Military Personnel: Improvements Needed to Increase Effectiveness
of DOD's Programs to Promote Positive Working Relationships	 
between Reservists and Their Employers (15-AUG-08, GAO-08-981R). 
                                                                 
Since September 11, 2001, the Department of Defense (DOD) has	 
relied on more than 650,000 members of the National Guard and	 
Reserve to support operations at home and abroad. As demobilized 
reservists return to civilian life and their civilian employment,
the difficulties some face in maintaining positive working	 
relationships with their employers is an area of interest.	 
Maintaining employers' continued support for their reservist	 
employees will be critical if DOD is to retain experienced	 
reservists in these times of longer and more frequent		 
deployments. The employment and reemployment rights of service	 
members as they transition between their federal duties and their
civilian employment are governed by the Uniformed Services	 
Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) of 1994.	 
Education of reservists and employers about USERRA is primarily  
conducted through DOD's office of Employer Support of the Guard  
and Reserve (ESGR), which serves as DOD's focal point in managing
the department's relations with reservists and their civilian	 
employers. The Military Reservists and Veteran Small Business	 
Reauthorization and Opportunity Act of 20083 directed the	 
Comptroller General of the United States to report to the Senate 
Committee on Armed Services, the Senate Committee on Small	 
Business and Entrepreneurship, the House Committee on Armed	 
Services, and the House Committee on Small Business by August 15,
2008, on the options for promoting positive working relationships
between reservists and their employers, including assessing	 
options for improving the time in which employers of reservists  
are notified of a call to active duty other than training.	 
Accordingly, we examined the extent to which DOD has (1) taken	 
steps to inform reservists of their obligations and		 
responsibilities to their employers to provide timely		 
notification of a call to active duty, and (2) developed	 
initiatives to promote positive working relations between	 
reservists and their employers. We also were directed to	 
determine whether there has been a reduction in the hiring of	 
reservists by business concerns because of (1) any increase in	 
the use of reservists after September 11, 2001, or (2) any change
in any policy of DOD relating to reservists after September 11,  
2001.								 
-------------------------Indexing Terms------------------------- 
REPORTNUM:   GAO-08-981R					        
    ACCNO:   A83574						        
  TITLE:     Military Personnel: Improvements Needed to Increase      
Effectiveness of DOD's Programs to Promote Positive Working	 
Relationships between Reservists and Their Employers		 
     DATE:   08/15/2008 
  SUBJECT:   Armed forces reserves				 
	     Civilian employees 				 
	     Defense capabilities				 
	     Employees						 
	     Employment assistance programs			 
	     Government employees				 
	     Hiring policies					 
	     Military forces					 
	     Military personnel 				 
	     Military personnel deployment			 
	     Military reserve personnel 			 
	     Mobilization					 
	     Needs assessment					 
	     Performance measures				 
	     Requirements definition				 
	     Risk assessment					 
	     Risk management					 
	     Small business					 
	     Strategic planning 				 
	     Working conditions 				 
	     Policies and procedures				 

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GAO-08-981R

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GAO-08-981R: 

August 15, 2008: 

Congressional Committees: 

Subject: Military Personnel: Improvements Needed to Increase 
Effectiveness of DOD's Programs to Promote Positive Working 
Relationships between Reservists and Their Employers: 

Since September 11, 2001, the Department of Defense (DOD) has relied on 
more than 650,000 members of the National Guard and Reserve to support 
operations at home and abroad. As demobilized reservists[Footnote 1] 
return to civilian life and their civilian employment, the difficulties 
some face in maintaining positive working relationships with their 
employers is an area of interest. Maintaining employers' continued 
support for their reservist employees will be critical if DOD is to 
retain experienced reservists in these times of longer and more 
frequent deployments. 

The employment and reemployment rights of service members as they 
transition between their federal duties and their civilian employment 
are governed by the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment 
Rights Act (USERRA) of 1994.[Footnote 2] Education of reservists and 
employers about USERRA is primarily conducted through DOD's office of 
Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR), which serves as DOD's 
focal point in managing the department's relations with reservists and 
their civilian employers. In past years, ESGR's focus was on educating 
service members concerning their employment rights under USERRA. 
Generally, service members are entitled to the reemployment rights 
provided by USERRA, including entitlement to reinstatement by their 
civilian employers consistent with the statute, if they meet certain 
eligibility requirements set out in the act. In fiscal year 2005, ESGR 
shifted its focus to educating employers. The new focus better aligns 
with ESGR's mission--to gain and maintain support for employee military 
service from all public and private employers of the men and women of 
the National Guard and Reserve. To fulfill its mission, ESGR has 
developed and implemented a number of outreach efforts to help gain 
employer support. 

The Military Reservists and Veteran Small Business Reauthorization and 
Opportunity Act of 2008[Footnote 3] directed the Comptroller General of 
the United States to report to the Senate Committee on Armed Services, 
the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, the House 
Committee on Armed Services, and the House Committee on Small Business 
by August 15, 2008, on the options for promoting positive working 
relationships between reservists and their employers, including 
assessing options for improving the time in which employers of 
reservists are notified of a call to active duty other than training. 
Accordingly, we examined the extent to which DOD has (1) taken steps to 
inform reservists of their obligations and responsibilities to their 
employers to provide timely notification of a call to active duty, and 
(2) developed initiatives to promote positive working relations between 
reservists and their employers. We also were directed to determine 
whether there has been a reduction in the hiring of reservists by 
business concerns because of (1) any increase in the use of reservists 
after September 11, 2001, or (2) any change in any policy of DOD 
relating to reservists after September 11, 2001. 

To address our first objective, we examined policy and guidance 
describing DOD's reserve component processes and procedures for 
informing reservists of their responsibilities and obligations to their 
employers. We also analyzed DOD Status of Forces Surveys on areas 
related to advance notice to reservists and other matters concerning 
reserve component members. We assessed the survey data for reliability 
and found the data to be sufficiently reliable for the purposes of this 
report. We held interviews with key DOD officials and with a 
nonprobability sample of employers of reservists. Because this was a 
nonprobability sample of employers, the results of these interviews are 
not generalizeable to the general population of reservist employers. 
Further, we conducted focus groups with reservists in three states to 
discuss the amount of advance notice being provided both to reservists 
by DOD and to employers by reservists. These focus groups were based on 
a nonprobability sample and the results from these focus groups are not 
generalizeable to the population of reservists. To select participants 
for our focus groups, we chose from units with the following 
characteristics: (1) Army National Guard and Army Reserve units (which 
comprise the majority of total reservists), (2) Reserve units 
consisting of 100 or more personnel, (3) units that have deployed and 
redeployed back to the United States since January 1, 2007, and (4) 
units that conducted weekend drills during the period May 5, 2008, 
through July 28, 2008. We conducted a total of 10 focus groups in three 
states (Kentucky, North Carolina, and Virginia) with a total of 50 
volunteer participants. We selected employers of reservists for our 
structured interviews using DOD's civilian employee information (CEI) 
database. We selected employers from this database to include a mix of 
both small and large companies based on number of employees, both 
governmental agencies and private/nonprofit companies, civilian 
employers of reservists from each reserve component, and employers in 
states with a heavy concentration of reservists. We selected from those 
employers deemed to have a high degree of automated matching accuracy 
by Dun & Bradstreet.[Footnote 4] From the employers who met the above 
criteria, we randomly selected 77 employers to contact, and ultimately 
completed interviews with 11 employers. We found this data to be 
sufficiently reliable for our selection purposes. 

For our second objective, we analyzed ESGR outreach programs, 
initiatives, policies, procedures, and memoranda of understanding that 
address the current activities being taken to strengthen reservist/ 
employer working relations. During our structured interviews and focus 
groups, we discussed in detail the outreach programs and efforts being 
carried out. Finally, to determine whether there has been a reduction 
in the hiring of reservists since September 11, 2001, we questioned the 
Department of Labor, DOD, and ESGR about any data they may have 
collected or analyses they may have done to examine any such 
reductions. We also reviewed DOD policies and specifically questioned 
participants in the focus groups and structured interviews about any 
changes in hiring practices or policies that may have occurred. 

We conducted this performance audit from April 2008 through August 2008 
in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. 
Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain 
sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our 
findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe that 
the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings and 
conclusions based on our audit objectives. Further details on our scope 
and methodology can be found in enclosure I. 

Results in Brief: 

DOD has taken steps to inform reservists of their obligations and 
responsibilities to their civilian employers when they are mobilized, 
but it does not collect data to assess the effectiveness of its 
efforts. In order to qualify for rights under USERRA, reservists must 
generally provide their employers with advance notice prior to 
departure for military duty, and we found that the amount of advance 
notice provided to employers varies. The steps DOD has taken to inform 
reservists of their obligations and responsibilities to their employers 
include (1) implementing policies and procedures that encourage 
reservists to provide advance notification, and to provide this 
notification in writing, and (2) providing outreach and education for 
reservists of obligations and responsibilities under USERRA through 
ESGR. Despite these efforts to inform reservists of their obligations 
and responsibilities to provide advance notice to their civilian 
employers of a call to active duty, DOD does not determine whether its 
efforts (1) are helpful in informing reservists of their USERRA 
responsibilities, or (2) enable employers to receive advance 
notification of reservists' deployments because DOD does not collect 
data that would enable it to gauge the effectiveness of its efforts. 
DOD administers Status of Forces Surveys to reservists biannually to 
monitor the extent to which it informs service members about USERRA 
obligations and the occurrence of USERRA-related problems, but the 
surveys do not contain questions on the amount and type of notice that 
reservists provide to their employers. Since DOD regularly administers 
these already established surveys, the most effective way to provide 
DOD with pertinent information on advance notification without imposing 
a significant administrative burden or cost would be through these 
surveys. Until DOD collects data on both the amount and type of advance 
notice that reservists are providing to their employers, it will be 
unable to determine the effectiveness of its efforts to encourage and 
enable reservists to provide advance notice to their employers 
consistent with USERRA or determine if additional measures are 
required. Toward the completion of our review, officials at the Defense 
Manpower Data Center, the Defense activity which administers the 
biannual Status of Forces Surveys, told us that they are planning to 
include questions in subsequent Status of Forces Surveys regarding the 
extent to which reservists are providing notification to their 
employers and whether the notifications are being given orally or in 
writing. 

DOD has used ESGR as its focal point in establishing a strategic 
approach to promote positive working relationships between reservists 
and their employers, but it does not measure the efficiency and 
effectiveness of these efforts. While ESGR has established a strategic 
plan outlining its mission, goals, and objectives, ESGR has not yet 
established a performance plan to measure how well its efforts are 
achieving these goals. To help establish positive working relationships 
between reservists and their employers, ESGR has developed several 
ongoing outreach programs, such as employer briefings and statements of 
support, to gain support from employers of reservists. However, DOD 
does not know the extent to which these ESGR efforts are helping to 
achieve its mission because it lacks (1) an established performance 
plan to measure how well it is achieving its goals, (2) a follow-up 
mechanism to help maintain relationships with employers once employers 
have pledged their support, and (3) an outreach program specific to 
small business needs. Given ESGR's numerous outreach programs and 
efforts, it is difficult to establish a direct causal link between 
these efforts and their effectiveness. Our prior work has shown that 
key elements of a sound management approach include defining clear 
missions and desired outcomes, establishing implementation goals, 
measuring performance, and aligning activities with resources.[Footnote 
5] Our past work on defense initiatives has shown the need for DOD to 
take a more strategic approach to decision making to ensure that 
investments are based on sound plans with measurable, realistic goals 
and time frames, prioritized resource needs, and performance measures 
to gauge progress.[Footnote 6] An annual performance plan should link 
the agency's mission, strategic goals, and program activities. In 
addition, according to ESGR's strategic plan and DOD Directive 1250.01, 
[Footnote 7] ESGR's mission is to "gain and maintain" support from 
employers of reservists. However, DOD does not determine the extent to 
which employer relations are maintained once statements of support are 
signed, because ESGR does not conduct follow-up activities that could 
help maintain established relationships with reservists' employers. 
Finally, ESGR's strategic plan states that it shall improve working 
relationships with employers by designing tailored products to meet 
their specific needs. Small business employers represent nearly 70 
percent of selected reservists' employers.[Footnote 8] Many DOD 
officials have also acknowledged that small businesses are particularly 
affected by deploying reserve employees. However, ESGR has not 
implemented any specific programs or activities that explicitly target 
small businesses. Unless DOD takes actions to measure how well its 
efforts are achieving its goals--such as developing a performance plan, 
conducting follow-up activities, or implementing programs that target 
small businesses--DOD cannot determine whether its efforts to improve 
the working relationships between reservists and their employers 
effectively address the needs of reservists' employers. 

We were unable to determine the extent to which there has been a 
reduction in the hiring of reservists caused by the increase in the use 
of reservists after September 11, 2001, or caused by any changes in any 
of DOD's policies concerning reservists after September 11, 2001, due 
to a lack of available data related to this issue. We were unable to 
identify any studies or analyses from either DOD or the Department of 
Labor to indicate whether employers have been hiring fewer reservists 
since September 11, 2001. During the course of our review, we 
identified a number of changes to DOD policies relating to reservists 
since September 11, 2001. For example, in early 2007 DOD rescinded a 
policy that set a cumulative limit of 24 months of being involuntarily 
mobilized over the course of a reservist's military career and 
instituted a policy of involuntarily mobilizing reservists for a 
maximum of 1 year at a time. However, we were unable to determine how 
these policy changes, or any other policy changes related to the use of 
reservists, affected the hiring of reservists, if at all. The absence 
of such data or analyses precludes us from determining the impact, if 
any, of any changes in DOD's policies concerning the hiring of 
reservists. Even if a reduction in the hiring of reservists had 
occurred, we would be unable to determine what factors contributed to 
the decline. 

To improve the effectiveness of DOD's efforts, we are making 
recommendations that the Secretary of Defense direct the Under 
Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness to (1) establish an 
annual performance plan, (2) conduct regular and recurring follow-up 
activities, and (3) develop initiatives to outreach to small 
businesses. In commenting on a draft of this report, the Department 
partially concurred with these three recommendations. The department 
also provided several general comments and one technical comment that 
we considered and incorporated, as appropriate. The department's 
comments and our evaluation of those comments are discussed in detail 
in a later section of this report. DOD's written comments are reprinted 
in enclosure II. 

Background: 

In 1994 Congress passed the Uniformed Services Employment and 
Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) of 1994, which protects individuals as 
they transition between their federal duties and their civilian 
employment. USERRA provides employment and reemployment rights for 
service members, including those called up from the Reserves or 
National Guard, and prohibits employer discrimination based on military 
service or obligation. In order to be eligible for the rights provided 
by USERRA, service members must meet certain eligibility requirements 
which include, among other things, providing their employers with 
proper notice prior to their departure for military service, and 
reporting back to work or applying for reemployment in a timely manner. 
Provided service members meet their USERRA requirements, they are 
entitled to a number of benefits including, in most cases, prompt 
reinstatement to the positions they would have held if they had never 
left their employment, or to positions of like seniority, status, and 
pay. Reservists who have incurred or aggravated a medical disability 
during their military service are guaranteed certain reemployment 
protections as well, and employers are required to make certain efforts 
to accommodate the service member's disability. USERRA applies to 
persons who perform service, voluntarily or involuntarily, in the 
"uniformed services," which include the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air 
Force, Coast Guard, and Public Health Service commissioned corps, as 
well as the reserve components of each of these services. USERRA 
applies to virtually all public and private employers in the United 
States regardless of size, and includes federal, state, and local 
governments, as well as for-profit and not-for-profit private sector 
firms. 

Enforcement and implementation of USERRA involves several federal 
agencies with specific--and sometimes overlapping--outreach, 
investigative, or enforcement roles. For example, USERRA gives the 
Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Labor, and the Secretary of 
Veterans Affairs shared responsibility for taking steps the Secretaries 
determine are appropriate for providing outreach to inform service 
members and their respective employers about their rights, benefits, 
and obligations under USERRA.[Footnote 9] Reservists have a number of 
obligations under the act that must be met if they are to be eligible 
for USERRA rights and benefits. This includes the obligation to provide 
their employers with advance notice prior to departure for military 
duty unless an exception applies. 

The Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs has overall 
supervisory responsibility for matters that involve the reserve 
components, and serves as the principal staff assistant and advisor to 
the Secretary of Defense on reserve component matters. The Assistant 
Secretary oversees the activities of the National Committee for the 
Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve.[Footnote 10] Employer 
Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) was established in 1972 and has 
been tasked by DOD Directive 1250.01 to "promote both public and 
private understanding of the National Guard and Reserve in order to 
gain employer and community support for the Reserve components as 
demonstrated through implementing personnel programs, policies, and 
practices that encourage employee and citizen participation in the 
National Guard and Reserve." ESGR's mission is twofold. First, it 
educates service members about their rights and responsibilities under 
the law. This is accomplished by providing annual unit, mobilization, 
and demobilization briefings; supplying informational handouts; 
assigning military liaisons in units as a support contact; and 
maintaining an extensive Web site with information about USERRA. 
[Footnote 11] Second, it strives to gain and maintain employer support 
for reservists. This is done by recognizing outstanding support, 
increasing awareness of the law through employer outreach programs, and 
resolving conflicts through mediation. ESGR has full-time paid staff at 
its headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, including 36 military 
employees, 28 civilian employees, 8 contractors, and 94 contractor 
field support personnel. ESGR performs most of its work through 
volunteers and specially trained ombudsmen who act as informal 
mediators for USERRA issues that arise between service members and 
their employers. It operates through a network of more than 4,500 
volunteers throughout 56 committees located in each state, the District 
of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Europe. With 
this large network of volunteers and ombudsmen to support reservist/ 
employer relations, ESGR's task is to support and advise employers, 
large and small, and reservists. For fiscal year 2008, ESGR has a 
budget of approximately $13.1 million. 

A number of surveys and reports have been conducted that analyze 
reservist/employer relations. DOD has periodically contracted with the 
Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA), a nonprofit corporation that 
administers federally funded research and development programs, to 
publish reports and studies that examine reservist/employer relations. 
In addition, the Defense Manpower Data Center collects, archives, and 
maintains manpower and personnel data, as well as financial databases, 
for DOD. In this capacity, the Defense Manpower Data Center administers 
an annual survey to civilian personnel, biannual surveys to selected 
reserve personnel, and active duty surveys three times a year. These 
surveys provide relevant and important data on such issues as advance 
notice to reservists, the work of ESGR; and other matters concerning 
civilian, active duty, and reserve component members. 

We have issued prior reports related to employer support, USERRA, and 
in general the need for results-oriented government. In a 2002 report, 
we addressed DOD's management of relations between reservists and their 
employers.[Footnote 12] Among other things, we found that ESGR did not 
have data to determine the effectiveness of its outreach and mediation 
efforts. DOD concurred with many of our recommendations and has taken 
action on a number of them. For example, DOD developed the Civilian 
Employer Information database to assist in DOD's outreach efforts to 
employers. This database contains a list of reservists' civilian 
employers, which can help DOD reach out to these employers and gain 
support. In addition, we have issued a number of reports that address 
the need for federal agencies to manage for results. For example, in 
2004 we issued a report that examined, among other things, the 
challenges agencies face in using performance information in management 
decisions and how the federal government can continue to shift toward a 
more results-oriented focus. 

DOD Has Taken Steps to Inform Reservists of Their Obligations and 
Responsibilities to Notify Their Employers When They Are Called to 
Active Duty, but Does Not Assess Its Effectiveness: 

DOD has taken steps to inform reservists of their obligations and 
responsibilities to provide advance notification to their civilian 
employers when mobilized, but it does not collect data to gauge the 
effectiveness of its efforts. To qualify for protection under USERRA, 
reservists must generally provide their employers with advance notice 
prior to their departure for military duty. The steps DOD has taken to 
inform reservists of their obligations and responsibilities to their 
employers include (1) implementing policies and procedures aimed 
directly at the issue of advance notification, and (2) providing 
outreach and education through ESGR concerning reservists' obligations 
and responsibilities under USERRA. 

First, DOD has established policies and procedures to inform guard and 
reserve members of their obligations and responsibilities to their 
employers. Specifically, DOD Instruction 1205.12 assigns 
responsibilities and prescribes procedures for informing service 
members of their civilian employment and reemployment rights, benefits, 
and obligations under USERRA. This instruction requires that the 
service members be advised that DOD strongly encourages reservists to 
provide advance notice in writing to their civilian employers of a 
pending mobilization with the explanation that providing written 
advance notice is preferable to verbal advance notice since it is 
easier to establish that this basic prerequisite to retaining 
reemployment rights has been fulfilled. The ESGR USERRA annual 
briefings presented at the unit level also point out that written 
notification would be better than verbal notification. However, in our 
focus groups with reservists, we found that some individuals provided 
only verbal notice of an upcoming call to active duty to their civilian 
employer. The instruction also requires service members to be advised 
that notice, whether verbal or written, should be provided as early as 
is practicable and that DOD strongly recommends that advance notice to 
civilian employers be provided at least 30 days prior to departure for 
uniformed service when it is feasible to do so. According to the 
instruction, the advance notice requirement can be met by providing the 
employer with a copy of the unit's annual training schedule or by 
preparing a letter. A sample standardized letter is provided in the 
instruction and on the ESGR Web site. In addition, the Navy Reserve 
provides specific guidance to its members on advance notice to 
employers. This guidance also strongly encourages reservists to give 
their employers as much notice as possible to enable employers to make 
the necessary arrangements to cover the reservists' work in their 
absence. The guidance also instructs Navy reservists to give notice in 
writing and to keep a copy in case a question arises as to whether 
notice has been given. 

Second, DOD has assigned ESGR responsibility for conducting outreach 
and education programs and activities to educate and inform guard and 
reserve members of their obligations and responsibilities under USERRA. 
ESGR accomplishes its outreach and education mission through several 
mechanisms, such as a toll-free information line, informational 
brochures and handouts, a Web site, individual and group briefings, and 
military unit liaison representatives. ESGR conducts thousands of 
annual briefings, most often at the unit level, to inform reservists 
and their employers about their rights and responsibilities under 
USERRA. In fiscal year 2007, more than 67,000 employers and 
approximately 235,000 reservists were briefed on USERRA and ESGR 
services. The ESGR Web site contains links that direct individuals to 
the USERRA statutes as well as explanations of the law. In addition to 
these briefings and other outreach efforts, every reserve component 
unit within each state is to have an assigned military liaison who 
serves as the primary link between the reserve components and ESGR, 
assists their assigned commands/units in developing and executing 
employer relations, and provides USERRA training and materials. The 
liaison also helps train the command's or unit's appointed employer 
relations representative if requested so that this representative can 
provide employer relations and USERRA training. Consistent with ESGR's 
previously mentioned outreach efforts in conjunction with related 
resources available to the reservists, we observed in our focus groups 
that most reservists were aware of their obligation to provide advance 
notice to employers. 

Despite these efforts to inform reservists of their obligations and 
responsibilities to provide advance notice to their civilian employers 
of a call to active duty, DOD does not determine whether its efforts 
are helpful in informing reservists of their USERRA responsibilities or 
enabling employers to receive advance notification of reservists' 
deployments. DOD does monitor the extent to which it informs service 
members of their USERRA obligations and the occurrence of USERRA- 
related problems by including questions on these areas in its Status of 
Forces Surveys (SOFS), which are periodically conducted to identify 
issues that need to be addressed or monitored. For example, according 
to a 2006 DOD SOFS of guard and reserve members, most reserve component 
soldiers have been briefed on employment rights and responsibilities; 
an estimated 79 percent of those responding said that they had been 
briefed on USERRA at least once. 

One of the first steps to ensuring that employers are adequately 
notified of a reservist's call to active duty is ensuring that 
reservists themselves are adequately notified by DOD of an impending 
deployment or mobilization. DOD provides informal "alerts" (warning 
orders) prior to issuing formal notification orders. These alerts 
provide additional advance notice to reservists that their unit may 
soon be called to active duty. On its SOFS, DOD has included questions 
to measure the extent to which reserve component members receive 
advance notice prior to a call to active duty. According to the 2007 
SOFS, an estimated 76 percent of reservists had received an informal 
alert notice; of those, an estimated 77 percent received notice of 30 
days or more. However, formal notice from DOD is provided much closer 
to the mobilization date; an estimated 47 percent of reservists 
reported on the 2007 SOFS that they received written, formal orders 30 
days or more prior to having to report for active duty. Thus, a 
reservist might receive an informal alert of an upcoming activation 
several months in advance, but might not receive formal orders until a 
month prior to activation. According to DOD officials, the informal 
alerts should allow employers to better plan for when reservists will 
not be available to them. We noted in a prior report that the Office of 
the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs emphasized the 
need to provide orders well in advance of deployments, in part so that 
employers could be notified promptly.[Footnote 13] In addition, the 
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs warned that 
"unjustifiably late notification may harm the working relationships 
between reservists and their employers." 

However, we found that these informal alerts provided by DOD to 
reservists may not necessarily translate into earlier notification to 
employers. In focus group discussions we conducted with soldiers who 
had been redeployed back to the United States since the beginning of 
2007, they noted that deployment plans frequently changed. Because 
plans changed so often, there was general agreement in several of our 
focus groups that it was not a good idea to share the informal alert 
information with an employer. Some reservists in some of the focus 
groups said that they had to strategically plan how and when to share 
information and notice with employers because of fears that employers 
might react negatively; some reservists perceived they could be passed 
over for a promotion and others felt they should not tell their 
employer of an upcoming call to active duty too far in advance out of 
fear of being written out of the company's future plans. In a few focus 
groups there was general agreement that the reservists would each 
provide their respective employers no more than 30 days notice no 
matter how much formal or informal notice they had received from DOD. 

DOD, however, does not collect data that would enable it to gauge the 
effectiveness of its efforts because DOD has not developed procedures 
to identify the amount or the form of notice, written or verbal, that 
reservists are actually providing to their civilian employers. 
Consequently, DOD is unable to determine either the amount of notice 
reservists are regularly providing to their employers or the form 
(written or verbal) in which this advance notice, if any, is being 
provided. Given that DOD's Status of Forces Surveys do not specifically 
address the issue of employer notification form (written or verbal), 
DOD is unable to determine the percentage of individuals that provide 
only verbal notice to their employers. While DOD is not required to 
collect data that identify the amount or the form of notice provided to 
civilian employers, the collection of these data could help DOD gain a 
better understanding of the amount and type of notice reservists are 
actually providing to their civilian employers. The collection of these 
data from civilian employers of reservists could potentially be both 
cost prohibitive and time consuming. DOD currently has a survey 
mechanism in place (DOD's biannual Status of Forces Surveys) capable of 
capturing these data. These surveys already capture data about when 
reservists receive alerts and mobilization orders, so there would be 
context for adding questions pertaining to reservists' notification of 
mobilization to their civilian employers. Thus, DOD's Status of Forces 
Surveys may be the most effective means to provide DOD with pertinent 
information on advance notification without imposing a significant 
administrative burden or cost. Additionally, adding these questions may 
provide DOD a valuable source for discovering any trends in either the 
amount of advance notice or form of notice being provided to civilian 
employers by reservists. Until DOD begins to develop procedures and to 
collect data on both the amount, as well as the type, of advance notice 
being given by most reservists to their civilian employers, it may be 
unable to measure the effectiveness of its efforts to inform service 
members of their benefits and obligations under USERRA or determine 
whether additional measures are required. Toward the completion of our 
review, officials at the Defense Manpower Data Center told us that they 
are planning to include questions in subsequent Status of Forces 
Surveys regarding the extent to which reservists are providing 
notification to their employers and whether the notifications are being 
given orally or in writing. We will continue to monitor these efforts 
and the extent to which they contribute to DOD's effectiveness in 
improving reservists' notifications to their employers. 

DOD Has Established a Strategic Approach with Many Outreach Initiatives 
to Promote Positive Working Relationships between Reservists and 
Employers, but Does Not Gauge the Effectiveness of Its Efforts: 

While DOD has used ESGR in establishing a strategic approach that 
includes many of DOD's outreach initiatives to help improve working 
relationships between reservists and their employers, it does not gauge 
the effectiveness of its efforts. Specifically, ESGR does not know the 
extent to which these outreach initiatives are helping achieve its 
mission because ESGR (1) lacks an established performance plan to 
measure how well it is achieving its goals, (2) does not have a 
mechanism in place to follow-up with employers to help maintain 
relationships once employers have pledged their support, and (3) lacks 
an outreach program specific to small business needs. 

ESGR has been DOD's focal point in creating and instituting a strategic 
approach that includes many outreach initiatives to help improve 
working relationships between reservists and their employers. Table 1 
provides some information on the different types of outreach 
initiatives used by ESGR to help gain employer support, which aids in 
promoting positive working relationships between reservists and their 
employers. 

Table 1: Examples of ESGR Programs Aimed at Promoting Positive Working 
Relationships between Reservists and Their Civilian Employers: 

Program: Boss Lifts; 
Description: The employer is provided an opportunity to visit the 
reservist at his or her drill site to gain firsthand experience and an 
appreciation for the employeeï¿½s military service. These events provide 
the employer with opportunities to directly observe the technical, 
organizational, team building, and leadership skills of their 
employees. They also provide employers with opportunities to observe 
military training, some of which may be directly related to their 
employeeï¿½s civilian job. 

Program: Mass Market Outreach; 
Description: ESGR uses public service advertising as available, in 
spaces such as billboards, and magazines. ESGR uses additional media 
outreach activities involving advertising and article placement to help 
promote ESGR as a resource and to highlight what employers are doing to 
help support reservists who are called to active duty. 

Program: Strategic Partnerships; 
Description: Through strategic partnerships with the national 
headquarters and local chapters of the Chamber of Commerce, Society for 
Human Resource Management, National Federation of Independent Business, 
Small Business Administration, and Rotary Club, ESGR strives to educate 
employers about USERRA and the ESGR organization. According to an ESGR 
official, they are in the process of distributing a direct-mail 
publication ï¿½about ESGRï¿½ to all 250,000 members of the Society for 
Human Resource Management, and they have provided direct mail about 
ESGR to 15,700 members of the International Association of Chiefs of 
Police. 

Program: Employer Briefings; 
Description: ESGR provides employer briefings as a forum for local 
employers, unit commanders, ESGR members, and community leaders to 
meet, network, and discuss issues that arise from employee 
participation in the National Guard and Reserves. The meeting site can 
be a local restaurant, hotel, service club, Chamber of Commerce, 
National Guard Armory, Reserve Center, or military installation. 
According to an ESGR official, in fiscal year 2007, ESGR field 
committees briefed 68,803 employers. 

Program: Awards Program; 
Reservists can nominate their employers to receive sequential and 
progressive awards. 

The Patriot Award recognizes individual supervisors, not necessarily 
the employer organization as a whole. During fiscal year 2007, 15,124 
employers were nominated. Nominated employers receive a Patriot Award 
certificate and accompanying lapel pin. 

The Above and Beyond Award honors employers of reservists who go above 
and beyond the requirements of USERRA, for example, an employer 
providing continuation of benefits or pay differential. 

The Pro Patria Award is the highest award that an ESGR field committee 
may bestow upon employers within its purview. Employers who are 
previous recipients of both the Patriot Award and the Above and Beyond 
Award, and have signed a statement of support, are eligible to receive 
the Pro Patria Award. 

The Freedom Award (The Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom 
Award) is given to exemplary employers in three categories: large 
business, small business, and the public sector. Reservists submit 
nominations, from which 15 are selected and forwarded to the Secretary 
of Defense. In fiscal year 2007, more than 1,000 reservists nominated 
their employers for this award. 

Sources: GAO analysis, Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve 
information. 

[End of table] 

Given ESGR's numerous outreach programs and efforts, it is difficult to 
establish a direct causal link between these efforts and their 
effectiveness. While these initiatives represent positive efforts to 
promote positive working relationships between reservists and their 
employers, ESGR does not know the extent to which these outreach 
initiatives are helping achieve its mission because ESGR (1) lacks an 
established performance plan to measure how well it is achieving its 
goals, (2) does not have a mechanism in place to follow-up with 
employers to help maintain relationships once employers have pledged 
their support, and (3) lacks an outreach program specific to small 
business needs. Our prior work has shown that key elements of a sound 
management approach include defining clear missions and desired 
outcomes, establishing implementation goals, measuring performance, and 
aligning activities with resources.[Footnote 14] Our past work on 
defense initiatives has shown the need for DOD to take a more strategic 
approach to decision making to ensure that investments are based on 
sound plans with measurable, realistic goals and time frames, 
prioritized resource needs, and performance measures to gauge progress. 
To be able to assess the effectiveness of their activities and 
determine how well they are achieving their mission, organizations need 
to link established performance measures with set goals, as we have 
previously reported. 

ESGR has established a strategic plan that provides a workable 
foundation for annual performance planning and reporting. ESGR's 
strategic plan outlines its mission, goals, and objectives. For 
example, ESGR's August 22, 2007, strategic plan states that ESGR is to 
conduct focused outreach efforts to gain statements of support from all 
identified civilian employers of reservists by 2011; this equates to a 
goal of obtaining an average of 20 percent of these employers in each 
year of the period covered by the plan. During fiscal year 2007, more 
than 20,644 employers signed statements of support. ESGR collects and 
reports some data on its outreach efforts. The organization's state 
field committee representatives prepare quarterly reports on the 
various outreach activities performed. These quarterly reports include 
data on some of the programs listed in table 1. While all events listed 
may not occur regularly in all locations, data on the different types 
of outreach efforts to help promote positive working relationships 
between reservists and their civilian employers are reported to ESGR. 
For example, field committee reports have included data on the number 
of media events, trade shows, conferences, symposiums, boss lift 
events, and awards for the quarter. ESGR officials noted that the 
statements of support signings are their primary outreach effort to 
gain employer support, and explained that these statements of support 
often are acquired as a result of other ESGR outreach efforts. For 
example, one field committee representative we spoke with stated that 
she had attended a symposium sponsored by the Society for Human 
Resource Management and obtained 20 to 25 statements of support from 
employers. 

Despite its collecting and reporting data on these outreach efforts, 
ESGR does not have an annual performance plan in place to measure how 
well its outreach efforts are achieving its goals. As a step in that 
direction, ESGR has recently issued its first annual report.[Footnote 
15] ESGR's annual report provides information on, among other things, 
the organization's guiding principles and organizational structure, a 
historical overview, and some statistics on its outreach programs. 
Nonetheless, ESGR's 2007 annual report provides data on only some of 
its activities; it does not include performance measures to demonstrate 
the effectiveness of ESGR's outreach efforts. As previously mentioned, 
ESGR established a 5-year goal (by 2011) to obtain statements of 
support from 100 percent of the employers it has identified. However, 
the annual report does not discuss the progress being made towards 
achieving this goal. Without a performance plan, ESGR may not be able 
to evaluate the extent to which it is meeting its goals, or identify 
successes as well as potential problem areas that might require 
adjustments to these goals. 

While ESGR's mission is to "gain and maintain" support from employers 
of reservists, it does not have a follow-up-mechanism in place to help 
maintain the relationships established with those employers who have 
signed statements of support. During the course of our review, we found 
that once a statement of support is signed by an employer, there is no 
follow-up-mechanism in place to maintain the established employer 
relationship. DOD officials acknowledged that they do not have a follow-
up mechanism in place that can help maintain employer support; they 
stated their belief that such an effort would be beneficial. Until a 
follow up mechanism is in place, DOD is unable to determine whether 
meeting its goals for employer signings of statements of support shows 
real progress toward developing effective employer relationships and 
whether it is able to fully attain its goal of both gaining and 
maintaining support from employers. 

Furthermore, ESGR lacks a systematic approach for identifying problem 
areas that could help to target outreach efforts. For example, while 
DOD conducts outreach to its general population of employers, DOD has 
not developed an approach for targeting small businesses. A November 
2007 DOD report to Congress found that nearly 70 percent of employers 
of selected reservists have fewer than 100 employees. ESGR's strategic 
plan states that the organization will conduct an environmental 
assessment of customer needs through targeted outreach and analysis. 
The strategic plan also states that ESGR shall improve working 
relationships with employers by designing tailored products to meet 
their specific needs. Multiple DOD officials have acknowledged that 
small businesses are especially affected by the deployment of their 
reserve employees; these officials noted that small businesses were one 
of the main challenges or obstacles that DOD was facing. Additionally, 
during interviews we held with selected employers (both large and 
small), some of the small business owners told us that their business 
suffered while their reservist employee was deployed. Some employers 
said it cost them additional overtime to compensate other workers to 
replace the deployed reservists, and some said they had to move 
employees around to areas that they were not as familiar with or 
trained in. Additionally, a small business owner told us that the 
replacements were not as good as the reservist they had replaced. 
However, ESGR has not established any outreach programs specifically 
targeted to small business owners that could address these concerns and 
potentially improve working relationships between reservists and their 
small business employers. Until ESGR develops a focused effort to 
target small businesses, it may be unable to address the unique needs 
of small businesses, which are the majority of reservists' employers. 

Data Unavailable to Identify Any Reductions in the Hiring of Reservists 
Since September 11, 2001: 

We were unable to determine the extent to which there has been any 
reduction in the hiring of reservists because of the increase in the 
use of reservists after September 11, 2001, or because of any changes 
in DOD's policies concerning reservists after September 11, 2001, due 
to the lack of available data related to this issue. We discussed with 
DOD and Department of Labor officials the extent to which they 
maintained data on the hiring of reservists since September 11, 2001, 
and whether there were changes in any of DOD's policies relating to 
reservists after September 11, 2001. Officials were not aware of any 
data related to a reduction in the hiring of reservists. We also asked 
participants in our focus groups if they were aware of any reduction in 
hiring of reservists since September 11, 2001. While the results of 
these discussions were limited by the small number of participants in 
the focus groups, the general consensus of the reservists was that they 
had not noticed any changes in the hiring of reservists since September 
11, 2001. Some focus group participants felt that employers were hiring 
fewer reservists, but said they could not substantiate their beliefs. 
Also, in discussions with employers, which were also limited by the 
small number of participants, the employers we spoke with all indicated 
that they had not seen any reductions in their companies' hiring, or 
any changes in their hiring policies, with respect to reservists since 
September 11, 2001. However, these focus groups and discussions were 
based on a nonprobability sample and are therefore ultimately not 
generalizable; the data do not help determine the extent to which there 
was a reduction in the hiring of reservists since September 11, 2001. 

In the course of our work, we identified a number of DOD policy changes 
relating to reservists since September 11, 2001, but we were unable to 
determine the extent to which these policy changes or others may affect 
the hiring of reservists. For example, on January 19, 2007, the 
Secretary of Defense announced that reserve component personnel will 
now be mobilized for a maximum of 12 months at any one time with 
discretion given to the services to exclude time for training needed 
for deployment and post-mobilization leave from that 12-month period. 
This is a change from the earlier policy that limited involuntary 
mobilizations of reservists to a total of 24 cumulative months. In 
addition to this policy change, the Under Secretary of Defense for 
Personnel Readiness Mobilization/Demobilization issues memoranda each 
time the President authorizes the involuntary call-up of Reserve 
Component members and has periodically issued other similar memoranda 
all of which the department says are designed to maintain employer 
support and to remind reservists of the requirement to provide notice 
to their employers. However, even if a reduction in the hiring of 
reservists had occurred after September 11, 2001, we would not be able 
to attribute any such decline to specific factors such as any changes 
in DOD policy. Absent such data or analyses, DOD has no way to know if 
there has been a reduction in the hiring of reservists since September 
11, 2001. The absence of data also precludes any analysis to determine 
the impact, if any, on reservists. 

Conclusions: 

DOD has taken steps toward informing reservists of their obligations 
and responsibilities to provide advance notification to their civilian 
employers before they are mobilized and improving working relationships 
between reservists and their employers, but it does not assess the 
effectiveness of these efforts. Until DOD begins to develop procedures 
and to collect data on both the amount, as well as the type, of advance 
notice being given by most reservists to their civilian employers, DOD 
will not be able to determine how well its efforts to inform reservists 
of their obligation to provide advance notice to employers are working 
or determine whether additional measures are required. Furthermore, DOD 
and ESGR have developed many outreach initiatives to help improve 
working relationships between reservists and their civilian employers, 
but they do not assess the efficiency and effectiveness of these 
efforts. Without a performance plan and a clearly defined approach to 
evaluate and analyze the results of its outreach efforts, ESGR may be 
unable to evaluate the extent to which it is meeting its goals, or 
identify successes as well as potential problem areas that might 
require adjustments to these goals. Without a follow-up process to help 
maintain relationships established through the signing of statements of 
support, ESGR may be unable to determine whether it is making progress 
toward developing effective employer relationships or whether it is 
able to maintain established employer support. Finally, unless ESGR 
develops initiatives targeted to small businesses, the needs of the 
majority of civilian employers of reservists may not be fully 
addressed. 

Recommendations for Executive Action: 

To gauge the effectiveness of DOD's actions to increase the likelihood 
that more progress will be made in promoting positive relationships 
with employers, we recommend that the Secretary of Defense direct the 
Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness take the 
following three actions: 

* establish an annual performance plan that develops and facilitates 
the implementation of performance measures on how well ESGR is 
achieving its goals, 

* conduct regular and recurring follow-up activities on outreach 
efforts to maintain positive working relationships with employers who 
have previously signed statements of support, and: 

* develop initiatives to specifically conduct outreach efforts to small 
businesses that employ reservists. 

Agency Comments and Our Evaluation: 

In addition to the three recommendations listed above, the draft report 
that we provided to DOD for review and comments included a fourth draft 
recommendation in which we recommended that the Secretary of Defense 
direct the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness to 
include questions in DOD's Status of Forces Surveys for reserve 
component members to determine the amount of notification being 
provided by service members to their civilian employers prior to 
activation and the extent to which mobilization notices are provided 
verbally versus in written form. DOD did not concur with this draft 
recommendation and stated that the responsibility for employer 
notification rests ultimately with the service member and should not be 
used to judge the effectiveness of DOD's outreach efforts. While we 
recognize that the responsibility for employer notification rests 
ultimately with the service member, DOD has a responsibility to inform 
reservists of their obligations under USERRA, which would include the 
obligation to generally provide their employers with advance notice 
prior to departure for military duty. Moreover, we believe that a very 
important element to developing and maintaining employer support for 
members of the Guard and Reserves is to ensure that these service 
members are aware of their responsibilities to their employers and are 
following through on these responsibilities. As we stated in the 
report, we believe that the most effective means for continually 
monitoring the effectiveness of the department's outreach efforts to 
inform service members of their responsibilities is through the 
biannual Status of Forces Surveys. However, because officials at the 
Defense Manpower Data Center told us toward the completion of our 
review that they are planning to include questions in subsequent Status 
of Forces Surveys regarding the extent to which service members are 
providing notification to their employers and whether the notifications 
are being given verbally or in writing, we omitted this draft 
recommendation from the final report. Nonetheless, we continue to 
believe this initiative has merit, and we encourage its full 
implementation. The department partially concurred with the three 
remaining recommendations. A detailed discussion of the department's 
comments regarding these three recommendations and our evaluation of 
those comments is included in the paragraphs below. DOD's written 
comments are reprinted in enclosure II. 

The department also provided several general comments and one technical 
comment that we considered and incorporated, as appropriate. 
Specifically, DOD stated in its comments that the Department of Labor 
may be able to provide data on the number of USERRA complaints filed 
with that agency involving discrimination. Officials at the Department 
of Labor told us that they could provide data on the total number of 
USERRA complaints filed, but not on the number of complaints filed in 
specific categories such as discrimination. In addition, DOD stated in 
its comments that the department does not agree with the statement in 
our report that ESGR does not collect data to assess the effectiveness 
of its efforts and does not measure the efficiency and effectiveness of 
its efforts. As we state in our report, however, while ESGR has a 
Strategic Plan that includes specific goals and objectives, it lacks an 
established performance plan to measure how well it is achieving its 
goals. DOD notes in its comments that ESGR is developing an Operational 
Plan to supplement its Strategic Plan and to provide additional 
guidance and measures. DOD also stated in its comments that in our 
discussion of the changes in defense policies since September 11, 2001, 
regarding the hiring of reservists, we make reference to only one 
specific policy memo. The department identified other relevant policy 
memos which we have added in the report. Lastly, DOD stated in its 
technical comment that it is not aware of the role that the Department 
of Veterans Affairs has in the enforcement of USERRA. As we state in 
our report, under the provisions of USERRA, the Department of Veterans 
Affairs has a role in providing outreach to inform service members and 
respective employers about service members' rights, benefits, and 
obligations. The statement in our report refers to their outreach 
responsibility under ï¿½4333 of USERRA, which gives the Secretary of 
Defense, the Secretary of Labor and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 
responsibility for taking steps the Secretaries determine to be 
appropriate for providing outreach to inform service members and their 
respective employers about their rights, benefits, and obligations 
under USERRA. 

The department partially concurred with our first recommendation that 
the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness establish an 
annual performance plan that develops and facilitates the 
implementation of performance measures on how well ESGR is achieving 
its goals. In response to this recommendation, DOD specifically 
commented that the ESGR Strategic Plan includes measurable, realistic, 
and time-sensitive objectives and performance measures, and that the 
department is currently engaged in an effort to supplement the 
Strategic Plan with an Operational Plan to provide additional guidance 
and measures. As stated in our report, we agree that ESGR's Strategic 
Plan includes specific goals and objectives but we continue to believe 
that ESGR lacks specific performance measures and an established 
performance plan to measure how well it is achieving its goals. While 
we acknowledge that ESGR collects certain data elements related to 
their goals and objectives, as discussed in their comments, ESGR does 
not have an annual performance plan for measuring trends or 
periodically assessing its progress toward meeting its goals and 
objectives. For example, one of the objectives in ESGR's Strategic Plan 
is to obtain statements of support from all identified reserve 
component employers. To accomplish this objective, ESGR established a 5-
year goal (by 2011) to obtain statements of support from 100 percent of 
the employers it has identified. While ESGR reports the total number of 
statements of support signed, ESGR does not periodically measure or 
report the extent to which it is attaining this long-term goal. DOD's 
characterization of the intent of the ESGR Operational Plan to 
supplement its Strategic Plan and to include additional effectiveness 
measures appears consistent with the intent of our recommendation to 
develop an annual performance plan. We support the department's efforts 
to develop its annual Operational Plan and to provide additional 
guidance and measures to assess the extent to which ESGR is 
accomplishing its goals and objectives. 

The department also partially concurred with our second recommendation 
that the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness conduct 
regular and recurring follow-up activities on outreach efforts to 
maintain positive working relationships with employers who have 
previously signed statements of support. Specifically, the department 
commented that, while it agrees that employer outreach is important, 
there is a limited number of ESGR staff to conduct such employer 
outreach efforts and the department believes that an employer who signs 
a support agreement is less likely to then engage in a contrary 
practice. As stated in our report, however, ESGR officials that we 
spoke with during the engagement agreed that additional follow-up 
efforts with employers would be beneficial toward maintaining employer 
support subsequent to an employer signing a statement of support. We 
also continue to believe that periodic and consistent outreach to 
employers will help DOD to fully attain its goal of both gaining and 
maintaining support from employers. 

Lastly, the department also partially concurred with our third 
recommendation that the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and 
Readiness develop initiatives to specifically conduct outreach efforts 
to small businesses that employ reservists. Specifically, DOD commented 
that it believes the challenges small business owners may face when a 
reservist-employee is absent to perform military duty are beyond the 
scope of responsibilities which are under ESGR's purview. As stated in 
our report, however, small businesses that employ reservists face a 
number of specific and unique challenges when a reservist-employee is 
called to perform active military duty. 

Further, as previously mentioned in our report, ESGR's strategic plan 
states that it shall improve working relationships with employers by 
designing tailored products to meet their specific needs. We continue 
to believe that, for ESGR to effectively perform its mission of gaining 
and maintaining employer support, it needs to establish mechanisms to 
assess and address these unique challenges facing small businesses. 

We are sending copies of this report to the Secretary of Defense; the 
Secretaries of the Army, Navy, and Air Force; the Employer Support of 
the Guard and Reserve; and the Defense Manpower Data Center. We will 
also make copies available to others on request. In addition, the 
report will be available at no charge on the GAO Web site at 
[hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov]. 

Should you or your staff have any questions on the matters discussed in 
this report, please contact me at (202) 512-3604 or [email protected]. 
Contact points for our Offices of Congressional Relations and Public 
Affairs may be found on the last page of this report. GAO staff who 
made key contributions to this report are listed in enclosure III. 

Signed by: 

Brenda S. Farrell:
Director, Defense Capabilities and Management: 

List of Congressional Committees: 

The Honorable Carl Levin:
Chairman:
The Honorable John McCain:
Ranking Member:
Committee on Armed Services:
United States Senate: 

The Honorable John F. Kerry:
Chairman:
The Honorable Olympia J. Snowe:
Ranking Member:
Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship:
United States Senate: 

The Honorable Ike Skelton:
Chairman:
The Honorable Duncan L. Hunter:
Ranking Member:
Committee on Armed Services:
House of Representatives: 

The Honorable Nydia M. Velï¿½zquez:
Chairwoman:
The Honorable Steve Chabot:
Ranking Member:
Committee on Small Business:
House of Representatives: 

[End of section] 

Enclosure I: Scope and Methodology: 

To address our objectives we obtained, reviewed, and analyzed available 
documents, reports, laws, regulations, surveys, and other information 
related to promoting positive working relationships between reservists 
and their employers. 

We interviewed officials within the Office of the Assistant Secretary 
of Defense for Reserve Affairs (RA), Headquarters Marine Corps 
(Manpower and Reserve Affairs), Office of Chief of Navy Reserve, United 
States Army Reserve, National Committee for Employer Support of the 
Guard and Reserve, National Guard Bureau, Army National Guard, Defense 
Manpower Data Center, United States Air Force Manpower and Reserve 
Affairs, and joint Deployment Support and Reintegration Program. We 
also interviewed Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve Program 
Support specialists and executive directors. 

In addition, we reviewed our prior work on reserve forces and issues 
related to the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights 
Act (USERRA) of 1994. A list of Related GAO Products is included in 
enclosure IV. We also coordinated with the DOD Office of the Inspector 
General to discuss ongoing work related to this project. 

To evaluate the extent to which DOD has taken steps to inform 
reservists of their obligations and responsibilities to their employers 
to provide timely notification of a call to active duty, we obtained 
information describing DOD active and reserve component procedures and 
processes in place to inform reservists of their responsibilities and 
obligations to their employers. This includes procedures regarding 
advance notification by reservists to employers of upcoming 
mobilizations as well as the reservists' rights and responsibilities 
under USERRA. To determine the effectiveness of DOD's programs to 
inform reservists of their rights and responsibilities to their 
employers, we also analyzed DOD Status of Forces Surveys on areas 
related to advance notice to reservists and other matters concerning 
reserve component members. We assessed these survey data for 
reliability and found them to be sufficiently reliable for the purposes 
of this report. We held interviews with key DOD officials and 
established a nonprobability sample of employers of reservists. Because 
this is a nonprobability sample of employers, the results of these 
interviews are not generalizeable to the general population of 
reservist employers. We conducted focus groups with reservists in three 
states to discuss their responsibilities regarding the amount of 
advance notice being provided both to reservists by DOD and to 
employers by reservists. This was also a nonprobability sample and the 
results from these focus groups are not generalizeable to the 
population of reservists. To select participants for our focus groups, 
we chose from units with the following characteristics: (1) Army 
National Guard and Army Reserve units (which comprise the majority of 
total reservists), (2) reserve units consisting of 100 or more 
personnel, (3) units that have deployed and redeployed back to the 
United States since January 1, 2007, and (4) units that conducted 
weekend drills during the period May 5, 2008, through July 28, 2008. We 
conducted a total of 10 focus groups in three states (Kentucky, North 
Carolina, and Virginia) with a total of 50 volunteer participants. We 
selected employers of reservists for our structured interviews using 
DOD's civilian employee information (CEI) database. We selected 
employers from this database to include a mix of both small and large 
companies based on number of employees, both governmental agencies and 
private/nonprofit companies, civilian employers of reservists from each 
reserve component, and employers in states with a heavy concentration 
of reservists. We selected from those employers deemed to have a high 
degree of automated matching accuracy by Dun & Bradstreet.[Footnote 16] 
From the employers who met these above criteria, we randomly selected 
77 employers to contact, and ultimately completed interviews with 11 
employers. We found this data to be sufficiently reliable for our 
selection purposes. 

To determine DOD's initiatives to support reservist/employer relations, 
we met with and conducted interviews with knowledgeable officials at 
DOD, including Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, National 
Guard Bureau, and reserve components. To learn more about ESGR's roles 
and responsibilities in implementing programs that promote positive 
working relations between reservists and their employers, we also 
conducted interviews with several ESGR field representatives. To 
determine the extent to which DOD has taken initiatives to promote 
positive working relations between reservists and their employers, we 
obtained documents, policies, and procedures; information on DOD's 
employer outreach efforts; and memoranda of understanding addressing 
the current activities to help promote and strengthen positive working 
relationships between reservists and their civilian employers. We 
specifically questioned employers in our structured interviews on their 
relationships with their respective reserve employees, and what 
suggestions, if any, they had to strengthen reservist employer 
relations. 

To determine the extent that there has been a reduction in the hiring 
of reservists after September 11, 2001, or any change in any of DOD's 
policies relating to reservists after September 11, 2001, we requested 
data from the Department of Labor, Defense Manpower Data Center, and 
Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve. We specifically questioned 
participants in our focus groups and structured interviews on any 
changes in hiring practices or policies that have occurred. 

We conducted this performance audit from April 2008 through August 2008 
in accordance with generally accepted government accounting standards. 
Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain 
sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our 
findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe that 
the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings and 
conclusions based on our audit objectives. 

[End of section] 

Enclosure II: Comments from the Department of Defense: 

Assistant Secretary Of Defense: 
Reserve Affairs: 
1300 Defense Pentagon: 
Washington, DC 20301-1500: 

August 14, 2008: 

Ms. Brenda S. Farrell
Director, Defense Capabilities and Management: 
US Government Accountability Office: 
441 G Street, NW: 
Washington, DC 20548: 

Dear Ms. Farrell: 

Enclosed is the Department of Defense (DoD) response to the GAO Draft
Correspondence, GAO-08-981R, "Military Personnel: Improvements Needed 
to Increase Effectiveness of DoD 's Programs to Promote Positive 
Working Relationships Between Reservists and Their Employers" dated 
August 5, 2008 (GAO Code 351205). 

The Department appreciates the opportunity to review and comment on the 
draft report. General comments on the GAO draft report and detailed 
comments on the GAO recommendations are enclosed. The Department non 
concurs with one recommendation and partially concurs with three 
recommendations in the draft report. 

For further questions concerning this report, please contact my action 
officer, Lieutenant Colonel Michelle Barrett. She may be contacted by e-
mail at [email protected] or by telephone at (703) 380-9262. 

Sincerely, 

Signed by: 

T. F. Hall: 

Enclosure: As stated: 

GAO Draft Report ï¿½ Dated August 5, 2008: 
GAO CODE 351205/GAO-08-981R: 

"Military Personnel: Improvements Needed to Increase Effectiveness of 
DoDï¿½s Programs to Promote Positive Working Relationships Between 
Reservists and Their Employers" 

Department Of Defense General Comments: 

The GAO acknowledges the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve 
Strategic Plan and the myriad Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve 
programs to inform reservists and employers of their rights and 
obligations under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment 
Right Act. These outreach efforts are designed to gain and maintain the 
support of employers for their employees who serve in the Guard or 
Reserve. 

It is not surprising that GAO found no studies on the extent to which 
employers hiring practices might have changed. The Uniformed Services 
Employment and Reemployment Rights Act includes a discrimination 
provision which prohibits an employer from basing a hiring decision on 
an individualï¿½s service in a Uniformed Service or an obligation to 
serve in the Uniformed Services. However, we suggest that complaints 
filed by individuals claiming discrimination would provide a meaningful 
way of determining if employees or potential employees believe an 
employer is engaged in a discriminatory practice with respect to 
hiring. The Department of Labor may be able to provide data on the 
number of complaints filed with that agency involving discrimination. 
The Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve also maintains a database 
on the types of inquiries they receive and mediation conducted by 
Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve. 

The Department does not agree with the statement that Employer Support 
of the Guard and Reserve does not collect data to assess the 
effectiveness of its efforts and does not measure the efficiency and 
effectiveness of its efforts. The Employer Support of the Guard and 
Reserve Strategic Plan specifically contains measurable objectives, and 
considerable effort has been undertaken by Employer Support of the 
Guard and Reserve to quantify and measure its activities in order to 
evaluate returns on investments. The quarterly reports produced by the 
organization, together with a Management Control Plan, provide a clear 
performance plan for leadership, and adjustments are made on a regular 
basis to achieve ever-better results. As stated by GAO itself, it is 
difficult to establish a direct causal link between Employer Support of 
the Guard and Reserve efforts and their effectiveness, but based on the 
activities conducted by Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve and 
comparing the number of cases filed with the Department of Labor to the 
actual utilization of Guard and Reserve members, the Department 
believes that Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve and its over 
4,200 volunteers are making a positive impact in fostering positive 
relationships between Reserve Component members and their employers. 

We also noted that GAO only cited one memorandum on the employment of 
Reserve Component membersï¿½the memo issued on January 19, 2007, by the 
Secretary of Defense. But GAO did not reference several other DOD 
policy documents in which the Department explicitly provided guidance 
on the reasonable employment of reservists. These policy documents were 
designed to maintain employer support, and to remind Reserve Component 
members of the requirement to provide notice to their employers. These 
include the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness 
Mobilization/Demobilization memoranda issued each time the President 
authorizes the involuntary call-up of Reserve Component members and the 
Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness memo of July 19, 
2002, which prescribes guidance on the judicious and prudent use of 
National Guard and Reserve personnel. Further, in the September 20, 
2001 memorandum, the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and 
Readiness limited the initial period of mobilization to 12 months with 
a 24-month cumulative limit. While conditions on the ground resulted in 
the Secretary of Defense granting an exception to the 12 month limit 
for the Army, it nonetheless remained the policy until Secretary Gates 
issued his new policy on force utilization on January 19, 2007, as 
noted in the correspondence. 

We have one comment on a technical issue: the Department is not aware 
of the role that the Department of Veterans Affairs has in Uniformed 
Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act as stated on page 6 of 
the draft report. 

Department Of Defense Comments To The Recommendations: 

Recommendation 1: The GAO recommends that the Secretary of Defense 
direct the Under Secretary of Defense (Personnel and Readiness) to 
include questions in DoDï¿½s Status of Forces Surveys for Reserve 
Component members to determine: (1) the amount of notification being 
provided by Service members to their civilian employers prior to 
activation; and (2) the extent to which mobilization notices are 
provided verbally versus in written form. 

DOD Response: Nonconcur. While this information may be of some 
interest, it would provide information that is beyond the Departmentï¿½s 
control. The Department uses Status of Forces Surveys of Reserve 
Component members to help assess the effectiveness of it efforts, but 
the responsibility for employer notification ultimately rests with the 
Service member and should not be used to judge the effectiveness of 
outreach efforts. The following are examples of the types of questions 
included in the Status of Forces Surveys of Reserve Component members 
that are useful to the Department: 

* the number of Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights 
Act briefing members received; 

* additional information on Uniformed Services Employment and 
Reemployment Rights Act that would be helpful; 

* the best time to provide information on Uniformed Services Employment 
and Reemployment Rights Act; 

* satisfaction with Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve 
assistance; 

* the degree of employer support; 

* the type of support provided by an employer; 

* their reemployment experiences following activation; 

* problems experienced despite Uniformed Services Employment and 
Reemployment Rights Act; and; 

* the type of assistance reservists sought. 

While the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act 
only requires advance notice be given employers without specifying the 
form (verbal or written) or the timeliness of the notice, the 
Department, through numerous outreach initiatives and policies has 
encouraged Reserve Component members to notify their employers as early 
as possible about their mobilizations, and will continue to engage in 
education efforts to foster two-way communication between Reserve 
Component members and their employers. 

The Department has a responsibility to inform reservists and the 
employers of reservists of their obligations under the Uniformed 
Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act. The Uniformed Services 
Employment and Reemployment Rights Act requires a member to provide 
notice, written or verbal, to his or her employer. As stated in the GAO 
correspondence, the Department has exceeded its obligation by strongly 
encouraging reservists to provide that notice in writing. Also, for 
reservists to provide notice to their employers, they must know when 
they will be required to perform military duty. The correspondence 
acknowledges that the Department has done that. Further, as 
mobilizations have become more predictable, the Department has been 
able to increase the amount of notice that it provides reservists of a 
pending period of military service. But it is the individual 
reservistï¿½s responsibility to notify his or her employer. While having 
data on how far in advance an employer receives notice is interesting, 
there is little action the Department can take despite being armed with 
that information. The correspondence states that ï¿½Until DOD begins 
developing procedures to collect data regarding both the amount, as 
well as the type, of advance notice being given by most reservists to 
their civilian employers, it may be unable to measure the effectiveness 
of its efforts to inform servicemembers of their benefits and 
obligations under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment 
Rights Act or determine whether additional measures are required.ï¿½ This 
implies that these two data elements would be the determining factors 
in whether Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve efforts to inform 
reservists of their rights and benefits under Uniformed Services 
Employment and Reemployment Rights Act are successful. The Department 
disagrees with this assertion. As previously stated, Employer Support 
of the Guard and Reserve has several ways to determine the 
effectiveness of its outreach efforts. While the Department will 
continue to emphasize and encourage reservists to provide notice as far 
in advance as possible and to provide notice in writing, this remains a 
responsibility of the member and should not be used as the basis for 
judging the effectiveness of Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve 
outreach efforts. 

Of note, according to a 2008 survey of employers by the Institute for 
Defense Analyses and Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve Customer 
Service Center data, employers have not indicated lack of early 
notification as a significant challenge in their support for the 
military service of their employees. 

Recommendation 2: The GAO recommends that the Secretary of Defense 
direct the Under Secretary of Defense (Personnel and Readiness) to 
establish an annual performance plan that develops and implements 
performance measures on how well Employer Support of the Guard and 
Reserve is achieving its goals. 

DOD Response: Partially Concur. The GAO did not acknowledge the efforts 
and performance measures Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve has 
in place to gauge its effectiveness. Employer Support of the Guard and 
Reserve, a Department of Defense organization with a mission to gain 
and maintain employer support for Guard and Reserve service by 
recognizing outstanding support, increasing awareness of the law, and 
resolving conflicts through mediation, serves as the DoDï¿½s focal point 
in managing the Departmentï¿½s relations with reservists and their 
civilian employers. 

The Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve Strategic Plan 
specifically contains measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-
sensitive objectives and considerable effort has been undertaken to 
quantify and measure its activities in order to evaluate returns on 
investments. Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve documents the 
number of Bosslifts, the number of mailings, strategic partnership 
gained, employer briefings and recipients of awards. Measures such as 
these must be used against a standard to determine their effectiveness. 
This is accomplished by analyzing the number and type of requests for 
information and complaints Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve 
receives from reservists or filed with the Department of Labor. The 
quarterly reports produced by the organization, together with a 
Management Control Plan, provide a clear performance plan for 
leadership. This process allows Employer Support of the Guard and 
Reserve to make appropriate adjustments on a regular basis to achieve 
ever-better results. Further, Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve 
is currently engaged in an effort to supplement its Strategic Plan with 
an annual Operational Plan to provide additional guidance and 
measurements. 

Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and the subsequent 
Global War on Terrorism, Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve has 
ramped up its activity in step with the increased mobilization of the 
Reserve Component while providing a dedicated and valuable service to 
hundreds of thousands of Reserve Component members and their employers. 
Over the years, focused outreach and communications efforts conducted 
by Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve have resulted in greater 
awareness and support by employers for the military service of their 
employees. 

Data from the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve Ombudsman 
Service indicate that the total number of contacts to Employer Support 
of the Guard and Reserve have increased from 5,298 in FY05 to 7,765 in 
FY06 to 13,116 in FY07 to 8,575 in FY08 (as of June 30), noting 
increased awareness of Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve among 
our customers. Meanwhile, the number of actual cases has decreased, 
from 4,682 in FY05 to 3,152 in FY06 to 2,374 in FY07 to 1,988 in FY08 
(as of June 30). This underscores the effectiveness of Employer Support 
of the Guard and Reserve outreach to and education of employers and 
Reserve Component members across the country. 

Concurrently, the number of employers of Guardsmen and Reservists who 
sign statements of support has increased, from 10,909 in FY05 to 11,396 
in FY06 to 20,644 in FY07 to 27,770 in FY08 (as of June 30). 

Recommendation 3: The GAO recommends that the Secretary of Defense 
direct the Under Secretary of Defense (Personnel and Readiness) to 
conduct regular and recurring follow-up activities on outreach efforts 
to maintain positive working relationships with employers who have 
previously signed statements of support. 

DOD Response: Partially Concur. The Department of Defense recognizes 
the importance of employer support and has provided increasing levels 
of support for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve since 2001. 
Two factors are important when looking at the issue of follow-up 
activities. First, there is a limited Employer Support of the Guard and 
Reserve staff and they must prioritize their efforts. Second, it could 
be assumed that an employer who signs a support agreement is less 
likely to then engage in a contrary practice. But that does not mean 
that follow up or reengagement is unnecessary; it is. Since the 
availability of the Civilian Employer Information data, Employer 
Support of the Guard and Reserve has sought to put into place processes 
and programs to conduct regular, recurrent, and focused outreach to 
known employers of Reserve component members. Since 2005, Employer 
Support of the Guard and Reserve has sent an annual direct mail 
informational brochure to all known employers of Reserve component 
members and plans to continue this mailing annually. Also, Employer 
Support of the Guard and Reserve plans to supplement this direct 
outreach with additional direct outreach to Reserve Component members, 
and to specific subsets of the employer community, such as small 
business owners or specific industries. Further, the Employer Support 
of the Guard and Reserve Statement of Support Program is built around 
the concept of ï¿½gaining and maintainingï¿½ support through an initial 
symbolic statement of support signing and subsequent maintenance of 
contact at the local level. Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve 
also plans, as resources are available, to conduct direct mail outreach 
as well as personal contact to employers who have signed statements of 
support as a means of maintaining contact and support. 

In addition to initiatives noted above, individual services have their 
own initiatives directly and indirectly related to employer outreach 
efforts. For example, the National Guard Bureau has partnered directly 
with Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve for financial support of 
full-time personnel in each state to assist in outreach efforts. The 
Army Reserve has established an ambitious employer outreach program 
aimed at building and maintaining positive ï¿½Employer Partnershipsï¿½ by 
actively reaching out to employers of Army Reserve Soldiers and Family 
members. The outreach program seeks to build enduring relationships 
which encourages employers to hire Soldiers and share the human capital 
resource. Several partnerships have already been codified in signed 
Memoranda of Agreements between the Army Reserve and employers and more 
are planned in the near future. The ï¿½Employer Partnershipï¿½ initiative 
will continue to be a very important priority for the Army Reserve. The 
GAO was provided with numerous documents and examples of those 
initiatives and efforts. 

Recommendation 4: The GAO recommends that the Secretary of Defense 
direct the Under Secretary of Defense (Personnel and Readiness) to 
develop initiatives to specifically outreach to small businesses that 
employ reservists. 

DOD Response: Partially Concur. GAO cited several challenges a small 
business owner may face when a reservist-employee is absent to perform 
military duty. But those are issues that are beyond the scope of 
responsibilities which are under the purview of the Employer Support of 
the Guard and Reserve. For several years, the Office of the Assistant 
Secretary of Defense (Reserve Affairs) has been engaged with and formed 
a strategic alliance with the Small Business Administration to help 
Small Business Administration identify and develop programs to assist 
small business owners with the challenges they may encounter during the 
absence of a reservist-employee. The most recent example of such a 
program is the Small Business Administrationï¿½s recently-established 
Patriot Express program. 

Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve is an information broker to 
Reserve Component members and their employers regarding the Uniformed 
Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act. As the Uniformed 
Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act applies to all 
employers, Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve conducts outreach 
to all known employers of Reserve Component members. Additionally, 
Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve has strong working 
relationships with government, non-profit, and industry groups 
representing specific employer or industry segments. These 
relationships foster important ï¿½Strategic Partnershipsï¿½ with Employer 
Support of the Guard and Reserve. Specifically, Employer Support of the 
Guard and Reserve has a strong working relationship with the Small 
Business Administration with whom Employer Support of the Guard and 
Reserve has conducted joint outreach efforts to increase awareness to 
small businesses. Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve outreach 
efforts are geared to provide a baseline information campaign to all 
Reserve Component members and their employers and to provide additional 
information to specific industry or employer segments. The National 
Guard and Army Reserve actively reach out to employers of all sizes and 
actively seek out ï¿½small businessï¿½ owners in order to build 
relationships. 

Also of note, from the Institute for Defense Analyses study previously 
referenced, data indicate the lack of significant problems from 
employers in general, including small businesses specifically, 
regarding the impact of the military service obligations of their 
employees. 

[End of section] 

Enclosure III: GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments: 

GAO Contact: 

Brenda S. Farrell, (202) 512-3604 or [email protected]: 

Acknowledgments: 

In addition to the individual named above, David Schmitt (Assistant 
Director), Bonita Anderson, Renee Brown, Janine Cantin, Rudy Chatlos, 
Nicole Harms, Tobin McMurdie, Terry Richardson, Shana Wallace, Tracy 
Williams, and Matthew Young made key contributions to this report. 

Enclosure IV: Related GAO Products: 

Military Personnel: Federal Agencies Have Taken Actions to Address 
Service members' Employment Rights, but a Single Entity Needs to 
Maintain Visibility to Improve Focus on Overall Program Results. 
[hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-254T]. Washington, 
D.C.: November 8, 2007. 

Military Personnel: Additional Actions Needed to Improve Oversight of 
Reserve Employment Issues. [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/cgi-
bin/getrpt?GAO-07-259]. Washington, D.C.: February 8, 2007. 

Military Personnel: Federal Management of Service member Employment 
Rights Can Be Further Improved. [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/cgi-
bin/getrpt?GAO-06-60]. Washington, D.C.: October 19, 2005. 

Military Personnel: DOD Needs to Address Long-term Reserve Force 
Availability and Related Mobilization and Demobilization Issues. 
[hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-04-1031]. Washington, 
D.C.: September 15, 2004. 

Military Pay: Army Reserve Soldiers Mobilized to Active Duty 
Experienced Significant Pay Problems. [hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-04-990T]. Washington, D.C.: July 
20, 2004. 

Reserve Forces: Observations on Recent National Guard Use in Overseas 
and Homeland Missions and Future Challenges. [hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-04-670T]. Washington, D.C.: April 
29, 2004. 

Military Pay: Army National Guard Personnel Mobilized to Active Duty 
Experienced Significant Pay Problems. [hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-04-89]. Washington, D.C.: 
November 13, 2003. 

Military Personnel: DOD Needs More Data to Address Financial and Health 
Care Issues Affecting Reservists. [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/cgi-
bin/getrpt?GAO-03-1004]. Washington, D.C.: September 10, 2003. 

Military Personnel: DOD Actions Needed to Improve the Efficiency of 
Mobilizations for Reserve Forces. [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/cgi-
bin/getrpt?GAO-03-921]. Washington, D.C.: August 21, 2003. 

Military Personnel: Preliminary Observations Related to Income, 
Benefits, and Employer Support for Reservists During Mobilizations. 
[hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-03-549T]. Washington, 
D.C.: March 19, 2003. 

Reserve Forces: DOD Actions Needed to Better Manage Relations Between 
Reservists and Their Employers. [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/cgi-
bin/getrpt?GAO-02-608]. Washington, D.C.: June 13, 2002. 

[End of section] 

Footnotes: 

[1] For the purposes of this report, the terms reserve components and 
reservists refer to the collective forces of the Army National Guard, 
Air National Guard, Army Reserve, Air Force Reserve, Navy Reserve, and 
Marine Corps Reserve. 

[2] Pub. L. No. 103-353 (1994), as amended, codified at 38 U.S.C. 
ï¿½ï¿½4301-4334. 

[3] Pub. L. No. 110-186, ï¿½207 (2008). 

[4] Dun & Bradstreet, an organization that maintains a database of more 
than 130 million business records, reviews DOD's civilian employer data 
and generates a maximum confidence code denoting an entry's degree of 
accuracy. For the purposes of our review, entries with a confidence 
code of 7 or higher were considered more reliable. 

[5] See GAO, Results-Oriented Cultures: Implementation Steps to Assist 
Mergers and Organizational Transformation, [hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-03-669] (Washington, D.C.: July 
2, 2003) and Executive Guide: Effectively Implementing the Government 
Performance and Results Act, [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/cgi-
bin/getrpt?GA0/GGD-96-118] (Washington, D.C.: June 1996). 

[6] See GAO, Defense Business Transformation: Achieving Success 
Requires a Chief Management Officer to Provide Focus and Sustained 
Leadership, [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-1072] 
(Washington, D.C.: Sept. 5, 2007), and Business Systems Modernization: 
DOD Needs to Fully Define Policies and Procedures for Institutionally 
Managing Investments (Washington, D.C.: May 11, 2007). 

[7] Department of Defense Directive 1250.01, National Committee for 
Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (NCESGR), (Apr. 13, 2004). 

[8] Department of Defense, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for 
Personnel and Readiness, Working Group Interim Report to Congress: 
Special Working Group on Transition to Civilian Employment of National 
Guard and Reserve Members Returning from Deployment in Operation Iraqi 
Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, Washington D.C. (Nov. 2007). 

[9] 38 U.S.C. ï¿½4333. 

[10] The National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and 
Reserve is sometimes abbreviated NCESGR, but throughout this report we 
use the more common ESGR abbreviation to include both the headquarters 
and volunteer field staff of the organization. 

[11] For more information on ESGR please go to [hyperlink, 
http://www.esgr.org]. 

[12] GAO, Reserve Forces: DOD Actions Needed to Better Manage Relations 
between Reservists and Their Employers, [hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-02-608] (Washington, D.C.: June 
13, 2002). 

[13] [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-02-608]. 

[14] [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-03-669]. 

[15] National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve 
Annual Report, (Arlington,VA: Fiscal Year 2007). 

[16] Dun & Bradstreet, an organization that maintains a database of 
more than 130 million business records, reviews DOD's civilian employer 
data and generates a maximum confidence code denoting an entry's degree 
of accuracy. For the purposes of our review, entries with a confidence 
code of 7 or higher were considered more reliable. 

[End of section] 

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