911 dispatchers struggle with burnout amid staff shortage, warn it could lead to tragedy

With hours piling up and time off seldom seen, the overstretched dispatchers at the Flathead Emergency Communications Center warn it is only a matter of time until the work conditions there lead to tragedy.

Despite a management plan that calls for 26 dispatchers, the center has operated with less than half that number for more than a year, putting the remaining staff in the position of having to do more work with less sleep.

A quick glance at a dispatch station conveys the complexity of the job. Six computer screens, three keyboards, three computer mice, a headset and a collection of speakers aid the dispatchers as they field 911 and non-emergency phone calls while also using radios to make sure law enforcement and emergency medical crews get to the areas where they are needed.

It’s a high-paced, stress-filled job that requires quick thinking, critical decision making skills and patience.

While normal operating procedure for the center requires dispatchers to work four 12-hour shifts a week, employees say they are required to cover at least an additional mandatory 12-hour shift each week in addition to being on call more often than not on off hours.

With reports of 80-hour work weeks and stretches of 20 or more days without a day off, the workers say things are only getting worse as dispatchers leave for better employment elsewhere.

According to dispatcher Ridley (the Daily Inter Lake is using pseudonyms to protect identities of dispatchers who spoke out about their work conditions), the situation is a recipe for disaster.

“This is both a responder safety and a public safety issue. Are calls getting answered? Sure. Are law enforcement and ambulances getting to where they need to go? Yeah. The work is getting done, but it is getting done by people who are exhausted,” Ridley said. “It’s only a matter of time until that leads to mistakes.”

“I am making a lot of little mistakes that I would never normally make and forgetting to do things. Luckily, they haven’t been anything major, but it is a concern,” fellow dispatcher Sam said. “In our job, if you make the wrong kind of mistake, people can end up dying.”

While the staffing shortage has not led to any major mistakes so far, Sheriff Brian Heino says it is something to keep an eye on.

“Dispatchers are our lifeline. Any time that is affected, it definitely is a concern for us,” he said. “There is an increased stress level when you have fewer people but the same amount of calls for service. Our dispatchers do a great job, but they are under a lot of stress right now.”

According to Sam and Ridley, the center has been operating with 11 full-time dispatchers and a small number of trainees for more than a year, but 911 Director Elizabeth Brooks paints a different picture. According to Brooks, the center employs 15 dispatchers plus six trainees with numbers never dropping “too far below that” since Covid took its toll on the department in 2020.

“We have had to make some adjustments. We can’t expect people to work every single day, but everyone is currently working a modified schedule,” Brooks said. “The only solution to that is bringing more people on board.”

Unfortunately for Brooks and the Flathead Emergency Communications Center, dispatchers-in-waiting are hard to come by these days.

With news stories popping up around the country highlighting understaffing at 911 call centers, Brooks is not alone in reporting a dwindling number of applicants for open positions. Help-wanted ads that would produce dozens, if not hundreds, of applicants in years past are now bringing in fewer than 10.

To make matters worse, not everyone who applies for the open positions is cut out to be a dispatcher, Brooks said.

“The 911 industry has always had challenges finding the right people and people that can do the job. It’s not for everyone and it takes a special person to be able to do it,” Brooks said. “People come from so many different backgrounds to become dispatchers. It’s more about personality type than anything else. It’s all about being able to deal with high-pressure situations and having good judgment.”

While Sam and Ridley agree that finding dispatchers is not easy, they are concerned that the department is cutting corners and lowering standards in order to fill positions. Those include lowering minimum typing requirements and doing away with pre-employment psychological evaluations, the pair said.

“I think a lot of people don’t fully understand what this job entails until they get into it. Some people just can’t grasp all of the multitasking or all of the things you have to hear on the phone. It’s not easy and not just anyone can do it.”

While Brooks admits the center has been forced to adjust their hiring process, she did not detail the changes.

“We have sped up the process because we have needed to. We have prioritized some steps and there are a couple of things we have taken out of the hiring process where we were not seeing a cost benefit for doing them,” she said. “It is a very competitive hiring environment right now. If you don’t move quickly, the applicants are going to move on to someone else.”

For Flathead County’s commissioners, who took over administration of the Flathead Emergency Communication Center after voters approved the move in Nov. 2020, the workload of the dispatchers is worrisome.

“I worry that at the end of an 80 hour week, or even at the end of a 12 hour day, you are not as sharp as you were at the start. We have to worry about mistakes that can affect people’s safety,” District 1 Commissioner Brad Abell said. “I thought I put in a lot of overtime when I worked at Weyerhaeuser, but it was nothing compared to what these dispatchers are doing. I don’t know how they are doing it. How do you put in that many hours and still be able to function?”

While Abell admits the issue is a problem, he says that finding a solution is no easy task.

“We have looked at raising their wages, but I am not sure that is 100% of the problem. I don’t have a lot of answers to how you solve this, and it is something we need to get solved,” he said. “Liz (Brooks) is working hard to keep people, but dispatching is a very tough job. We worry about losing these great employees to burnout. It’s a great concern of ours. Dispatchers are some of the true heroes of our valley.”

While steps have been taken to alleviate the stress on the dispatchers, such as rerouting administrative calls to police departments and the Sheriff’s Office, Sam and Ridley say supervisors, including Brooks, are ignoring most of their concerns.

“There is a huge disconnect between our director and the rest of us. We rarely ever see her. We know she is very busy, but she does not tell us what she is doing, so it seems like she is just running us all into the ground and doesn’t care about us,” Sam said.

“There is no trust, no leadership and no support at all. This is the worst work environment I have ever been involved with,” Ridley added. “I understand that we are a 911 center and we have a responsibility to the public, but we are not even being treated like we are people.”

While Brooks, a trained dispatcher, admits she has not donned a headset to help field calls during the worker shortage, she says she is doing all she can to help the situation and is very happy with the way her dispatchers have stepped up to handle the situation.

“I have been focused on trying to hire people. We are not very deep in admin staff, so if I am not doing it then nobody is doing it. It’s been a battle. I have been forced to put some of my administrative tasks on the back burner because hiring takes priority right now. I think we are moving in the right direction, but it is still going to take time,” she said. “I am very proud of the job our dispatchers have been doing. We are severely understaffed, but calls are still getting answered and we are getting the right help where it needs to go. Under the circumstances, that is no easy feat.”

Those who are left fielding the calls are left to hope that things will get better sooner rather than later.

“They have made a lot of promises, but they never seem to materialize. There are a lot of things like that. Things they say are going to be done and years later they still have not happened,” Sam said. “I have been terribly frustrated lately. I never get to see my family, which frustrates them as well. I don’t even have time to do laundry or clean my house. It’s work, eat, sleep, shower and repeat, there’s no time for anything else.”

Those interested in becoming a dispatcher for Flathead County can find more information and apply online on the county website at https://flathead.mt.gov/department-directory/human-resources/apply

Reporter Jeremy Weber can be reached at jweber@dailyinterlake.com or 758-4446.