Designing Incentives for Marine Corps Cyber Workforce Retention

Abstract

Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instruction, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to ABSTRACT (maximum 200 words)There is a pervasive national shortage of qualified cyber personnel, both in the Marine Corps and the nation at large. To retain quality cyber personnel, the Marine Corps must identify those factors that cause cyber personnel to separate from active service and explore specific incentives to retain them. This research used Grounded Theory and Design Thinking to explore these challenges. Key findings show the importance of tailoring retention policies across three areas: monetary rewards (money and benefits), non-monetary rewards (duty station preference, geographic stability, educational opportunities), personal needs (development of transferrable skills and external career opportunities, internal career progression, alignment with personal interests and goals, access to technology), and organizational elements (allowance for community uniqueness, engagement of stakeholders in process development, and a healthy command climate with limited bureaucracy). These findings were incorporated into a Design Thinking process that resulted in three prototype solutions to cyber retention. This study demonstrates how the unique characteristics of cyber personnel require tailored incentive packages and improved personnel policies in order to foster employees' intrinsic motivations to achieve success. The results focus on the Marine Corps, but the underlying motivations should resonate with cyber personnel in any organization. Thinking process that resulted in three prototype solutions to cyber retention. This study demonstrates how the unique characteristics of cyber personnel require tailored incentive packages and improved personnel policies in order to foster employees' intrinsic motivations to achieve success. The results focus on the Marine Corps, but the underlying motivations should resonate with cyber personnel in any organization. SUBJECT TERMS vi THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK vii

Operational Forces soldiers’ perceptions of attributes and skills for career success

“…Self-concept refers to the self-constructed beliefs that one holds about oneself and the responses of others (Oyserman, Elmore & Smith, 2012 The predominant factor from this theme was, however, motivation. This is in line with international literature that says understanding what motivates people and how to effectively motivate them are key components in any successful career (Hernandez & Johnson, 2014). Motivation can be divided into two components, intrinsic motivation, which has to do with the psychological compensation that an individual receives from the work, and extrinsic motivation, which relates to the economic rewards of the job.…”

“…The findings point to the importance of attributes associated with candidates' positive self-concept of which intrinsic motivation was found to be a powerful factor. This was related to various meaningful objectives like money, ambition and status (Hernandez & Johnson, 2014). Findings from this research study suggested that drivers of intrinsic motivation for these individuals were personal but also universal in their power to motivate.…”

“…Within the South African Operational Forces, identifying what motivates individuals to want to be a part of this elite unit is a fundamental element in terms of both recruitment as well as retention. A great deal of literature points towards the importance of intrinsic motivation in military attrition and retention (Hernandez & Johnson, 2014;Thomas & Jansen, 1996;Wrzesniewski et al, 2014). Organisations rely less on micro-management and compliance, but more on judgement, commitment and self-management.…”

“…Money alone was therefore not found to be the sole reason for participants wanting to be a part of the Operational Forces. The motivators included wanting to be the best, 'I wanted to be the best, not to be like any other soldier' [Participant 9; Age 54), the opportunity to be in a 'challenging and exciting environment' [Participant 77; Age 42), (Hernandez & Johnson, 2014), and participants all expressed very similar motivation for wanting to be a part of the Operational Forces, it is important for the organisation to explore new candidates' motivation for wanting to be a part of this group. A new candidate who believes that being in this career is a calling is more likely to be retained in the long run, rather than a candidate motivated by extrinsic factors such as money and benefits of the job.…”

Building the Best Offensive and Defensive Cyber Workforce: Volume II, Attracting and Retaining Enlisted and Civilian Personnel

“…It is also worth noting that many of the concerns about hiring and retention of cyber personnel that our participants discussed in this study are not localized to USAF. For example, similar concerns about cyber workforce recruiting and retention issues have been explored in the U.S. Army (e.g., U.S. Government Accountability Office [GAO], 2019a; Wenger, O'Connell, and Lytell, 2017), the U.S. Marine Corps (e.g., Hernandez and Johnson, 2014), and the U.S. Navy (Bayer et al, 2019). In addition, a 2019 GAO report (GAO, 2019b) cited hiring and retaining key cybersecurity management personnel as a major concern among all 23 of the U.S. federal agencies that GAO included in its study.…”