The Air Force experiences challenges in maintaining a demographically diverse civilian workforce. This report documents the results of a study designed to better understand the challenges that Air Force civilian women, racial/ethnic minorities, and individuals with disabilities in General Schedule (GS) (and equivalent) positions may face in advancing to higher pay grades as well as factors they consider when deciding whether to remain with the Air Force. The study analyzed Air Force personnel data to identify demographic differences in advancement and retention patterns and conducted focus groups and interviews with close to 300 participants to better understand potential advancement and retention barriers. The report describes key findings related to differences in advancement and retention and provides recommendations for potential changes to Air Force policies and practices to help grow and retain civilian talent from across all demographics.
In 2010, Attitudes Aren't Free: Thinking Deeply About Diversity in the US Armed Forces was published. In 2017, it was placed on the Air Force Chief of Staff's Reading List. Now, more than a decade later, with tens of thousands of copies in circulation across government, industry and academia, it has become celebrated as a model for engaging in critical discussions on social policy topics that span the spectrum of perspectives on religious expression, race, gender and sexuality with contributions from the brightest voices within the US. Since publication, the long-standing debates have continued on the proper role of religious expression within military units. We have seen increasing levels of racial and gender diversity in the senior leadership ranks. "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was repealed by Congress. Transgender military members have since been allowed to serve openly. Today, we continue to engage the traditional ongoing dialogues but with a new focus on the #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter movements within society that have ultimately resulted in the transition of power between the 45th and 46th Presidents of the United States. Tomorrow's leaders must not only understand the changing landscape of societal attitudes of the citizens in which they serve, the mandates of our elected leaders that will serve as the Commander-in-Chief of the US Armed Services, but also to best prepare to lead the men and women of the armed services in the most effective manner possible. Volume I of tAtitudes Aren't Free: Thinking Deeply About Diversity in the Armed Forces (2010) offered a framework for improving social policy in the areas of religious expression, sexuality, race and gender by showcasing the complexity through the use of opposing perspectives. Volume II reflects on the progress made over the decade since, but instead of laying the groundwork of a plurality of perspective as in Volume I, Volume II relies on the realities of the national, institutional and personal levels using service members' lived experiences to develop a more robust understanding of life in the military for individuals from increasingly more diverse backgrounds. Ultimately, though reflective dialogue, Volume II seeks to explore and contrast the current social policies of the US Armed Services with the rhetoric that military institutions continue to espouse around the same topical areas addressed in the first volume. This is a Call to Action.
The following steps are recommended for consistent, efficient, and effective plans and means for improving the development of U.S. Air Force officers in their career fields: (1) identify the demand for jobs in the field grades-major, lieutenant colonel, and colonel; (2) ascertain the backgrounds that officers have accumulated (assess the supply); (3) compare supply with demand (gap analysis); and (4) plan ways to close the gaps.
The U.S. Air Force (USAF) needs accurate models to develop retention policies that ensure the force has a sufficient number of experienced officers to meet current and future requirements. The dynamic retention model (DRM) can be used to take into account the effect of the availability of multi-year contracts to certain classes of Air Force officers. Unlike the annualized cost of leaving (ACOL) model long used by researchers working on USAF personnel issues, the DRM takes into account the value an officer may place on future career flexibility in the face of uncertainty, and thus is particularly well suited to examining the effect of bonus programs that have service commitments, such as the Aviator Continuation Pay (ACP) program, which pays an annual bonus to pilots and certain groups of navigators and air battle managers who commit to extend their service for specified numbers of years or to a specified length of service.
"With many Air Force civil servants eligible to retire within the next ten to fifteen years it is important we ensure our civilian hiring practices do not negatively impact the Air Force’s ability to recruit and retain Millennials to replenish our aging civilian work force. Millennials are those born between 1981 and 1999 and make up over 23 percent of the population and our critical to the success of civil service. Understanding who millennials are, what they desire for employment should be a focus area for federal employers. The USAF has implemented significant changes through the use of the end-to-end hiring initiative of 2011, however, there are four additional areas the federal government should also address. These changes are: 1. significant investment in recruiting opportunities for civilian hires, 2. increase development opportunities, 3. a robust feedback process during the orientation process, and 4. increase manpower to meet or decrease the 80-day timeframe. Including these changes as well as the initiatives from the 2011 end-to-end hiring initiative will increase the ability to recruit and retain millennials for civil service."--Abstract.
Gen Jumper, Chief of Staff of the Air Force (CSAF) issued a sight picture statement on 2 May 2003 concerning Civilian Force Development. While Gen Jumper's sight picture recognizes the need to grow civilians for leadership positions, there is a more compelling reason for the Air Force to focus on civilian leadership development. The civilian workforce is getting older. A 2001 research study perform by the Center for the Organizational Research reported 46.3% of government workers were 45 years or older. That was over 6 years ago! The aging workforce picture for the Senior Executive Service (SES) is even more alarming. During a SES leader forum held in April 2007, the discussion was centered around how to attract generation X personnel in the SES ranks because 75% of today's SES leaders are 60 years or older. In a September 2007 e-mail to the author, Mr. John Steenbock, Deputy Director, Civilian Force Integration, Air Force Personnel Center, reported that 22% of the Air Force's SES leaders were retirement eligible then and 62% would be eligible within the next 5 years. At the strategic level (GS-15 or upper tier of NSPS pay band 3) and operation level (GS-14 or lower to mid-tier of NSPS pay band 3) leadership positions, 16% are retirement eligible today and 41% will be within the next 5 years. These data are startling as they show that the Air Force will experience a civilian leadership exodus in the near future. This paper will first explore the age-old question, are leaders born or are leaders made? Next, it will compare the private sector mid-level (i.e. operational), upper-level (i.e. strategic), and executive-level leadership development with the Air Force civilian leadership development process and use the comparison to validate the Air Force development process. The paper also explores the major challenges associated with the leadership development process.
Using the RAND Inventory Model (RIM), a stock-and-flow inventory model for federal civilians, this dissertation finds that although there is not likely to be a force-wide shortage of Air Force civilians over the next ten years, there is the possibility of human capital gaps in some mission critical occupations (MCO). Specifically, of the seven selected MCO's, two will likely face gaps among workers with between ten and six years until retirement eligibility, two among workers with ten or fewer years until retirement eligibility, and two among workers within five years of becoming or having become retirement eligible. Based on these findings, the dissertation recommends that the contracting, computer and electronics engineering, IT and HR occupations hire more experienced workers and create advanced development programs to identify and train younger workers to take on the responsibilities of more experienced roles.
