Research for Formals

The Military Health System (MHS) is charged with maintaining a healthy active duty force, attending to the sick and wounded in time of conflict, and successfully competing for and treating patients within the peacetime benefit mission. The military must attract and retain high-quality health care professionals. These issues are particularly important for military health care professionals because they are costly to access and train, and they have skills that are readily interchangeable to the private sector. The Department of Defense (DOD) is competing against private sector employees who are offering accession bonuses, flexible work schedules, portable retirement plans, continuing educational opportunities, employee-tailored benefits, and competitive salaries. The TRICARE Management Agency (TMA) asked the Center for Naval Analyses (CNA) to conduct a study to examine appropriate compensation, special pays and bonuses for military health care professionals. Our analysis showed that the current military-civilian health professional pay gap varies widely-from 3 to 63 percent, depending on specialty and years in service.

CRM DOO03033.Al Documents the Marine Corps Commissioned Officer Accession Career (MCCOAC) file, an events-based file that combines information from several data sources to describe the street-to-fleet process. Explains the method of compilation, and presents some initial analyses. Contains an Appendix describing the MCCOAC file format.

As the longest economic expansion in history continues, the competition between the private sector and the military for able personnel intensifies. This competition has prompted renewed interest in the benefit and incentive pay programs that large, private-sector firms offer. As part of the Navy's FY 2000 Manpower and Personnel Integrated Warfare Architecture (IWAR), the Director of the Assessment Division (N81) has asked CNA to examine the provision of various benefit and incentive pay programs in the civilian sector. Of particular interest is the provision of such programs among large, private-sector firms that are considered strong competition in the market for skilled labor. This annotated briefing provides some context for the discussion by describing the current recruiting and retention difficulties of both the military and large, private-sector firms, and explains our choice of research methodology for assessing benefit and incentive programs currently offered to workers in large, private-sector firms.

Quality of life (QOL) satisfaction surveys are one of many tools the Navy can use to target resources toward increased retention. The effectiveness of the Selective Reenlistment Bonus and other monetary rewards is well documented. Despite the potential retention value of surveys, less is known about their effectiveness. The focus of this year's Manpower and Personnel IWAR is on increasing retention and the appeal of naval service. As part of this effort, N813 asked CNA to look at a specific set of tools for recruiting and retention: surveys. In this annotated briefing, we assess the way the Navy keeps track of members' attitudes about Navy quality of life and quality of service.