(NewsNation) — Emergency call center workers say low pay and high stress are the main reasons 911 centers across the country are having a hard time filling positions, according to a national survey released Tuesday.
Almost 90% of respondents in the new survey — conducted by the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) — said their call centers struggle with staffing shortages. In some communities, it’s a problem that’s led to lengthy 911 hold times, which can span several minutes.
With more than 20 years of experience in 911 centers, Karima Holmes says the staffing crisis has grown worse in recent years. She said high turnover has always been an issue but now positions are harder to fill.
“The last three years we’ve had the same revolving door but we don’t have as many people coming in,” said Holmes, who’s the vice president of public safety at Carbyne, an emergency response software company that partnered with NENA on the survey.
Holmes attributed some of the hiring challenges to changing attitudes around public safety broadly, which she said “took a hard hit” in 2020 amid civil unrest and the subsequent political environment.
“It’s like public safety isn’t sexy anymore,” she said.
Across the more than 850 dispatchers, supervisors and other 911 telecommunicators surveyed, most (70%) said they felt fatigued from their jobs. More than half reported anxiety and a lack of energy related to their work.
At the same time, Holmes said wages haven’t kept up.
“We are one of the lower-paid public safety entities against police and fire but we have just as much stress,” she said.
In 2021, the median annual pay for public safety telecommunicators, which includes 911 operators and fire dispatchers, was $46,670, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s about $5,000 less than the median for firefighters and nearly $20,000 less than “police and detectives,” per BLS.
Now, many are leaving the industry, particularly older, experienced call-takers.
Less than half of the respondents said they feel adequately equipped to handle any incident, with almost 40% saying they felt underprepared to handle active shooter situations.
Even with the stressors, most respondents (88%) said they enjoy their work.
That’s how Jeff Hannon feels. He’s been in the 911 profession for over a decade and currently oversees 11 emergency dispatchers in Guernsey County, Ohio.
“When you find out they lived because you gave CPR advice or they lived because you reminded them to get the Narcan out…that’s what keeps you going,” he said.
Hannon also noted the recent shift to cloud-based technology, which he said has led to fewer outages and made it easier to dispatch emergency personnel.
“We used to have to get out a paper map and try and figure out where these people were calling from. That was absolutely horrible,” he said. “Now, we can just click on the map it tells you who to send.”
More than 60% of respondents said their call center had experienced an outage over the past year and many weren’t sure what technology their center used.
Further innovations may help address a growing misdial problem, which 911 experts have attributed to new emergency response functions on smart devices.
The majority of survey respondents (57%) ranked misdials among the top two issues their call center faces.
Earlier this year, the Charleston County emergency call center started using artificial intelligence to redirect some non-emergency calls to an automated system. That change has helped alleviate the call load for workers.