SAVINGS Potential

WHY LEAD™? – SAVINGS POTENTIAL

(3 min read)

What does a small-town police chief, a county sheriff, and a state police commissioner have in common?  Budget constraints.  Where does all the money go?  Salaries, vehicles, equipment, recruitment, training, overtime, and the list goes on.

Of the funds your agency spends annually, what goes toward savings?  Is it 5%?  Less than that?  Would you invest in a program that pays for itself and conserves your budget?

It’s time to consider LEAD™, and how its many practical tools present a value that should exceed the annual cost.  Let’s examine standard agency expenditures addressed by the program.

The largest expenditure are costs related to background investigations.  Proper vetting of a candidate may take upwards of 40 hours to complete.  Out-of-state applicants add to the equation.

A Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment Statistics Survey in 2015 reported the average annual wage for police and sheriff patrol officers is $61,270 or $29.46 per hour.  A background investigator spending 40 hours on each candidate equates to $1,178.40 in wages.

If a candidate makes it through the background investigation, they can expect to undergo a polygraph examination, medical screening, drug and psychological testing, running up another $1,000 or more in costs.

Starting with LEAD™, a background investigator discovers an omission on a hiring document, like a previous application with another LEAD™ agency.  A check may reveal cause to disqualify the candidate.  The investigation wraps up in an hour, saving over $1,100 in wasted time.

In the example above, a small LEAD™ agency paying an $879.00 annual agreement fee would redeem their cost of the program and save money.  Large agencies would experience many cases each year, saving thousands of dollars in needless investigative hours spent on dishonest candidates.

A LEAD™ database search doesn’t constantly point to gloomy outcomes.  One example is the so-called “shotgun approach” to job hunting.  It’s when applicants apply to many agencies at once, typically when looking for their first law enforcement job.  Understandable and an accepted practice, but it’s a source of wasted resources for many departments.

Using LEAD™, a background investigator views an applicant, sees if they applied to multiple agencies, and when they applied.  LEAD™ also lists potential job offers.  A quick call may reveal the candidate is no longer interested in your agency or another department is hiring them.  The investigator can move on or follow-up in a few weeks.

This scenario is familiar.  An applicant goes through your entire hiring process to accept a position elsewhere.  Your agency is out-of-pocket thousands of dollars.  This is avoidable.  LEAD™ participation will help curb the problem.

If a large city agency using LEAD™ had 2,500 applicants, imagine the incidents like this you could find.  Assuming that even twenty candidates dropped out, and each saved $2,000, the savings would equal $40,000.  It’s money otherwise spent in vain.  It would cover their cost to use LEAD™ for several years.

What does your agency spend on recruiting?  Large agency administrators devote part of their budget to advertising, job fairs, out-of-state recruitment, and other costly ventures.  It adds up.

Belonging to LEAD™ has many recruitment advantages.  You can post high-quality job advertisements and we will share those ads with interested candidates registered in the database.  We also email them to special interest groups, civil rights organizations, and schools that can register for free to receive them.

Typical advertising requires candidates to scan various employment sites, scour local newspapers, or hear a radio ad.  LEAD™ filters job information out on your agency’s behalf, saving time and money.

Over time, law enforcement job seekers will become accustomed to using LEAD™.  They will naturally search the site to see who’s hiring.  You may decide to scale back costly advertising expenses.

LEAD™ even benefits small agencies that don’t have specialized recruiting units.  When your organization needs to fill a vacancy or two, LEAD™ expands the potential of your advertising budget.

Do you charge applicants a fee to take part in your selection process?  LEAD™ can identify more interested candidates in your area from its database, offsetting testing costs, and generating extra revenue.  If your application and testing fee is $40.00, and LEAD™ advertising results in twenty-five more applicants, it generates $1,000.00.  For a small agency, the extra revenue covers the annual agreement.  You also have more qualified candidates involved in the hiring process.

As a large agency that invests in out-of-state recruiting, how do you decide where to send your recruiters?  Where do you get the most “bang for your buck?”  Out-of-state recruitment comes with airline flights, lodging, meals, renting conference suites, and so on.  It’s a costly endeavor.  What if you could predict where your efforts will be more successful?

LEAD’s™ advanced and unique Statistical Tracking of Applicant Trends (STAT™) tool is the answer to your out-of-state recruiting decisions.  Recruiters can use STAT™ to see where recruitment is succeeding.  Searches come with a range of variables, including applicant age groups, race, gender, education, and foreign language proficiency.  Why guess?  Know where the trends are.

LEAD™ also brings to the table things you can’t measure in dollar value.  Partnering with community organizations and schools to boost recruitment and relationships is huge.  Show these groups your agency cares.  Let them see you’re sincere about recruiting, especially in under-represented demographic areas.

Also, screening and eliminating dishonest candidates could spare a fortune in litigation settlements arising from officer misconduct.  It may shield your agency from widespread negative publicity and internal problems often caused by “toxic officers.”

Contrary to asking what your agency can save with LEAD™, the better question is, “What do you stand to gain?”