You gotta be kidding me
Sunday, May 28, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Tribune…
As state child welfare investigators probed allegations of abuse in the Joliet Township home where 17-month-old Semaj Crosby would later be found dead, their supervisor was launching a contest that awarded $100 gift cards to the two workers who closed the most cases in a month, according to agency interviews and internal emails examined by the Tribune.
The 3rd place winner would get a $50 gift card. […]
While the dollar amount of the Joliet contest was relatively low, DCFS Director George Sheldon told the Tribune that the competition was improper.
“Offering financial incentives like that I think is an inappropriate step,” Sheldon said in an interview Friday.
Ya think?
Go read the whole thing.
* Related…
* DCFS report shows litany of failures in death of 17-month-old Semaj Crosby
- Former Merit Comp - Sunday, May 28, 17 @ 4:16 pm:
I’m curious to know the current headcount of DCFS employees though I’m pretty sure I know the answer. Doesn’t excuse this crap and I hope those responsible are dealt with
- El Conquistador - Sunday, May 28, 17 @ 4:33 pm:
Great example of how “merit compensation ” doesn’t work in the public sector. Inexperienced amateurs running government.
- NorthsideNoMore - Sunday, May 28, 17 @ 4:47 pm:
DCFS has had some cases like this… anyone recall the story a decade ago where the DCFS caseworker said someone kid was doing OK and filed a report saying so… problem was the kid died two weeks earlier ???
- Last Bull Moose - Sunday, May 28, 17 @ 4:59 pm:
El Conquistidor, The operations management at DCFS are not amateurs. Your comment simply does not line up with the facts.
Using cash incentives to increase the closure rate was a bad idea. The caseworker effectiveness makes a difference on closure rates, but the mix of cases a worker gets should change the closure rates. Some cases can properly be closed after an initial visit and some followup. Others take considerable time and investigation. The mix of easy and difficult cases affects the closure rate; which is why giving cash incentives for a high closure rate makes little sense.
- Reality Check - Sunday, May 28, 17 @ 5:01 pm:
This is exactly what Bruce Rauner wants to do in DCFS and throughout state government - base employee pay on perverse incentives like this. Totally unacceptable.
- wordslinger - Sunday, May 28, 17 @ 5:19 pm:
Ever watched “The Wire?”
It’s all about the “clearances.”
Trust me, I’m not being holier-than-thou on that. We ask these folks to do impossible jobs with no real support and then tut-tut when it goes wrong, as it always will.
Look how we treat our soldiers.
Give it a think. For 15 years, we’ve had volunteers doing four, five, six tours of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, and we’re paying for it on the credit card.
No heavy lifting by anyone except those doing it.
I don’t judge those in the frontlines harshly, because I’m not there and I know I’m not doing my bit to support them.
- Quizzical - Sunday, May 28, 17 @ 9:24 pm:
Third prize was a set of steak knives and fourth prize is your fired — how many years ago did Mamet write that? Have we learned nothing since?
- Cardsfan - Sunday, May 28, 17 @ 9:39 pm:
Dear JB Camp: Your campaign ads are writing themselves. We’re counting on you!
http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/2014/10/new-rauner-ad-accuses-quinn-of-abuse-and-neglect-in-states-dcfs-system.html