Brandon Crosby

This report documents the constraints the U.S. Air Force must operate under in comparison with alternative compensation and benefit structures found in other federal agencies and the private sector. It provides recommendations for actions the Air Force can take to improve the competitiveness of its compensation and benefits packages for select hard-to-fill and mission critical occupations.

The federal government is working to enable simple and strategic hiring practices. Toward this end, the authors identified best practices for recruiting, hiring, and compensation in 41 federal demonstration projects and alternative personnel systems that began between January 2008 and May 2019. These best practices offer solutions for agencies seeking to modernize and refine current personnel programs.

The UNITE Initiative aims to promote readiness and resilience in the Air Force through events that focus on unit cohesion. The authors describe the results of their evaluation of UNITE and the program's association with unit cohesion, drawing on interviews with UNITE representatives and post-event surveys completed by airmen participants.

Researchers sought to identify the root causes of underrepresentation for women and members of racial/ethnic minority groups in the U.S. Coast Guard; factors shaping representation at each phase of the career life cycle; and facilitators of and barriers to increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion.

This report documents the results of a study examining challenges that Air Force civilian women, racial/ethnic minorities, and individuals with disabilities may face in advancing to higher pay grades as well as factors influencing retention decisions. The study analyzed demographic differences in advancement and retention patterns and conducted focus groups and interviews with close to 300 participants.

Researchers conducted interviews and focus groups with key stakeholders of the U.S. Air Force's Task Force True North (TFTN) initiatives. Thematic analysis of the data collected allowed the team to identify key findings related to each initiative and to TFTN as a whole. The authors offer recommendations designed to help each of the initiatives reach its full potential to improve airmen resilience and well-being.

The Joint Requirements Council (JRC) is an executive-level body in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) charged with building a unified, effective, and efficient operational requirements process for DHS. This report offers actions to improve the JRC's efficacy, effectiveness, and ability to plan for the future. We preliminarily recommend that DHS give the JRC more authority over components and add staff to ease the JRC workload.