Off-Duty Scheduling for Police Officers: Veterans vs. Rookies
Every year, overtime pay is a hot topic among rookie officers in an agency.
Rookie officers argue that they should be paid the same as senior level officers, while senior level officers argue that rookie officers should earn their pay by years served.
Looking at both sides, each have strong points, but as a Captain or Sheriff, it’s a catch 22. No matter how it’s handled, someone will not be happy.
So, how does an agency resolve this problem?
The solution is to implement a system that will force senior level officers to work a number of low paying jobs and allow the rookie officers to work a limited number of higher paying jobs.
It seems complicated at first, but a simple software solution can solve this and avoid the scheduling headaches.
With the PowerDetails scheduling app, administrators can assign rules such as the one described above.
Many of our current clients had this exact same issue when we met them. We recommended that each officer (if working extra-duty and overtime) be given the same number of low and high paying jobs. If an officer chooses not to work a specific job because the pay is too low, there is no way to trade that job for a higher paying job.
In this example, each officer was given the opportunity to work two overtime jobs and three extra-duty jobs.
If an officer decided he did not wish to work the extra-duty job because the pay was too low, then he lost out on that additional income. The officer does not have the ability to trade lower paying job for higher paying jobs.
By enforcing such a rule, it encourages both senior and rookie officers to work the same number of jobs with equal pay.
Implementing such a rule will not make every officer happy, but it will reduce the number of pay complaints and ensure all “extra-pay” fairly averages out among officers.
Are you ready to streamline your Extra-Duty Details?
