TSA Bonuses Can't Buy Retention

In May, the Transportation Security Administration began paying 36,000 of its 45,000 screeners retention bonuses of $500 or $1,000 each. The net effect of the $18 million program? Not much, USA Today reports. The agency's turnover rate wasn't any lower over the summer than it was in the winter and spring months, according to TSA and the Office of Personnel Management. For all of fiscal 2006, one in five screeners left TSA. Now the agency is trying a new approach: creating a new pay grade to boost the salaries of veteran screeners.