Military Recruiting: More Innovative Approaches Needed
NSIAD-95-22
Published: Dec 22, 1994. Publicly Released: Jan 25, 1995.
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Highlights
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Defense's (DOD) recruiting operations, focusing on the: (1) areas in which military recruiting costs could be reduced; (2) recruiting challenges the services face in the youth market; (3) services' future plans for recruiting staffs and organizations; and (4) services' management of their recruiting facilities.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Defense | The Secretary of Defense should direct the secretaries of the military services, in allocating resources, to use the results of current studies, and undertake additional efforts if necessary, to develop a more cost-effective mix of available recruiting resources, including advertising, recruiters, bonuses, and other elements affecting recruiting. |
DOD received a draft Rand study in August 1995, which recommended increased funding. Congress supported this with $89 million for an advertising budget. DOD expanded the Rand contract to look at other matters. The results of additional efforts are not scheduled to be completed until September 1998. Analyses continue to be performed but are not likely to result in savings as intended by recommendation.
|
| Department of Defense | The Secretary of Defense should direct the secretaries of the military services to aggressively test ideas to reduce first-term attrition. |
In a follow-on report, NSIAD-97-39, dated January 6, 1997, GAO made eight recommendations for DOD to reduce first-term enlisted attrition. Seven of these recommendations were incorporated into the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1998 (P.L. 105-85). DOD had already implemented the eighth recommendation when the law was enacted. DOD is working to implement the other seven.
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| Department of Defense | The Secretary of Defense should direct the secretaries of the military services to continue efforts to streamline the current recruiting bureaucracy, eliminating layers where possible. |
As of June 1996, a draft report of the Joint-Service Study was being prepared. It made no recommendations to eliminate layers from the recruiting commands' organizational structure.
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| Department of Defense | The Secretary of Defense should direct the secretaries of the military services to revalidate the recruiting quota systems, which currently deter recruiters from maximizing their numbers of enlistments. |
In its 1997 report on enlisted attrition, GAO made a recommendation for the services to revise their recruiter incentive systems to tie quotas to recruits' successful completion of basic training. This recommendation was incorporated into the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1998 (P.L. 105-85), and DOD has begun to implement it. GAO also issued a more in-depth report on recruiter incentive systems in January 1998, NSIAD-98-58. This report contained further recommendations to improve recruiter incentive systems, which DOD has begun to implement.
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| Department of Defense | The Secretary of Defense should direct the secretaries of the military services to encourage the development and expansion, as appropriate, of concepts such as the "Philadelphia project," in the management of military recruiting facilities. |
The Naval Postgraduate School is studying the factors to consider when locating recruiting facilities. Also, the school is developing a computer model that measures efficiency of decisions to close, open, or relocate recruiting stations, and the expected completion date is May 1999. The Army Corps of Engineers continues to examine the feasibility of relocating recruiting overhead personnel in commercial leases. Relocations are planned to occur from fiscal years 1997-2000.
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| Department of Defense | The Secretary of Defense should direct the secretaries of the military services to routinely incorporate more in-depth cost-benefit analyses in decisions to maintain or establish new recruiting offices and to evaluate the costs and benefits of maintaining offices in less productive areas of the country. |
A new Recruiting Market Information System has been developed.
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Topics
Attrition ratesHiring policiesStaff utilizationMilitary cost controlMilitary enlistmentMilitary personnelMilitary recruitingPersonnel managementPersonnel recruitingPublic relations