacancies are driven by the high turnover rate.

The costs for the new initiatives will be managed in large part, by avoiding the costs to pay overtime hours. Each vacancy filled can save $13,000 annually in overtime pay. Over the course of a year, it costs nearly a million dollars more to staff essential posts with overtime hours at the Tecumseh facility.

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