Staff at a Washington, DC, 911 call center are being paid an $800-a-month bonus in exchange for showing up to all scheduled shifts, officials announced.
The generous incentives were announced in an email on Tuesday morning. NBC4 reported.
“Effective immediately, all 911 employees who report to work all scheduled shifts will be paid an $800 incentive for that month,” Unified Communications Director Heather McGuffin wrote.
The department hopes the additional funding will help alleviate staffing shortages at the centers, McGuffin added.
“Staffing is critical to our success. Unscheduled call-outs of all kinds have increased and fellow employees are constantly being grounded, asked to come in early, work on holidays and struggling,” she said.
“This pilot program is simple: show up to work your assigned shift and you’ll get an extra $800 for the month. We start today for the month of August.”
The new bonuses were announced shortly after NBC4 reported that staffing at 911 call centers was at critical lows.
In July, the department did not meet minimum staffing levels 88% of the time. The media reported.
The data also showed that 31 of 65 shifts were understaffed in June, up from 16 of 66 in May.
The agency is also battling serious computer hardware issues that have caused its 911 system to go offline six times so far this year.
The system experienced a tense two-hour outage two weeks ago, according to NBC4.
Meanwhile, a family in Washington DC claimed they tried to call 911 for their 5-month-old baby who wouldn’t wake up from his nap, but couldn’t get through.
The baby later died, according to the media.
“Every week I hear from members of my district who have been unable to contact me, have had to wait too long for emergency responders to be dispatched, have had the wrong response arrive on scene, or have not been responded to at all,” D.C. City Council Member Charles Allen said about the crisis.
“Enforcement won’t even admit there’s a big problem, but if it’s true that people are paying $800 just to show up to work, it’s clear the agency needs major reform,” he noted.
“Washington residents are upset and don’t believe there is leadership and clear direction to turn the agency around. This is a big problem.”
The Office of Unified Communications did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the new bonuses from The Washington Post on Wednesday morning.
