United States Special Operations Command's Foreign Language Proficiency Bonus at ILR 1/1+: Initial Review and Recommended Changes to Improve Results and Lower Cost

This report examines both the costs and potential benefits of the United States Special Operations Commands USSOCOM pilot program to pay U.S. Army Special Forces SF operators foreign language proficiency pay at lower proficiency levels than the Armys foreign language proficiency bonus program FLPB. Currently, the Army pays soldiers when they obtain an Interagency Language Roundtable ILR proficiency Level of 2 or higher in reading and listening on the Defense Language Proficiency Test DLPT. In contrast, the pilot program pays SF operators a Level 1 rate if they achieve at least a Level 1 in any two modalities. After examining the underlying logic of the incentive program, the need for an incentive, what benefits may accrue, and available pilot program data, the report recommends that the pilot program be extended, but that significant changes should be made to its incentive structure. Specifically, the report recommends paying different amounts for different proficiency levels the original pilot program pays the same amount regardless of proficiency level, paying for improvement, and paying via a lump sum versus monthly installments. Paying differentially provides incentives to actually improve performance versus simply maintaining current levels. Paying all individuals the same amount does not encourage them to put forth extra effort to attain higher levels. Also, the current program does not require Soldiers to improve over time. Unfortunately, this communicates the acceptability of maintaining the status quo. Rather, it is desirable to communicate not only that improvement is desirable, but expected. Requiring improvement to continue to receive the bonus accomplishes this goal and saves money by refusing to reward those who do not increase their proficiency. Analyses suggests that implementing all the recommendations could provide a more effective incentive while also reducing costs per operator by up to 31.9 percent.