A System for Allocating Selective Reenlistment Bonuses
Abstract
Personnel planners within the Department of Defense are faced with the task of managing an enlisted force composed of hundreds of individual specialties, some with several thousand members and others with only a few dozen. Within every specialty new recruits and experienced careerists must be managed so that every year there are appropriate numbers of each. One tool available to the manpower manager who attempts to meet specialty and skill-level targets is the Selective Reenlistment Bonus (SRB). Awarded to reenlistees in chosen specialties, it is a financial incentive whose magnitude varies among specialties, within certain statutory and policy constraints. The allocation of a limited SRB budget among numerous shortage specialties is guided by general instructions from the Office the Secretary of Defense (OSD), which are implemented by bonus managers within each Service. Historically the implementation has not always been either consistent with the OSD guidelines or entirely appropriate. The research reported here suggests an operational methodology that can be implemented by all four Services and that will effectively combine the diverse criteria suggested by previous OSD guidance. Specifically, it provides a set of step-by-step guidelines, and a personal- computer-based program embodying those guidelines, joining the twin criteria of cost and importance of a specialty to the defense mission.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 1989
- Accession Number
- ADA207269
Entities
People
- Judith C. Fernandez
Organizations
- RAND Corporation