2014 Naval Aviation

Officer Retention Survey

Content Analysis of
Open-Ended Questions
Andrea Doyle & Geoffrey Patrissi
Navy Personnel, Research, Studies & Technology
(NPRST)
APR 2014

Special thanks to Evangeline Clewis, NPRST, Survey Operations Center
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2014 Naval Aviation Officer Retention Survey
Open-ended Questions
Two open-ended questions were asked:
- 1. What do you think should be the #1 priority of the Naval Aviation
Enterprise (NAE)?
- 2. What did this survey not ask that we need to know about?

Of the 4,169 survey respondents:
- 3,250 (78%) commented on the first question
- 2,649 (64%) commented on the second question

Methodology for Comment Analysis
- Random set of comments reviewed to obtain main topics
- Comments entered into IBM SPSS Text Analytics for Surveys
Categorized by major topic by searching for keywords (reference Slide 19)
Comments typically fit multiple categories and were coded as such
Same topics & keywords used for Questions 1 and 2, if possible
Results presented as percentage of comments that contained topic

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Percentage of Responses
Breakdown by Paygrade & Community
What do you think should be the #1 priority of the Naval Aviation
Enterprise (NAE)?





What did this survey not ask that we need to know about?
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Rotary TacAir Big Wing Average
LT 74% 75% 72% 74%
LCDR 81% 82% 77% 80%
CDR 83% 85% 81% 83%
Average 79% 81% 77%
Rotary TacAir Big Wing Average
LT 74% 75% 72% 74%
LCDR 81% 82% 77% 80%
CDR 83% 85% 81% 83%
Average 79% 81% 77%
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What do you think should be the #1 priority of the
Naval Aviation Enterprise (NAE)?
Overall Sample

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Topics Most Cited by Overall Sample
2%
8%
8%
17%
19%
23%
23%
24%
25%
29%
29%
37%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%
Aviation Culture
Retirement
Career Path Flexibility
Work-Life Balance
Promotion
Pay/Benefits/Bonus
Retention/Manning
Leadership
Mission
Workplace Climate
Flight Hours/Training
Availability of Resources
NOTE: Results indicate the percentage of the comments that addressed the topic. Many respondents commented on multiple topics.
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What do you think should be the #1 priority of
the Naval Aviation Enterprise (NAE)?
O-3 - LTs

2%
7%
7%
17%
20%
22%
23%
23%
24%
29%
33%
33%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%
Aviation Culture
Retirement
Career Path Flexibility
Work-Life Balance
Promotion
Mission
Leadership
Pay/Benefits/Bonus
Retention/Manning
Flight Hours/Training
Workplace Climate
Availability of Resources
Topics Most Cited by LTs
NOTE: Results indicate the percentage of the comments that addressed the topic. Many respondents commented on multiple topics.
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3%
9%
10%
17%
21%
21%
22%
24%
25%
27%
29%
38%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%
Aviation Culture
Career Path Flexibility
Retirement
Work-Life Balance
Promotion
Pay/Benefits/Bonus
Retention/Manning
Mission
Leadership
Flight Hours/Training
Workplace Climate
Availability of Resources



What do you think should be the #1 priority of
the Naval Aviation Enterprise (NAE)?
O-4 LCDRs
Topics Most Cited by LCDRs
NOTE: Results indicate the percentage of the comments that addressed the topic. Many respondents commented on multiple topics.
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2%
8%
9%
15%
17%
22%
22%
25%
27%
30%
30%
41%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%
Aviation Culture
Career Path Flexibility
Retirement
Work-Life Balance
Promotion
Pay/Benefits/Bonus
Retention/Manning
Workplace Climate
Leadership
Mission
Flight Hours/Training
Availability of Resources



What do you think should be the #1 priority of
the Naval Aviation Enterprise (NAE)?
O-5 CDRs

Topics Most Cited by CDRs
NOTE: Results indicate the percentage of the comments that addressed the topic. Many respondents commented on multiple topics.
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What did this survey not ask that we need
to know about?
Overall Sample

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Topics Most Cited by Overall Sample
0.5%
2%
3%
5%
6%
8%
8%
10%
11%
12%
13%
14%
17%
17%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%
Minimum Service Requirement
Aviation Culture
Mission
Civilian Job Opportunities
Availability of Resources
Career Path Flexibility
Retirement
Promotion
Training/Flight Hours
Leadership
Retention/Manning
Workplace Climate
Pay/Benefits/Bonuses
Work-Life Balance
NOTE: Results indicate the percentage of the comments that addressed the topic. Many respondents commented on multiple topics.
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1%
2%
2%
5%
5%
6%
9%
9%
10%
12%
13%
13%
14%
17%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%
Minimum Service Requirement
Aviation Culture
Mission
Availability of Resources
Retirement
Civilian Job Opportunities
Career Path Flexibility
Leadership
Promotion
Flight Hours/Training
Workplace Climate
Pay/Benefits/Bonus
Retention/Manning
Work-Life Balance



What did this survey not ask that we need
to know about?
O-3 LTs
Topics Most Cited by LTs
NOTE: Results indicate the percentage of the comments that addressed the topic. Many respondents commented on multiple topics.
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0%
2%
3%
5%
7%
9%
10%
10%
10%
12%
13%
14%
15%
17%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%
Minimum Service Requirement
Aviation Culture
Mission
Civilian Job Opportunities
Availability of Resources
Career Path Flexibility
Retirement
Promotion
Flight Hours/Training
Retention/Manning
Leadership
Workplace Climate
Pay/Benefits/Bonus
Work-Life Balance



What did this survey not ask that we need
to know about?
O-4 LCDRs

Topics Most Cited by LCDRs
NOTE: Results indicate the percentage of the comments that addressed the topic. Many respondents commented on multiple topics.
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0.4%
1%
3%
4%
6%
7%
9%
10%
12%
12%
15%
17%
19%
27%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%
Minimum Service Requirement
Aviation Culture
Mission
Civilian Job Opportunities
Career Path Flexibility
Availability of Resources
Promotion
Flight Hours/Training
Retirement
Retention/Manning
Leadership
Workplace Climate
Work-Life Balance
Pay/Benefits/Bonus



What did this survey not ask that we need
to know about?
O-5 CDRs
Topics Most Cited by CDRs
NOTE: Results indicate the percentage of the comments that addressed the topic. Many respondents commented on multiple topics.
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Availability of Resources should be used effectively; need safe &
reliable equipment/parts/maintenance to operate; stop doing more with
less
- Our equipment is aging and falling apart faster than it is being fixed and our
people are forced to work harder and longer with less.
- Old and new planes suffer for lack of parts availability
- We have hit the safe threshold of more with less.

Flight Hours/Training need more flight hours to maintain proficiency;
minimize GMT
- Work to ensure adequate flight hours for proficiency across all communities.
- Keep pilots flying consistently
- Minimize extraneous GMT


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Repeated Themes & Relevant Quotes by Topic
for both Open-Ended Questions

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Workplace Climate Aviators want respect, recognition, and support;
being micro-managed; gender/race issues
- As much as possible NPC should treat each aviator as an individual
- Equal treatment in the workplace regardless of gender and family situation
- Providing good communication to the people serving. It seems that information
always comes from the media.

Mission carry out mission by defending the country; war fighting;
maintain combat-ready force
- #1 priority is always the mission.
- Warfighting is the #1 priority of the military. Aviation is not different.
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Repeated Themes & Relevant Quotes by Topic
for both Open-Ended Questions

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Leadership let leaders lead; develop leaders; trust leaders without
micro-managing; retain quality leaders
- Continue to build and prepare leaders to meet the challenges of the future.
- Letting our leaders lead within the bounds of sound leadership and integrity

Retention/Manning retain qualified and motivated personnel; right
size the force; adequate manning to meet mission
- Retention of highly motivated, highly trained, and highly capable officers to lead
the NAE
- Retain the best leaders from their JO tour through 20 years and beyond.
- Manning shortages is having a negative impact on Sailor/Officer morale.
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Repeated Themes & Relevant Quotes by Topic
for both Open-Ended Questions

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Pay/Benefits/Bonus keep flight pay competitive to keep quality
aviators; maintain benefits; restore command bonus; civilian airline jobs
are attractive
- The more cuts that are made to incentive pay, the more the Navy will find itself hurting for
leadership.
- Base payhas slowly increased over the years, but still does not match what [could be
made] outside of the Navy.
- NAE must fight to regain the Command Bonus to ensure the best Naval Officers remain in
the Navy.

Promotion should be based on merit; base on character, credibility, and
contributions; career timing adversely affects aviators ability to promote
- Major reform to the FITREP/EVAL system to determine the best personnel to promote
- The Navy needs to restructure command selection process. There is no standard for
qualifications that play a tremendous role in command screening.
- Command selection is almost completely due to timing and the opinion of one person: the
CO at the end of ones DH tour

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Repeated Themes & Relevant Quotes by Topic
for both Open-Ended Questions

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Work-Life Balance reduce deployment length and OPTEMPO; more
time needed with families
- Lessening deployment length.
- With [OPTEMPO] increasingand the length of deployments, aircrew quality of
life is decreasing dramatically.
- We will tolerate long deployments but make sure that our families have the
income and facilities they needwhile we are gone.

Career Path Flexibility alternatives to the golden path; keep aviators
flying longer; more educational opportunities
- Not all Naval Aviators want to follow the traditionalcareer path, we lose some
great people by pushing them into that career path.
- Keep well qualified aviators flying for longer periods of time
- If you want to keep talented people, allow them the opportunity to remain
competitive through greater educational flexibility.


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Repeated Themes & Relevant Quotes by Topic
for both Open-Ended Questions

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Retirement do not decrease; ensure what was guaranteed at entry
- With increasing cuts to the military budget, attacks on retirement packages,
and subtractions from healthcare, it is increasingly difficult to commit additional
time in service
- The government needs to understand that people joined under one set of rules,
regarding retirement, benefits, and to change them mid-game should not be an
option.

Aviation Culture degradation of Warrior Culture; losing heritage;
traditions should be restored
- There is no warrior culture. We are trained to risk our lives and kill, yet all trace
of culture and history have been destroyed.
- Naval Aviation culture seems to be slowly dying on the vine. The job seems to
resemble Microsoft more and more everyday.
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Repeated Themes & Relevant Quotes by Topic
for both Open-Ended Questions

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Civilian Job Opportunities hiring of pilots at airlines is increasing or
will be in near future; pay is better; economy is in uptrend
- As the airlines are hiring and paying good money, retention bonuses are not
enough to keep quality people.
- The civilian world may not be perfect, but at least I can settle down and see my
family on a regular basis.

Minimum Service Requirement point at which retention is critical;
staying beyond likely means staying until retirement
- Considering the current financial restrictions, it would benefit the Navy and
impacted [aviators] to release them from their obligation a year early.
- The critical decision for aviation officers happens at the end of the initial
aviation service obligation.Those that stay beyond that point are highly likely
to stay Navy until retirement.
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Repeated Themes & Relevant Quotes by Topic
for both Open-Ended Questions

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Keywords Searched by Topic
Work-Life Balance: deploy, deployment, OPTEMPO, family, home, children, kids, spouse, husband, wife, divorce,
marriage; life style, Navy life, way of life, separation, quality of life
Pay/Benefits/Bonus: pay, salary, compensation, benefits, flight pay, ACIP, incentive pay, ACCP, bonus, command
bonus, not the answer, pay increase, money
Workplace Climate: collateral, GMT, admin, administration, SAPR, value, micro-management, happy, treatment,
trust, environment, race, job satisfaction, morale, respect, recognition, gender, women, work hours
Leadership: leaders, leadership, commander, senior leadership, let leaders lead, flag, honesty
Manning/Retention: manning, retention, retain, get out, leave the Navy, quality people, fit, fill, manpower, right size,
top people
Retirement: retire, retirement, 401K, TSP, protect, grandfathered, breach of faith, do not decrease
Flight Hours/Training: flight hours, flight time, flight schedule, proficiency, maintain proficiency, train, capable
Promotion: promote, promotion, advance, advancement, FITREP, move up, passed over, selection, board, timing,
command selection, merit, character, evaluate, deserve, screen, top performer
Resources: resources, equipment, equip, maintenance, more with less, budget, cuts, costs, facilities, waste, efficiency,
acquisition, aircraft, weapons, parts, safety, reliable, funding, operational
Career Path: career path, career progression, flexibility, golden path, career decision, education, transfer, career
opportunities, career options, detailer, detailing, mentor, keep flying, develop JO
Civilian Job Opportunities: airline, civilian, civilian sector, civilian job, outside the Navy, economy, outside
employment
Mission: mission, war fighting, combat ready, readiness, force, strength, defense, homeland, preparedness
Aviation Culture: culture, military culture, history, tradition, heritage, fun
Minimum Service Requirement: MSR, minimum service, obligation






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Note: Keywords may not include all words included in the categorization of comments by topic. Variations of keywords were
also searched. For example, for work-life balance, deploy, deployed, deploying, and deployment were all searched.