Report: Emergency dispatch centers are facing a staffing crisis

Across the United States, emergency dispatch centers are facing an acute staffing crisis: administrators can’t hire enough dispatchers, compounding stress on employees who are already shouldering an increased workload. Burnout is a huge problem.

“A staggering 82% of respondents’ call centers report being understaffed. These staffing challenges span from difficulties in hiring new personnel to problems with employee retention. The consequences of these challenges are alarmingly evident,” reads the introduction to the report “2023 Pulse of 9-1-1,” a state of the industry report by the National Emergency Number Association and Carbyne, a software company. The analysis highlights “wellness/mental health issues such as burnout, anxiety, and PTSD among emergency call center personnel at every level and an aging workforce without enough younger employees to backfill retirees.”

A different staffing survey from the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch paints a similar picture. Almost a third of emergency centers “reported stunning vacancy rates in 2022.” Ninety two of the centers represented in the research reported vacancy rates between 51% and 70%. More than 10 centers had more than 70% of their positions unfilled.

For the “2023 Pulse of 9-1-1” report, researchers surveyed a random sample of more than 840 emergency communications center personnel throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico. Respondents included dispatchers and supervisors, directors and deputies.

Low wages and high stress were among stressors most often cited by respondents—with 75% saying high stress is driving people away from the profession most of all, and 65% citing low wages as the primary deterrent. High call is a major driver of stress, and while many departments are pushing for the latest technology to alleviate pressure on dispatchers, 60% of participants said their centers “regularly experience outages affecting either their phone or computer systems or both.”

Burnout is rampant due to these challenges, with 74% saying “their 9-1-1 centers are plagued by staff burnout,” and “83% observing early warning signs such as anxiety, fatigue, and low energy levels.” Given the mental health needs, 90% of emergency centers offer some sort of mental health service for employees, even though few employees (34%) make use of them.

While burnout is a serious issue, the survey highlights an encouraging finding. Those who work in the industry generally enjoy what they do. Almost 90% of respondents said they enjoy their work, while 54% said they strongly enjoy what they do. Only 9% said they strongly dislike it.

It’s also notable that emergency calls and situations aren’t necessarily the most stressful part of a dispatcher’s job. More than 35% of respondents cited management as the biggest source of their stress, while 27% said it’s the emergency calls and 17% said dealing with co-workers causes them the most stress.

As organizations work to get more people into the industry, diversity has emerged as an important administrative focus. Seventy-five percent of respondents reported being white, 8.7% were Hispanic, and 8.3% were Black. Almost 90% spoke exclusively English. A quarter of participants said their centers don’t reflect the communities they serve. Bringing more young people into the profession its another focus.

“Demographically, call center staff is aging. Approximately 60% of respondents are between 30-50 years old. With only 12% of respondents below the age of 30, the number of young people joining is not nearly enough to replace the number not only retiring but also those burning out and leaving in their 50s,” the report says.

Management plays a crucial role in solving the administrative challenges, both by driving cultural change to make their workplaces more enticing to new talent and by supporting existing staff. Technology is important, too. Innovations like geolocation, video and photo messaging, silent texting, call triaging and AI-based language translation/transcription are invaluable not just to dispatchers, but to the public as well,

“The potential of technology and cultural transformation for industry improvement is acknowledged,” the report says. “Even the most skeptical admit that technological solutions could ease the workload on frontline personnel.”