Satisfied Correctional Staff

Abstract

During the past decade, there has been increasing pressure on correctional agencies to attract and keep quality staff. Raising worker job satisfaction is seen as a fundamental way of decreasing turnover. There has been a considerable amount of research in the area of the possible causes of correctional staff job satisfaction and, to a lesser extent, the possible consequences of job satisfaction. However, due to the numerous studies, some with conflicting results, it is difficult to understand clearly the factors associated with job satisfaction. A review of the literature is presented to provide a better understanding of correctional staff job satisfaction. Based on this review, correctional administrators are urged to concentrate more on improving the work environment rather than focusing on correctional staff characteristics.