Balancing Quality of Life with Mission Requirements: An Analysis of Personnel Tempo on U.S. Coast Guard Major Cutters

Wenger, Jennie W.; Lytell, Maria C.; Hall, Kimberly Curry; Hansén, Michael

doi:10.7249/rr2731

Cited by 2 publications

(11 citation statements)

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“…The most salient result was a clear and substantial association between the number of days spent on in-port operations and lower reenlistment rates. 1 The incentive pays would also target the specific subpopulations (e.g., ranks, ratings) experiencing a meaningful diminution in crew satisfaction (Ledbetter et al, 2020;Wenger et al, 2019). Our analysis of personnel data showed that PRECOM assignments are associated with lower retention for officers but higher retention for enlisted personnel (see Figures 2.2 and 2.3 in Chapter Two; for additional details, see Appendix C).…”

Section: Course Of Action 10: Targeted Incentive Paysmentioning

confidence: 79%

“…Our findings are consistent with those from an earlier study in which the researchers found that reenlistment rates for those serving on major cutters were lower when the number of days spent on in-port operations was higher than expected. See Wenger et al, 2019. Another problem presented by the current PRECOM process is that the crew reporting and training schedule does not adequately prepare crews for operations. At one end of the post-delivery timeline (Figure 2.1), the crew embarks on its first underway period (i.e., coastal operations and transit to home port), with the preponderance of the crew's preparation consisting of factory and familiarization training.…”

Section: Problems Associated With the Current Processmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To maximize the cost-effectiveness of the incentive pays offered, this COA would associate the pays with the specific aspects of PRECOM assignments that adversely affect crew satisfaction, rather than PRECOM assignments en masse. Our review of the published literature and interviews with SMEs in the USCG suggest that these aspects might include • vessel type (e.g., national security cutters, 225-foot WLBs) • home port location • distance between locations of two consecutive assignments • total number of days on TDY • average number of days in port per month • length of tour (Ledbetter et al, 2020;Wenger et al, 2019).…”

Section: Course Of Action 10: Targeted Incentive Paysmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Many of the problems associated with PRECOM assignments stem from larger issues that extend beyond the PRECOM experience. Dissatisfaction with sea duty aboard major cutters, especially among officers, has been a persistent challenge for the USCG human resource management enterprise (Ledbetter et al, 2020;Wenger et al, 2019). Heavy in-port workloads, whether they occur on a PRECOM assignment or not, are associated with lower reenlistment rates and have been cited in focus groups as a source of dissatisfaction (Wenger et al, 2019).…”

Section: Additional Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Improving Precommissioning Assignments and Readiness on the U.S. Coast Guard Offshore Patrol Cutter

2022

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The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) is embarking on the acquisition of 25 offshore patrol cutters and will soon take delivery of its first ship. Before these ships begin operations, they will undergo a multiyear precommissioning period during which the crew will be trained and participate in numerous certifications, tests, and trials. Several industrial activities related to configuration management, system interfaces, and equipment installations will also be completed during this period. Because of the length of the precommissioning period, the majority of these initial crew members will be involved in only limited underway operations, if any, which, according to USCG reports, will lead to considerable dissatisfaction with these assignments and limit the return on the training investment made by the USCG.Given the size of this acquisition, the number of ships involved, and the voluntary nature of afloat crewing assignments for these vessels, the USCG wants to improve the desirability of being assigned to a precommissioned cutter. To assist the USCG, the Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center (HSOAC), in collaboration with the Major Cutter Post-Delivery Modernization Tiger Team, developed options that the USCG could consider toward achieving this goal. This report describes 11 potential courses of action, evaluates these options, and explores ways to implement them to achieve the desired effects.This research was sponsored by the Offshore Patrol Cutter Program Office (CG-9322), Office of Cutter Forces (CG-751), Office of Requirements and Analysis (CG-771), USCG, and conducted within the Strategy, Policy, and Operations Program of the HSOAC federally funded research and development center (FFRDC). About the Homeland Security Operational Analysis CenterThe Homeland Security Act of 2002 (Section 305 of Public Law 107-296, as codified at 6 U.S.C. § 185) authorizes the Secretary of Homeland Security, acting through the Under Secretary for Science and Technology, to establish one or more FFRDCs to provide independent analysis of homeland security issues. The RAND Corporation operates HSOAC as an FFRDC for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) under contract HSHQDC-16-D-00007.The HSOAC FFRDC provides the government with independent and objective analyses and advice in core areas important to the department in support of policy development, decisionmaking, alternative approaches, and new ideas on issues of significance. The HSOAC FFRDC also works with and supports other federal, state, local, tribal, and public-and private-sector organizations that make up the homeland security enterprise. The HSOAC FFRDC's research is undertaken by mutual consent with DHS and is organized as a set of discrete tasks. This report presents the results of research and analysis conducted under task order HSHQDC-16-D-00007/70Z02321FAPC02200, USCG Major Cutter Precommissioning Post-Delivery Analysis.

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Section: Course Of Action 10: Targeted Incentive Paysmentioning

confidence: 79%

Section: Problems Associated With the Current Processmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Course Of Action 10: Targeted Incentive Paysmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Additional Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Improving Precommissioning Assignments and Readiness on the U.S. Coast Guard Offshore Patrol Cutter

2022

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“…Prior studies of race/ethnicity and gender differences in career progression in DoD (Asch, Miller, and Malchiodi, 2012;Asch, Miller, and Weinberger, 2016) and recent retention studies of the Coast Guard (Hall et al, 2019;Wenger et al, 2019) suggest some factors, including family characteristics, personnel tempo, and occupational specialties, that could relate to racial and ethnic differences in retention. We used a common statistical technique for understanding demographic differences in career outcomes 4 to explore which factors contribute to racial and ethnic differences in retention, which mitigate them, and which do not relate to them.…”

Section: How Other Characteristics Affect Retention Differencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improving the Representation of Women and Racial/Ethnic Minorities Among U.S. Coast Guard Active-Duty Members

Lim¹,

Hall²,

Keller³

et al. 2021

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This report documents findings and recommendations from a project examining why women and members of racial and ethnic minority groups are underrepresented in the active-duty Coast Guard. 1 The researchers used a mixed-method approach to identify root causes of underrepresentation of these populations and made recommendations for strategies that the Coast Guard can adopt to improve its ability to reflect the racial, ethnic, and gender makeup of the United States, resulting in a more diverse Coast Guard.The summary of this report, which highlights our key findings and recommendations, will likely be most useful for decisionmakers. Readers with more-detailed interests will find value in the chapters and appendixes, which provide detailed explanations of study findings, recommendations, and our methodology. This research was sponsored by the U.S. Coast Guard Office of Diversity and Inclusion (CG-127) and conducted within the Personnel and Resources Program of the Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center (HSOAC), a federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) operated by the RAND Corporation. About the Homeland Security Operational Analysis CenterThe Homeland Security Act of 2002 (Section 305 of Public Law 107-296, as codified at 6 U.S.C. § 185) authorizes the Secretary of Homeland Security, acting through the Under Secretary for Science and Technology, to establish one or more FFRDCs to provide independent analysis of homeland security issues. The RAND Corporation operates HSOAC as an FFRDC for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) under contract HSHQDC-16-D-00007.The HSOAC FFRDC provides the government with independent and objective analyses and advice in core areas important to the department in support of policy development, decision making, alternative approaches, and new ideas on issues of significance. The HSOAC FFRDC also works with and supports other federal, state, local, tribal, and public-and private-sector organizations that make up the homeland security enterprise. The HSOAC FFRDC's research is undertaken by mutual consent with DHS and is organized as a set of discrete tasks. This report presents the results of research and analysis conducted under task order 70Z02319FPPE04500, Holistic Study and Analysis for Recruiting and Retention of Underrepresented Minorities. 1 The Coast Guard refers to women and members of racial and ethnic minority groups as underrepresented minorities (URMs). We recognize that minority itself is often used as shorthand for historically underrepresented or historically marginalized rather than for actual numeric minority, but we use URM in this report in keeping with Coast Guard terminology.Throughout this report, any designation of gender, race, or ethnicity is self-reported by personnel. In addition, in this report, we use a binary gender construct (men and women) because this aligns with Coast Guard personnel data collection.

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Balancing Quality of Life with Mission Requirements: An Analysis of Personnel Tempo on U.S. Coast Guard Major Cutters

Cited by 2 publications

References 0 publications

Improving Precommissioning Assignments and Readiness on the U.S. Coast Guard Offshore Patrol Cutter

Improving Precommissioning Assignments and Readiness on the U.S. Coast Guard Offshore Patrol Cutter

Improving the Representation of Women and Racial/Ethnic Minorities Among U.S. Coast Guard Active-Duty Members

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