Conclusion
As corrections practitioners and researchers are well aware, in many jurisdictions, corrections is one of the most underfunded areas in the employment sector. Employees often work long hours for low wages and thus are likely to express more dissatisfaction with their jobs (in general) than employees of most other organizations. Nevertheless, the results of this study paint a more hopeful picture. The most important influences of job satisfaction uncovered here were organizational, not individual, and organizational influences can be modified without changing salary or benefits.
The results presented here suggest that job variety, quality of supervision, and quality of training are the most important influences on whether these corrections employees were satisfied with their jobs. Each of these factors can be influenced by supervisors and thus supervisors appear to have the power to influence job satisfaction among their employees in corrections even when the state budget does not allow pay raises or increased benefits. For example, dividing the various tasks that must be performed in the daily operations of the prison more evenly among the officers may lead to greater job variety—rotating officers between posts during the same shift may thus increase job satisfaction. Discussing this idea, and asking the officers for other ideas that might increase the variety of their job, would likely increase their perception of the quality of their supervision and would likely increase job satisfaction even more. Asking officers how to improve training, then actually doing it, would also increase satisfaction with supervision and likely job satisfaction as well. Each of these are simple, but often overlooked, solutions that may help increase job satisfaction and, eventually, reduce turnover in corrections as well. Adhering to a rigorous chain of command in a dangerous environment does not mean that supervisors cannot be innovative in the way their employees perform their jobs. We believe that innovation is not only possible, but a relatively inexpensive way to create a more positive working environment.
