Employee retention and psychological health: evidence from military recruits

Abstract

We estimate the relationship between psychological attributes of US Army recruits soon after enlistment and their propensity to leave service. We find that those with the worst psychological health are more likely to terminate employment, and we show how identifying psychologically unfit candidates prior to their employment can reduce the likelihood of future turnover and associated personnel costs. These findings have broad application to other stressful occupations such as firefighters, policemen and first-responders.

Keywords:

• retention
• psychological health
• attrition
• military
• recruiting

JEL Classification:

• J08
• J32
• J45
• J30

Notes

¹ See the Supplemental data for the details of these calculations.

² There are likely other benefits and costs of screening; for example, screening could lower medical expenditures or reduce the incidence of catastrophic, psychologically induced events such as the recent shootings at Fort Hood, Texas.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the U.S. Department of the Army under MIPR #10419538.