Logistics Human Capital Strategy (LHCS)
The nation and the warfighter rely upon the logistics workforce to deliver products and services the warfighter needs to successfully execute the National Defense Strategy (NDS). Therefore, we must "cultivate the workforce we need." Cultivating the logistics workforce necessitates developing innovative approaches to leveraging the DoD Human Capital ecosystem. The Acquisition and Sustainment Workforce Framework (ASWF) was designed to create a diverse, resilient, and thriving Logistics community that will remain ready to support the warfighter and the nation. A talented and adaptable workforce is imperative as technology advances.
The DoD Logistics Human Capital Strategy (LHCS) addresses the President's concerns as set forth in the National Defense Strategy (NDS). Its ideas and concepts are nested within NDS priority #4, Building a resilient joint force and defense ecosystem.
The 2024 LHCS vision is to foster a workforce that embodies a culture of continuous learning, critical thinking, innovation and collaborative problem-solving. The logistics community landscape consists of four logistics workforce categories: life cycle logistics (LCL), supply management, maintenance support, and deployment/distribution/transportation.
The ASWF was developed to focus on re-imagining how to leverage the DoD human capital ecosystem to build the Acquisition & Sustainment (A&S) workforce needed to execute the NDS. Personnel, Retention, Incentives, Skill-Building and Mentorship (PRISM) initiatives are DoD’s response to talent management and development at the strategic level. Four pillars were designed to create a diverse, resilient, and thriving A&S community that will remain ready to support the Warfighter. The four pillars include:
- Acquisition Innovation in the Face of a Pacing Threat
- Make DoD an Employer of Choice to include Recruiting, Branding, and Retention
- Talent Development in the Acquisition Ecosystem to Include Upskilling and Training
- Continuously Improve Workforce Policies, Programs, and Processes
In support of the Acquisition and Sustainment Framework, the LHCS includes four strategic goals: Obtain Talent, Develop Talent, Employee Innovation, and Diversify Talent.
Strategic Goal 1: Obtain Talent
Obtaining talent is a complex process and organizations often face various challenges that impact their ability to do so. The Department of Defense and the logistics functional community face many of the same challenges that our civilian counterparts face when it comes to finding the right talent. Some common challenges include time to fill positions, employer branding, and talent shortages.
Strategic Goal 2: Develop Talent
Talent development encompasses various initiatives and strategies aimed at building a skilled and motivated workforce. To maintain DoD’s competitive advantage, we must provide employees with deliberate developmental and broadening opportunities. These opportunities build future leaders, enable effective joint teams, and facilitate leadership succession planning. Training which provides opportunities for credentialing through credentialing programs is highly encouraged for developing and retaining a skilled workforce. Once employees are trained through rigorous programs retaining them in the Department is vital. Succession planning is also an integral part of talent development. Ensuring DoD has a pipeline of capable leaders and workers ready to assume key roles is essential. This involves identifying high performing employees, mentoring, and preparing the workforce for greater responsibilities and opportunities.
Strategic Goal 3: Employee Innovation
Employee Innovation refers to the process of employees generating and implementing new ideas, solutions, processes, and procedures within an organization and empowering them with resources to execute those ideas. It involves harnessing the creativity, knowledge, and expertise of employees to drive positive change and advancements. Implementing employee innovation programs within large diverse organizations such as DoD requires a systematic approach and commitment from leadership to foster creativity and experimentation. The Organic Industrial Base (OIB) Innovation Ecosystem is one of many “Innovation Ecosystems” necessary for this broad workforce and sectors of the Acquisition and Sustainment (A&S) workforce.
Strategic Goal 4: Diversify Talent
Forward looking talent practices include diversifying talent which is the proactive effort to cultivate a workforce that reflects a broad range of backgrounds, experiences, perspectives, and demographics. The overarching goal of diversifying talent is to create an environment that continuously improves workforce policies, programs, and processes that harness the strength of diversity to drive innovation, improve decision making and enhance organizational performance. Key components include cognitive, skill, experience and educational diversity.
State of the Workforce
The 2024 DoD LHCS provides specific goals and supporting objectives to transform the workforce from a traditional workforce model to a more agile and diverse body of professionals that are capable of effectively managing the rapidly evolving threats that face our nation and DoD. To successfully manage the threats, we must first understand the capabilities and composition of our logistics workforce. Demographics provide valuable insights that enable us to better understand and support the workforce, enhance our competitiveness, and ensure we are evolving as threats change.
Logistics is the largest DoD functional community, comprising approximately 20 percent of the civilian population. The DoD logistics workforce comprised of 151,453 employees (salaried and wage) spanning 127 occupational series throughout the Services and the 4th Estate. The Army and Air Force encompass the largest percentage of the total logistics civilian workforce with 34 and 33 percent respectively. The Navy followed with 25 percent; and the 4th Estate with 8 percent. The Maintenance career field has the largest percentage of logistics personnel at 49 percent, followed by Supply with 33 percent.
A consistently shifting global security environment requires the logistics workforce to evolve, train and develop new skills. A review of the workforce education demographics displayed increases in all degree levels since the 2019 publication. The number of logistics employees with degrees increased by 10 percent from 28,094 to 31,344 since this document was last published in 2019. The previous statistics as well as the current ones depict a high number of logisticians with less than a bachelor’s degree, despite many of the Services and Components having robust programs and incentives in place to encourage employees to pursue degrees.
Summary
The Secretary of Defense stated, “Above all, the NDS demands even deeper investments in our people, they will always be the Departments most valuable resource and the bedrock of American security.” It is the people that drive the core of the Department’s readiness to meet its assigned missions and represent our greatest advantage over our competitors. This DoD LHCS directly aligns with the 2022 National Defense Strategy and the corresponding lines of effort (LOEs). LOE 4, Building a resilient joint force and defense ecosystem is the focus of our efforts. The critical enabler supporting the LOE focuses on the implementation of the ASWF. DoD cannot fulfill its national security mission without the acquisition and sustainment professionals who provide the development, acquisition, management, fielding and sustainment of products and services. This workforce is a critical national defense asset. The Department’s approach to recruiting, developing, and retaining acquisition and sustainment professionals should be reflected in modern talent management principles which leverage each employee’s unique talent.
To achieve the vision, the DoD LHCS outlines the path and provides the prerequisite initiatives to modernize our approach to talent management and taking care of our greatest asset… people.