Criminology

Employer of choice is the award given to firms which have maintained good relationship with their employees (Roberts, 2003). Organizations which have been able to attract and retain employees for a long period of time are given the award. The policing sector has changed tremendously with the emergence of private policing services. This has created the need to improve service deliver by the public policing department. Employees in the policing sector have been on high demand and policing firms need to improve their status of their employees to attract and retain them.

What it means to be an Employer of Choice
Employee of choice refers to the state that employees and contractors choose to work for a certain employer when they have a variety of choices for employment. The employee consciously decides to work for the organization and to stay for a longer period working there. This deliberate choice increases productivity of the employees. They choose to improve their performance to ensure the employer succeeds. The increasing rate of employment is providing employees with a variety of choices for their occupation. The improvement in economic performance has increased the employment opportunities for many people. Employees decide the organization to work with, the duration of work and have reasons for working with particular organizations. Employers need to improve their work conditions to attract and retain employees. To obtain and maintain talented and professional employees is very important to an organization. The job market is experiencing a war for talents by employers. The flow of information about job opportunities has increased with the invention of the internet services. Employees can compare organizations with better systems. This has increased job turnover and many employers fear loosing their talented employees.

Employers benefit by becoming Employers of Choice through reduced employee turnover, improved quality of work, low rate of absenteeism among others. There are international awards given to organizations that have become Employers of Choice. Customers are attracted to organizations with good relationship with their employees. The organizations with good practices attract qualified personnel and have a pool of trained manpower which contributes successfully towards the achievement of the organizational goals.

To attract more employees to an organization requires the employers to have special properties and skills. Strong leadership is required of the employers to motivate and retain the employees. Leadership creates a good environment for the employees to develop their careers and improves their performance. The employer needs to develop leaders within the organization to guide the employees towards achieving the desired objectives.

The company itself attracts employees by the proper use of values, culture and reputation. The organization should contribute towards the welfare of the community to attract more employees. Companies with strong corporate values and culture and with a good reputation attract employees. The employees may be willing to work for a better pay and for longer hours for the organizations with good reputation and corporate culture.

The employer should improve all the aspects of the job to make it appealing to the employee. The job should be interesting and compel the employees to work harder. Employees are attracted by jobs which give them an opportunity to grow and feel fulfilled. Organizations with adequate resources and training facilities create opportunities for the employees to develop their careers. Employees should be given the freedom to perform their duties with minimum supervision. Challenging jobs develop the career of an employee and the job becomes interesting.

The reward system should attract and retain employees. Rewards are of the form of wages, salaries and other benefits. Other rewards include intangible benefits that are accrued from the job, for example, career prospects, development opportunities and the relationship between co-workers. The quality of services that employees get from the job should be improved to attract and retain employees.

Programs that a Law Enforcement Agency could take towards becoming an Employer of Choice
Attractive salaries, benefits and other rewards should be offered to the personnel. The law enforcement job is demanding and the employees need be adequately compensated for their work. Both private and public police departments should offer rewards which are sustainable to the employees. Apart from wages and salaries, employers can use other reward systems to motivate their employees. The law enforcement agencies need to offer flexible working hours, alternative work schedules, and other work related rewards.

Technological advancement is required in the law enforcing agencies. Improved technology is required in fighting crime. Such technologies include smart cars to track criminals, machines for keeping criminal database to store and retrieve profiles for criminals. Improved communication with other officers is required. Employees need be equipped with better crime fighting machinery to create a better environment for fighting crime. Criminals have come up with new methods of committing crime and the police need to set a good network to trace the activities of criminals.

Training and leadership facilities need be improved in the law enforcement agencies. Employees need be adequately trained to acquire skills to combat crime. New crimes are being invented each day and the police need be aware of the skills of attacking such crimes. Police departments should use better leadership systems which allow the employees carry out innovative strategies when dealing with criminals. The law enforcing agencies need to evaluate the skills of individual employee to place them in their appropriate jobs. The potential skills of the employees should be well analyzed to avoid conflict of career.

Reasons as to why becoming an Employer of Choice is strategically important for a Law Enforcement Agency

Privatization of the law enforcement services has increased. This has increased competition in both private and public policing services. The current research indicates that private security firms employ two times more people than the public law enforcement agency. There is a high probability for the figures to increase in the near future. The public policing is loosing its employees to the private policing sector and strategies need be made to attract and retain more public police.

Conclusion
Organizations should work towards improving the working conditions for their employees. There is an increasing competition for employees and organizations should improve their working conditions. To become an Employer of Choice requires good relationship between employees and their employers to create an understanding to avoid conflicts and provide a good work environment. The law enforcing agencies are faced with challenging issues to increase their efficiency about their operation with employees due to the increasing competition in the policing sector. The increase in private police firms has created the need to improve the status of the employees to attract and retain police personnel.