Personnel and Readiness in a Post Pandemic World

assenger travel is critical to our readiness and our ability to accomplish the mission. GovTravels is an example of how government and industry come together to build relationships, exchange ideas, educate, [and] collaborate on solutions to support and enable the people who serve in defense of our Nation,” said Mr. Thomas A. Constable, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower and Reserve Affairs. He also acknowledged the sheer complexity required to manage passenger travel, as well as the vast volume of data it involves.

The Office of Manpower and Readiness falls under the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness (P&R), which serves as the principal staff assistant and advisor to the Secretary of Defense for force readiness, force management, health affairs, National Guard and Reserve component affairs, education and training, and military-civilian personnel requirements and management.

He explained that personnel and readiness are paired under one secretariat, as it is hard to discuss one without the other. “Our people are our readiness,” said Constable, a sentiment he thought the GovTravels audience would understand well.

“The P&R mission is simple: We ensure a strong, adaptable, and ready force, supported through exceptional policy, programs, and services. This means effective travel policy, programs, and services are an integral part, said Constable. “Our vision is a diverse, resilient, and ready DOD community. We cannot realize that vision with- out our industry partners, and we must continue to build on our relationships.”

In his roles in the P&R organization, Constable gained a unique view of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts on personnel and readiness in a post-COVID environment. One of the first conversations that he recalled having at the start of the pandemic was a discussion on whether or not to curtail training. While there was concern about the young men and women being trained, consideration also had to be given to the travel and personal networks that would help get them to that training. While Constable knew training could not stop, how to accomplish the training needed to be reconsidered.

While people have returned to work since that time, the world has changed irreversibly. “I can tell you that the COVID-19 Pandemic undoubtedly changed how we view readiness and conduct our business operations. While our mission largely remains the same, we now have more options for how to accomplish it that may not have been fully realized [or] realized as quickly until the pandemic,” said Constable.

As a result of the pandemic, traveler concerns have shifted. DOD has responded with an increased focus on Duty of Care initiatives, promoting the health, well-being, and safety of the force and their families.

Some of these options include transitioning a portion of the workforce to a telework posture, adopting existing and developing new technologies to meet the requirements of a remote workforce, and finding other ways to accomplish the mission while limiting the need for face-toface interactions.

“The pandemic taught us many things, but none more than the art of being flexible when it comes to taking care of our workforce. We needed to figure out how to move forward in an ever-changing environment—to accomplish our mission while taking care of our people,” said Constable.

Even as vaccines became available and the world slowly reopened, flexibility was required to deal with new challenges such as inflation, supply chain issues and shortages, and staffing challenges. He recognized like P&R, industry is continuing to recover and faces its own challenges.

“We know that you are facing your own challenges. We’re here today to clearly reinforce the importance of our continued strategic relationship. We hope that we can continue to constructively work together to find solutions,” said Constable.

DOD travel continues to trend upward. Though in 2022 DOD travel volume remained approximately 20% less than prepandemic levels, the total travel spend sits at around $8.5 billion.

As a result of the pandemic, traveler concerns have shifted. DOD has responded with an increased focus on Duty of Care initiatives, promoting the health, well-being, and safety of the force and their families.

To that end, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III announced an initiative called “Taking Care of Our Service Members and

Families.” With this initiative, DOD recognized the service and sacrifice of US military members and their families, and dedicated resources, policies, services, and programs to support them. The Secretary approved actions in four areas: First, securing affordable basic needs. Second, making moves easier. Third, further strengthening support to DOD families. And, fourth, expanding opportunities for spouse employment.

“The pandemic caused DOD to pivot on many fronts,” said Constable. “We’ve learned that when pressed, we can respond in a very agile way to [a] rapidly changing environment. This is something we’ve always demonstrated on the battlefield, and we’re now far nimbler from a broader personnel and readiness organizational perspective.

“We’ve learned to adapt to rapid change in the workplace, to do so efficiently while maintaining our focus on our collective mission. Finally, I’ll say, please never forget that the force that you support—that you are a part of—remains the strongest, bestequipped fighting force in the history of this planet.” falls had impacted her business. However, not all impacts had been negative. “I think that we’re going to be better and are better because I think we understand what our needs are,” she said. “But certainly, as far as recruiting is concerned, it shows that we have to really do more training, more mentoring, and in many cases, look beyond and, also try to recruit maybe some of those older folks who might be looking for another avenue after their formal retirement. But I think it’s been an eye opener as far as I’m concerned—in running my business and in finding talent.”

Hot Passenger Travel Topics

Now a staple of the GovTravels agenda, a panel presentation, moderated by Mr. Tony D’Astolfo, Senior VP North America, Serko, Ltd., explored hot topics in the travel industry. The fast-paced discussion centered around five topics.

TOPIC 1 | THE GREAT RESIGNATION

Has this impacted your business and do you think it will continue to be an issue in 2023?

Ms. Gloria Bohan, President and CEO, Omega World Travel, said that labor short-

Mr. Lee Curtis, CEO, 3Sixty, described the succession of “The Great Resignation”, followed by “The Great Regret”, followed by “Quiet Quitting”, followed in recent months by “The Great Layoff”. Each of these had different effects on businesses. Curtis felt the situation would continue to evolve.

According to Mr. J. Matt Gilkeson, Executive Director, Capability Management and Innovation (CM&I), Requirements and Capabilities Analysis, Transportation Security Administration (TSA), his agency retained most of its staff during the pandemic. This was fortunate because the TSA staff is a well-trained workforce. Also, fortunately for the TSA workforce, Congress invested in the agency this year, providing pay raises for Transportation Se- curity Officers to bring their pay in line with the GSA Schedule.

Given that most of its workers are considered independent contractors, Uber has experienced less of an impact from labor shortages. In fact, Ms. Ashley Jacober, Head of Government Partnerships, Uber for Business, said the company’s unique platform— encompassing both a delivery side and a mobility side—positioned Uber to come out of the pandemic on a positive trend.

TOPIC 2 | REMOTE WORK

Did you move to remote working, and did it impact productivity? Has it had a cultural impact on your company?

Gilkeson said that post-pandemic there is a shift towards remote work in the government, and described productivity and culture as largely functions of leadership and communication. “Remote work is about communication fundamentally. Are you effectively understanding what is getting done and what is the definition of the work that needs to get done? I think that’s a level of maturity that we are all experiencing in terms of growth and training and development,” he said while acknowledging that some work requires in-person collaboration. “If we can use that lens about defining what the work is and defining kind of what we want to try to get out of the employee, we can better lean in on the leadership side and find the right places for remote to thrive.”

Bohan described the struggle of many CEOs to determine the right way to handle hybrid schedules and how that affects collaboration, especially for growing companies. She also wondered about the ability of remote workers to progress in their jobs.

While hybrid is here to stay, Jacober sees the desire of many at Uber to be in the office in order to collaborate. In addition, she cited the benefit of receiving mentorship that is often only realized through inperson interactions.

At 3Sixty, there was a combination of workers who were able to work remotely during the pandemic and workers that were missioncritical and could never work remotely. Curtis described the psychological impact of that, which is something that is often overlooked.

TOPIC 3 | SUSTAINABILITY

With everything else going on, will sustainability be a front- or backburner consideration in 2023?

“As a supplier to many large organizations, what I’m really seeing consistently is the large

Fortune [500 companies] are really making it a front-burner item when it comes to RFPs, requirements, how they view our DEI in relation to theirs,” said Curtis. “There’s so much more opportunity to be transparent about it or required to be transparent about it, that it’s nothing you can just check a box anymore on and say you did it. You have to be able to prove it now.” ness travel returned about a year ago for the DOD traveler. As evidence that travel overall is picking up, he shared TSA PreCheck enrollment data—stating that the top 10 enrollment days for TSA PreCheck have all occurred in calendar year 2023.

Curtis concurred that business travel has returned, with no signs of slowing even with signs of a recession. He also agrees

Bohan added that from her perspective, it is a positive force with little downside.

Jacober stated that Uber is dedicated to its sustainability mission, pledging to go to zero emissions by 2030. To the end, the company has invested heavily in electric vehicles (EVs), as well as providing sustainable options and data for customers and partners.

On a related note, Gilkeson said that as fleets change to EVs, fleet managers need to take greater responsibility for charging the vehicles—at least on the front end of a trip to ensure travelers can get where they need to go.

TOPIC 4 | THE ECONOMY AND TRAVEL

What do you think the economic environment’s impact on business travel will be? Will 2023 be a buyer or supplier market?

While business travel is on the upswing, Jacober expects a bit more tightening. “We want to make sure that when we are traveling that there is an ROI-positive reason behind it—that it’s driving the agency mission forward—and so, it’s intentional travel. It makes an impact,” she said. “When we think about how we’re setting our goals in thinking about these travels, it needs to be within structure, and so, there’s an emphasis on managed travel programs.”

While some sectors have been slower to return to travel, Gilkeson said that busi- that as a CEO, he is looking more at the purpose and ROI of trips being taken. But, by and large, trips are being allowed.

Bohan felt the recession and increases in the cost of living would slow leisure travel. But combining leisure and business travel helps people to continue travel. She added that travelers are now looking for more immersive and customized travel opportunities. The potential for business travel to slow, depends on the industry and the importance of travel for their business. All panelists agreed that prices would be higher in 2023.

TOPIC 5 | Tech Time: Which technology will have the biggest impact on travel in 2023?

Curtis thought the adoption of facial recognition would have the greatest impact on travel. Regarding this technology, Gilkeson described the way in which TSA and other government agencies are implementing it in a privacy-centric manner.

Bohan agreed that facial recognition would have a strong impact. In addition, she thought Artificial Intelligence, such as ChatGPT, had the potential for great impact. This resonated with Jacober, whose company utilizes AI to help improve the experience of its customers. All of the panelists viewed these technologies as means of increasing both speed and efficiency for travelers.