Brad Carson, acting defense undersecretary for personnel and readiness, has said he plans to overhaul practices in the Defense Department’s military personnel management system, Federal News Radio reported Wednesday.
Jared Serbu writes Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has asked Carson, who also serves as undersecretary of the Department of the Army, to present a reform plan by Aug. 19.
“We have a personnel system that hasn’t fundamentally changed in 70 years… We’re still following a mindless check-the-box process while everyone else is treating human resources as a strategic partnership with their top leaders,†Carson said during a breakfast forum hosted by Defense One on June 9.
“Three months ought to be enough time to at least prototype a new personnel system.â€
Carson noted that the current system for the promotion of military servicemen to the next rank based on a fixed schedule needs to be evaluated.
“You don’t have to be promoted to Major just because you’ve served for eleven years; maybe you should be promoted to Major when you hit key milestones instead of a time-based system,†he said.
“We want to move away from a rigid system that puts people on a treadmill that they can only get off of at their own peril.â€
