2023-10-05 19:15:13
This is a trend that worries staffs. For the first time in ten years, the French army will not achieve its recruitment objectives at the end of the year: there will be a shortage of between 2,000 and 2,500 soldiers, reveal our colleagues from Figaro. Each year, the institution must recruit 16,000 new soldiers per year to ensure generational renewal.
The army’s human resources service recognized “unprecedented difficulties” during a meeting with the Association of Defense Journalists, however warning once morest too hasty conclusions. “Our institutions are solid,” declared General Marc Conruyt, director of human resources for the army, to the general daily.
Difficulties in Germany and the United States
The trend is quite general since the Bundeswehr and the US Army are also having difficulty recruiting. German enlistments are down 7%, according to information from Spiegel, while the United States did not achieve its recruitment targets since 15,000 positions remained vacant in 2022.
In France, the army has benefited from momentum since 2015 and the attacks which had generated an attraction to military professions. But the momentum seems to be drying up somewhat, and the army is struggling to recruit specialists in several competitive fields, such as digital technology, maintenance or languages, to carry out intelligence missions.
“There is a growing distance between the average lifestyle and the one we offer,” explains General Schill, Chief of Staff of the Army, to Le Figaro. According to him, constraints of availability, territorial mobility or even family life are potential obstacles to hiring. The latest report from the High Committee for the Evaluation of the Military Condition noted the appearance of a feeling of “unease” among officers, all armies combined. The end of Operation Barkhane and the appeal it generated, particularly via the bonuses received, may also be an explanatory factor.
To deal with the difficulties, the Army plans to optimize staff retention beyond five years, individualized management of courses, improvement of living and working conditions, as well as the implementation of financial efforts on professions in tension. According to Europe 1the institution also intends to invest in urban areas, primarily Île-de-France, which is currently only contributing 15% of the quota, the equivalent of Overseas.
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