News

New round of VERA, VSIP coming

  • Published
  • By Rick Brewer
  • 78th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
Robins officials confirmed this week that civilian employees here will be asked to participate in another series of Air Force Voluntary Early Retirement Authority and Voluntary Separation Incentive Payment offerings in early May.

However, the same officials said fewer employees will be considered than in the previous rounds of VERA/VSIP. That's because this round will be focused more on balancing the workforce rather than reducing the size of the workforce, and participation will be limited to employees in a smaller number of yet-to-be determined occupational specialties.

Robins previously conducted two rounds of VERA/VSIP, the first in the fall and the second in January, after the Air Force announced it needed to trim 16,500 GS (general schedule) authorizations in fiscal 2012. During the second round, the base also made a number of VERA/VSIP offers to wage grade workers as part of changes to depot maintenance workload.

According to an Air Force press release, the latest round of VERA/VSIP will be used to further realign and rebalance the civilian force as the service works to meet the Defense Department requirement to maintain civilian manning at fiscal 2010 levels. Those whose applications are approved will need to separate no later than Aug. 31.

"Our civilian workforce is near required target levels, and we're focused on fine tuning the force while taking care to minimize the effect on our current permanent civilian workforce and their families," explained Maj. Gen. Sharon Dunbar, the Director of Force Management Policy.

Max Wyche, Robins' director of personnel, added the base is still working on personnel actions associated with Round II, while it's concurrently "... assessing the need and scope of Round III in conjunction with Air Force efforts.

"We will continue to fully leverage voluntary workforce reduction and shaping programs to meet fiscal 2013 goals and targets," he said.