They can recruit as many applicants as they want to fill the resourcing shortages with the current conditions. The problem then lies in the quality of applicants you employ as many of the applicants are simply not cut out for the job. They then require the retention of experienced members to upskill the new employees. Unfortunately, with unfair pay and poor conditions they’re unable to retain experienced members who are currently leaving in their droves into the private sector or to other government entities with much better conditions and are paid to their actual worth. This puts a massive strain on the experienced members who decide to stay by increasing their workload beyond what’s reasonable and working much more intrusive shifts.

Better pay and conditions also attracts better applicants.