Aviv Greenhouse, Shai Kriger, Adi Raviv
Background
Currently, the IDF and the Israeli Air Force (IAF) are facing a severe personnel crisis in the mid-level officer ranks (Captain to Major), which constitute the organization's core command, management, and knowledge reserve. The "Iron Swords" war has intensified this need and exacerbated the crisis, as unprecedented operational demands have undermined the implicit service contract of service members and their families. The attrition of officers at this critical career stage significantly damages command continuity and the professional standard of the Air Force.
The existing personnel retention model within the organization centers on the commander as the primary figure responsible for retaining subordinates. Within this framework, the commander is expected to manage various retention components, including the sense of purpose in service, organizational development, compensation, and welfare conditions. However, this paper proposes a paradigm shift in how the family unit is perceived. The family is no longer just one component among many; it has become a central mediating factor. The family effectively functions as a "board of directors" that approves or rejects the service member's decisions regarding their military career.
From a Commander-Centric Approach to a Family Board of Directors
Historically, the military treated service members as isolated individuals, with the family remaining in the background. However, the modern officer does not make decisions in a vacuum or detached from their family unit. Career decisions are now made based on how the work framework serves or hinders the goals of the entire family. This phenomenon is known in academic literature as Family-Related Work Decisions (FRWD). When an officer, usually in a significant relationship or starting a family, must decide whether to continue their service, they evaluate the "dual-career" dynamic (family vs. military). Therefore, any managerial response that fails to attribute sufficient importance to the impact on the family unit is bound to fail.
Insights from the Civilian and Security Sectors in Israel
Leading companies and defense organizations in the Israeli market have already identified the family unit as a mediating factor carrying significant weight, and have developed dedicated practices tailored to the organization's nature to turn the family into a full partner:
· Connecting to the meaning of the company's work (ISA and Rafael): These organizations are characterized by a classified, demanding, and high-burnout work environment. Understanding that secrecy creates a barrier and friction between professional operations and home, the Israel Security Agency (ISA/Shabak) developed the "Security-Cleared Couple" model. This model allows for the controlled sharing of spouses in the organization's activities, creating a common language and reducing alienation. Rafael, for its part, actively works to connect family members to the pride of the company's "flagship projects," thereby harnessing the home to a shared sense of national mission.
· Employment flexibility (Amdocs): In the competitive environment of the tech world, Amdocs focuses on reducing work-home conflict as a core foundation for employee retention. The company offers a hybrid work model (home/office), a flexible vacation mechanism, and a supportive compensation envelope, creating an environment that enables a better balance for the home.
· Uniformity-based fairness (Tnuva): This company features a wide national deployment of production sites, which sometimes creates tension among employees due to geographical distance from home. To reduce the breach of the employee's psychological contract with their family, the company strictly maintains equal conditions. For example, headquarters managers are not allowed to work from home, since this model is inapplicable for production line workers. This policy preserves the perception of fairness in the organization.
· Institutional family response in emergencies (Ministry of Health): In the public sector, where burnout and load during crises are extreme, the ministry provides a logistical envelope and institutionalized solutions for the children of medical teams during crises. This safety net serves as an anchor, allowing employees to dedicate themselves to their tasks knowing their family is cared for.
Institutionalized Solutions in Western Militaries
A comparative review of leading militaries, including the US, UK, France, and Germany, shows that the Western military establishment has already internalized that the inherent tension between a demanding organization and the family cannot be resolved through financial incentives alone. Consequently, these militaries have shifted toward active institutional intervention and legislative changes aimed at protecting the family unit and retaining personnel:
· France: Implementation of the "Family Plan" for 2024-2030, budgeted at approximately €750 million. Within this framework, a dedicated agency was established to provide personal guidance and job placement for spouses of service members, alongside signing covenants with major market corporations to grant hiring priority. The envelope also includes building "protected housing," reserving spots in daycare centers upon relocating to a base, and new tax regulations that ease the burden on career soldiers' families.
· United States: The US military identified that the negative impact on a spouse's career is the primary barrier to officer retention. In response, the MSEP Coalition was established, including over 600 companies that grant employment priority to military spouses. Additionally, new federal legislation eliminated bureaucratic barriers in transferring professional licenses (teaching, law, nursing) between states. Concurrently, a "Geographical Stability" model was launched, allowing officers to commit to a 4–6 year stay at the same base to provide family stability, sometimes in exchange for a temporary waiver of rapid promotion.
· Germany: Legal anchoring that grants the right to "Flexible Service" (part-time work or working from home) for child-rearing without harming the service member's promotion. In cases of relocation, the "Lithuania Model" is applied, where the military relocates an entire German system of education and medicine along with the force that was deployed in Lithuania.
· United Kingdom: Prolonged neglect and privatization of family housing maintenance led to damaged living conditions (including mold and severe maintenance failures), causing a severe crisis of trust and an unprecedented wave of officer resignations. After the 2024 housing reform failed, the military was forced to launch an institutional loan program in 2025 for private housing acquisition, aiming to restore the psychological contract with families and reduce their dependence on collapsing military infrastructure.
Relevance of the Comparison Between Foreign Militaries and Civilian Companies to the Air Force
At first glance, there is a tendency to dismiss comparisons between the IDF, operating as a "People's Army" under a constant existential threat, and professional (volunteer) western militaries or profit-driven civilian organizations. The Air Force, requiring absolute 24/7 operational readiness, cannot offer models like "unlimited vacation" or remote work like tech companies. Furthermore, salary levels are limited, and role transitions often involve unavoidable geographical relocations.
However, the value of this comparative review lies in identifying deep trends and adopting best practices adapted to the organization's nature. Human barriers are universal; disrupting a spouse's professional development due to a base relocation harms the family, regardless of the national ethos. Moreover, the Air Force currently competes directly with the tech sector and defense industries for the same high-quality human capital, particularly in technological and engineering frameworks. A modern officer's perception of fairness is directly shaped by the alternatives available outside the military. Just as the Israel Security Agency (ISA), an operational, demanding, and highly classified body - managed to break organizational rigidity and involve spouses (the "Security-Cleared Couple" model) to retain its workforce, the Air Force must also adopt an active approach and institutional management of tensions vis-à-vis the family unit.
Retention Components through the Family Lens
The family does not operate as an isolated component but serves as an "amplifier" through which all traditional decision components of the service member are filtered and processed. The following table illustrates how familiar retention components gain new meaning when examined through the family lens:
Retention Component | Identified Practice | Insight and Meaning for Air Force Research |
Meaning of Service | "Security-Cleared Couple" model (ISA), brand link (Rafael), emergency operations (Ministry of Health). | A sense of meaning is a primary retention factor for employees. Connecting the family to the organizational "Why" turns it into a partner in the mission and reduces potential friction. |
Development & Promotion | Employment agencies (France), MSEP Coalition (US), "Lithuania Model" (Germany). | Officer development and base relocations must account for the "dual-career" dynamic and the family/children's support envelope. Ignoring the spouse's career continuity or children's frameworks turns professional advancement-especially if requiring geographical relocation-into a significant barrier to retention. |
Fairness & Salary | Rigid uniformity model (Tnuva), work-family balance, insurance benefits, and family grants (Amdocs). | Salary is a baseline requirement. The perception of economic fairness is measured by the family in direct proportion to the sacrifice, extensive absence hours, and remaining time for the family unit, compared to market alternatives (tech). |
Organizational Perception | Emergency frameworks (Ministry of Health), housing crisis (UK). | The organization is perceived as an anchor of security to the extent that it provides an actual response to home needs in routine and emergency scenarios. Failure in basic infrastructure (like housing or education) generates an immediate crisis of trust and attrition from the system. |
Belonging & Pride | Family events (Tnuva, Amdocs). | Creating a positive organizational identity within the family. The officer's sense of belonging is amplified when their family feels valued by the system and takes pride in their service in front of society. |
Family-Oriented Retention Model
The IDF does not operate in a void, it competes with the civilian work sector which offers tempting working conditions; therefore, things should not be looked at on a salary perspective only, the research suggests a broader comprehensive solution for officers’ families. Reversing the officer crisis trend in the Air Force's mid-level ranks depends on the organization's ability to place the family at a central position rather than as just another component. This approach requires replacing the existing retention model with an organizational structure comprising three core layers: the first is the central mediation axis of the family board of directors that reviews every promotion offer. The second is the direct commander, who remains the figure who instills personal connection and meaning, but whose role now expands to managing direct dialogue with the service member's family. The third is the broader organization. The Air Force itself, which is committed to providing a broad institutional envelope (such as geographical stability tracks, institutional assistance in spouse employment, and high-quality housing) that preserves the psychological contract.
The operational resilience of the Air Force and the retention of its high-quality leadership reserve will not be achieved by continuing to focus on the service member as an isolated individual. They will only be achieved through a holistic and strategic understanding of "Family Fairness," which views the officer and their family as a single organic unit sharing an inseparable partnership of destiny.