Too much stress and too little pay has been driving employees at Schuylkill County Children and Youth Services Agency to other jobs.

On Wednesday, county officials offered them an incentive to stay.

All full-time children and youth agency employees will receive retention bonuses, to be paid from the surplus left in the agency’s budget from positions that have been vacated.

The incentives, paid quarterly, began immediately.

Employees who are there for under one year from the month the payment is issued will get $500; under five years from the month the payment is issued but at least one year with the agency will get $750; under 10 years from the month the payment is issued but at least five years with the agency will get $1,125. Those with a minimum of 10 years or more will get $1,500.

“We don’t know if this will help, but we hope it will,” said county Administrator Gary R. Bender.

He said it’s the first time, to his knowledge, that such an incentive has been offered.

“It’s a difficult position there. We had to do something,” he said.

“Every county in Pennsylvania is having trouble filling these positions and keeping employees on,” said commissioners Chairman Barron L. Hetherington.

He said the problem isn’t just in Schuylkill County.

“We talked about this at our (County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania) meeting. It’s happening in every county. People are leaving for better paying jobs,” he said.

The state requires Children and Youth Agency workers to respond immediately to calls, he said.

“It doesn’t matter how many employees are there or what the situation is, they must respond. If someone has a child in trouble, it has to be taken care of,” Hetherington said.

The agency’s executive director, Lisa M. Stevens, said 31 staff members left last year. That includes retirements and resignations.

Another 28 employees, including caseworkers and clerical staff, have left so far this year, she said.

“The high turnover has not been typical for us,” she said. “Through 2020, we maintained staff.”

Turnover had been 5 percent or less until 2021, she said.

When the pandemic hit, caseworkers, under state mandate, had to visit homes regardless of whether someone there was sick.

“We had to maintain our normal duties in a situation that was far from normal,” she said. “The requirements were not suspended for us as they were for many other departments.”

That added to the stress of already emotionally charged situations, where caseworkers had to make tough decisions and face the fury of parents who opposed those decisions.

With so many employees leaving, those who are left are burdened with additional work.

“No matter how understaffed we are, our mandates don’t change. The workers that are here are absorbing more and more responsibilities each day,” Stevens said.

Since the economy started to rebound, schools, hospitals, and other entities have been seeking employees and offering sweeter pay and benefit packages.

“Plus, the stress drives people to do something different,” she said.

County Financial Director Paul E. Buber, Stevens and Bender worked together to craft the proposal, Hetherington said.

“We reached out to several other counties considering similar programs,” Stevens said.

They included York, Lancaster and Northumberland counties. There were plenty to look at.

“The turnover is significant statewide,” she said.

Currently, the agency has 78 staff. “We should have 109,” Stevens said.

The starting salary for a caseworker 1 is $18.33 an hour. The average base starting salary is $37,743 a year.

Stevens hopes the incentives work.

“The people who are here are very dedicated. We need to keep the people we have, and we are actively recruiting, but keeping the experienced people we have is crucial,” she said.