ABOUT
Start with Why
The Department of Air Force’s approximate 700K-person people domain is the competitive advantage for U.S. Joint Warfighter dominance of air, space, cyber, land, and maritime domains. Strengthening leadership’s domain awareness is critical for our national security.
Our Mission
OLEA conducts evidence-based analysis Illuminating causal impact of personnel policies and programs by understanding Airman and Guardian choices. OLEA studies how talent management systems influence behavior through incentives and other structural designs, and underlying reasons for patterns in personnel outcomes.
Our Team
Assigned and affiliated PhD analysts specializing in economics, social science, management science, teamed with people practitioners and data scientists. The diverse team enables OLEA’s comparative advantage amongst other Department of Air Force people analytic teams.
OLEA’s primary customer is the assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Manpower and Reserve Affairs-chaired OLEA Steering Group. Steering Group members include CMSAF, CMSSF, SAF/SA, AF/A1, USSF/S1, USAFA/CC, USAFA/DF, AETC/CC, STARCOM/CC and other key leaders. We also partner with the Office of the Secretary of Defense and other Services on joint projects and may have the capacity to serve other clients through funding agreements.
Our Scope
The Department of Air Force’s (DAF) approximate 700K person workforce, valued at $54B, comprising approximately one-quarter of the DAF’s annual budget, relies on policies and programs within a complex human capital SYSTEM to garner outcomes necessary for meeting National Security objectives. OLEA’s provides evidence-based research and analysis ACROSS THE SYSTEM to inform strategic personnel policies, programs, and decisions for the DAF and other DoD customers.
Our Niche
OLEA applies labor and economic theory, leverages academic research and robust people and related data, and employs econometric tools and techniques.