A Navy Officer Retention Study

NavyOfficerManningWhitePaper.pdf

Lessons from the past post Vietnam era need to be studied, adapted and relearned

KEEP A WEATHER EYE ON THE HORIZON

A Navy Officer Retention Study

Commander Guy M. Snodgrass, U.S. Navy

“The Admirals back in Washington had so many pressures on them, so many diversions, they forgot their primary job is to make sure that the Fleet is ready to go with highly trained and motivated Sailors. The problem particularly manifests itself when the budget is way down.”

ADM THOMAS B. HAYWARD, 21st Chief of Naval Operations, recalling the post-Vietnam War drawdown

Situation in Brief

The U.S. Navy is about to face its most challenging officer retention problem in more than two decades. Pivotal factors include:

• Continued high operational tempo after a decade of unusually long deployments
• Loss of “combat” mentality; plummeting morale and esprit de corps
• Significantly improved, and improving, economic trend lines
• Perception that operational command is not valued – and increasingly administrative
• Outflow of Boomers from workflow and influx of Millennials
• Erosion of trust in senior leadership

This study takes an in-depth look at factors significantly impacting officer retention, compares them with historic retention downturns, evaluates Fortune 500 approaches for retaining talent, and provides actionable recommendations to enable us to outrun the approaching storm.