Pre-employment assessments expected to improve retention
After a two-year pilot project, the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) has made psychological assessments an official part of its hiring process.
Since the program launched in December 2011, clinical assessments have been conducted on applicants for correctional officer and primary worker positions. Assessments are performed by the Public Service Commission’s Personnel Psychology Centre.
Correctional officers maintain the safety and security of men’s federal penitentiaries while primary workers are responsible for female offenders’ institutions. Psychological testing for both correctional officers and primary workers is currently operating on a national basis.
"Pre-employment psychological assessments have been shown to be a reliable and valid predictor of personal suitability and job performance," the CSC said in a statement through media relations advisor Sara Parkes.
Candidates are assessed to ensure they possess the minimum level of stress tolerance and emotional stability to perform in an emotionally and mentally demanding workplace.
"I’ve been in and around the corrections business for more than 30 years and I still find it very stressful just to walk inside a penitentiary," said Howard Sapers, Canada’s federal correctional investigator. "For somebody that works there every day, and that has to deal with the stresses of that environment and that job, I think it takes a lot of strength of character and I think some people go into that work really not appreciating what that entails. I think psychological screening will help weed some of those people out."
CSC said it is too soon to assess the pilot’s full impact on retention, but revealed that preliminary results show psychological testing is providing important information on candidates and whether or not they are suited to work in a correctional environment with inmates.
"It is anticipated that in the long-term, retention rates will increase as additional screening should ensure candidates are most suitable for the jobs," CSC’s statement said.
According to Sapers, psychological assessment has the potential to not only reduce the turnover rate among correctional employees but also prevent many of the negative incidents his office investigates.
"At its root, corrections is essentially a human process, it depends on human interaction. It depends on interaction between two very polarized groups — the keepers and the kept. There’s a very, very important power dynamic that comes into play in any kind of correctional environment and that dynamic has been the source of many complaints and grievances over the years," Sapers said. "Psychological screening to ensure that the best prepared candidates — the candidates best able to cope with the stresses of that particular work environment — are the ones selected to do the job is a great preventative strategy in terms of stopping those kinds of negative incidents from happening in the first place."
Excellent physical fitness is a requirement of the job, so it only makes sense the CSC would require its employees to display mental and emotional strength as well. After all, correctional officers and primary workers aren’t just in a position of public trust — they’re also in possession of firearms.
While the incorporation of psychological assessment in the CSC’s hiring system may seem common-sense, it was a long time coming.
"It was a long, drawn-out process," said Jason Godin, national vice-president for the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers (UCCO). "I don’t know why it wasn’t made official until now."
Godin said the union requested a more thorough screening process be put in place, saying it pointed to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police as a comparable counterpart.
"We’re responsible for firearms in our federal facilities and oftentimes are required to use deadly force in certain situations," he said. "The mental stress of this job is certainly at a higher degree than most other federal public servant jobs."
In an extensive study conducted by the union and the Treasury Board in 1992, it was found that 17 per cent of correctional officers suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In the United States, the Department of Veteran Affairs estimates about 30 per cent of Vietnam veterans suffered from PTSD.
"We don’t suspect those numbers have changed much," Godin said. "It’s quite concerning, obviously. Ensuring our members are mentally prepared to come into a job like that is very important."
The union insisted on the psychological assessment, he said, pushing CSC to include the testing in its hiring process to make it more consistent with the practices carried out by the majority of Canada’s law enforcement agencies.
Godin said union members are in full support of the policy, with many having expressed concern over the lack of psychological testing in the past.
"Most people that apply for a position like a police officer or a correctional officer come to expect that immediately," Godin said of the pre-employment assessments. "It is one of the more difficult jobs in the country. If you’re not of a certain mental strength, it’s an extremely difficult job to do."
