3.3 Human Resource Management 3.3.1 The DCS continues to report challenges as far as the recruitment and retention of staff. On the day of the visit the Pretoria Management area for example reported a 6:1500 official to offender ratio. According to the DCS this challenge stems, in part, from the fact that although the DCS is in the JCPS cluster, salaries and benefits are negotiated in the Public Service Bargaining Council resulting in discrepancies in what police and correctional officials earn. The distinction between centre-based and non-centre based officials poses a further challenge. Artisans complained that although they were originally employed as correctional officials, and despite the fact that they, through the workshops they run, also work directly with offenders, did not share the same benefits as those officials charged with guarding inmates in cells. Persistent challenges in recruiting and retaining professionals are ascribed to the fact that teachers and other professionals are compelled to join the DCS at the entry level for correctional officials.