Personnel Department Report - October 2020

Membership trends

The trends in changes in membership as of November 1, 2020 can be viewed here. For explanations and cautions about accuracy, please read this post.

Comments: For the past three months we have been a small but consistent net drop in membership numbers. The number of new members still appears to be good when compared to the overall trends over the past one to two years. However, it does not appear we’re able to keep them in the long-term, and we have a small amount of other types of attrition.

Placements overall

There were 9 applications processed in the month of October. All 9 of those applications were placed by the Personnel Department.

Academy vs Non-Academy

Requests

• 7 (78%) Academy
• 2 (22%) Main Fleet

Placements

• 7 (78%) Academy
• 2 (22%) Main Fleet

Posting Speeds

Trends of various ship speed data and comparisons over the past two years can be found here.

Posting Speed Requested - Academy

• 1 (14%) One day a week or less
• 3 (43%) 1-2 days per week
• 1 (14%) Multiple days per week, but not daily
• 2 (29%) 6-7 days per week

Posting Speed Placed - Academy

• 7 (100%) Medium

Note: The Academy only has a medium-speed ship.

Posting Speed Requested - Main Fleet

• 0 (0%) One day a week or less
• 1 (50%) 1-2 days per week
• 1 (50%) Multiple days per week, but not daily
• 0 (0%) 6-7 days per week

Posting Speed Placed - Main Fleet

• 1 (50%) Slow
• 1 (50%) Medium

How they found us

• Web search engines: 3
• Facebook: 0
• Referrals: 0
• Returning member: 0
• Did not say or provide details: 6

Departments

Trends

• Two-year trend of department requests and placements can be found here. There remains no trend in requests. Medical reign of taking the vast majority of new members is safely over.
• Two-year trend of 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th choices can be found here.

First choice preferences for departments

• Engineering: 1 (11%)
• Medical: 1 (11%)
• Security: 3 (33%)
• Science: 4 (44%)

Department Placed in

• Engineering: 2 (22%)
• Medical: 2 (22%)
• Security: 2 (22%)
• Science: 3 (33%)

Note: The next two lists offer a better breakdown of what is happening.

Department Choice Placed In - Academy Placements

• 1st choice: 4 (57%)
• 2nd choice: 3 (43%)
• 3rd choice: 0 (22%)
• 4th choice: 0 (11%)

Department Choice Placed In - Main Fleet Placements

• 1st choice: 2 (100%)
• 2nd choice: 0 (0%)
• 3rd choice: 0 (0%)
• 4th choice: 0 (0%)

Processing Times
(Includes all processed applications)

Average Processing Time: 1.8 hours. A two-year trend can be found here.

• 9 applications (100%) processed under 24 hours
• 0 applications (0%) processed between 24 and 48 hours
• 0 applications (0%) processed between 48 and 72 hours
• 0 applications (0%) processed over 72 hours

Member Tracking
(As of November 8, 2020)

Trends: Two year trends for Academy and non-Academy combined, for Academy only, and for non-Academy only.

August 2020

Academy placements: 8

• Active: 2 (25%)
• Rostered, but AWOL: 0
• Never posted: 3 (38%)
• AWOL (and no longer rostered): 3 (38%)

Comments: One active cadet is now AWOL and no longer rostered.

Non-Academy placements: 3

• Active: 0
• Rostered, but AWOL: 0
• Never posted: 1 (33%)
• AWOL (and no longer rostered) (includes an unrostered eLOA): 2 (67%)

Comments: No changes since the last report.

September 2020

Academy placements: 9

• Active: 0
• Rostered, but AWOL: 0
• Never posted: 4 (44%)
• AWOL (and no longer rostered): 5 (56%)

Comments: Four active cadets are AWOL and no longer rostered.

Non-Academy placements: 3

• Active: 0
• Rostered, but AWOL: 1 (33%)
• Never posted: 0
• AWOL (and no longer rostered): 2 (67%)

Comments: One active JO is now AWOL but still rostered; two AWOL JOs who were still rostered are no longer rostered.

October 2020

Academy placements: 7

• Active: 1 (14%)
• Rostered, but AWOL: 1 (14%)
• Never posted: 4 (57%)
• AWOL (and no longer rostered): 1 (14%)

Non-Academy placements: 2

• Active: 1 (50%)
• Rostered, but AWOL: 1 (50%)
• Never posted: 0
• AWOL (and no longer rostered): 0

Discord and retention
The Personnel Department has been asked to start tracking how retention might be affected by new members joining our Discord channel. It will take a few months before trends can be determined.

October 2020

• New members placed who joined Discord: 5 (56% of placed new members). Number of them active on their ship: 1 (20%)

Open items from last report

Updating static pages: Ongoing.

Recommendations page: Being discussed internally within the Personnel Department.

Retention: Retention remains an ongoing problem, notwithstanding the slight improvement in September. Unfortunately, of the 12 new members placed in September, none of them are currently active. I don’t have any magic solutions for the problem, but will keep monitoring and reporting.

Ships accepting new members: No changes since last month’s report.

Comments

A very slight dip in new member applications, but nothing on its own I’m worried about right now. Retention remains an ongoing concerns, though.

Daniel Lerner
Personnel Director