DoD Describes Workforce Plans

Meanwhile, in a budget document DoD has raised the possibility of hiring freezes and early retirement offers ahead as it seeks to reduce its civilian workforce. Although the projected 2017 workforce is only 5,000 below the estimated 2016 level of 738,000, the document says that the mix of skills it needs is changing as the military side also downsizes. “The force structure that emerges from the new defense strategy will require a properly aligned infrastructure from which to operate, deploy, and train,” it says. The need for some skills, such as cyber, ship maintenance, disability evaluation, sexual-assault prevention, and auditing, will increase, it says, but others such as those supporting depot maintenance and base support for military personnel will decrease, as will headquarters-level positions. “Actions may include early-out incentives and temporary suspension of recruitment actions to allow the military departments and defense agencies to more fully assess the impact of mission changes, the continuous improvement of business practices, refined process efficiencies, and elimination of unintended redundancies within the workforce.” The budget also once again calls for creation of a commission to pave the way for another round of base closings and realignments–to occur in 2019–a proposal that Congress has rejected year after year.