Feasibility of monetary incentives within the United States Army Recruiting Command

Abstract

The United States Army Recruiting Command (USAREC) has come under the scrutiny of the United States Congress due to the size of USARECs operating budget and the decreasing productivity of its recruiting forces. Many of the existing incentive problems are caused by the quota based recruiting system. This thesis examines the potential issues of a monetary based incentive program within USAREC as a means to increase individual recruiter productivity, which would allow USAREC to allocate resources more efficiently. Experiments indicate that simulated monetary bonuses motivate actual recruiters to increase their estimated recruit production. The authors believe that the Bonus Incentive Recruiting Model (BIRM) mechanism provides the best opportunity for efficient resource allocation within USAREC. Therefore, the authors strongly recommend USAREC to experiment with the BIRM mechanism as it is designed to allow various incentive tools to be incorporated within its framework