1. 1 THE DEMAND FOR CRITICAL SKILLS AT the u.s. nuclear regulatory commission Mary Ellen Beach, Deputy Director Office of Human Resources May 15, 2006

2. 2 What is driving NRC’s demand for critical skills?  Need to maintain technical skill base as increasing numbers of employees retire Annual attrition, mainly due to retirements, increased from 5% (2002) to 6% (2005)  Need to add staff and to develop technical skill base to address increasing workload (e.g., new reactor licensing, security)

3. 3 The NRC Today  As of March 31, 2006, NRC had 3150 full-time permanent staff members  Nearly half of the current staff members are over 50 Average age is 48  34% of the staff members are eligible to retire in the next 5 years On average, staff members remain 4.3 years beyond the date they are eligible to retire

4. 4 FY 2000 FY 2005 FY 2010

5. 5 Staff by Location

6. 6 Staff by Education Level

7. 7 Staff by Occupation Type

8. 8 Critical Skills Engineering Electrical Mechanical Structural Chemical Nuclear Law Health Physics Nuclear Safeguards and Security Intelligence/Threat Analysis Risk Assessment Information Technology

9. 9 What are NRC’s critical hiring needs?  Growing staff by more than 10% in FY2006 (~350 hires)  Hiring both entry-level (Bachelors, Masters, PhD, JD) AND experienced staff ~25% entry-level (recent graduates) ~75% experienced professionals from industry and government

10. 10 What characterizes NRC’s college/ university recruitment program?  Attending ~80 events annually  Involving leaders and key program managers Serving as recruitment “champions”  Targeting schools for specific skills needs and to increase diversity of applicant pool  Hosting “interview days”

11. 11 What strategies is NRC using to recruit and retain staff? Recruitment Incentives Retention Allowances Relocation Incentives Student Loan Repayments Waivers of Dual Compensation Limitations Early Replacement Hiring Compensation Incentives Awards, including for Referrals Technical Training Career Training and Development/KM Fellowships/Scholarships Student Employee Expenses Leadership Development Worklife Programs (health care services, child care tuition assistance, employee assistance program)

12. 12 What will success look like?  Right people, right skills, right place, right time How will we get there?  Involve top management, employees, and other stakeholders  Focus on critical skills needed to achieve results  Use successful strategies and integrate new ones  Build management and infrastructure capacity  Evaluate progress and make improvements as needed