Maintaining MCLB-Albany civilian manpower ‘hard-to-do’ job

This is the 11th installment in an occasional series highlighting the individuals and entities at Marine Corps Logistics Base-Albany.

MCLB-ALBANY — Marine Corps Logistics Base-Albany’s Manpower Division is the installation’s principal advisor for civilian manpower management, work force planning, labor support services and maintains the table of organization that provides a structure of its personnel and details changes within that structure as they take place.

Essentially, Manpower works with human resources personnel to keep track of the employees on MCLB-Albany and makes sure they get paid.

“We do (budget) projections (to determine) what we need between now and the end of the year,” Sendy Potts, director of the Manpower office, said.

Vacancies are brought to the division’s attention. At that point, a determination will be made on how to best get the impacted position filled. Restructuring may be utilized, depending on need, and unpaid interns are available through Albany State University and Albany Technical College to help pitch in as needed.

Part of the office’s job is to make sure supervisors have the information they need to fill positions the right way, including procedures for drug tests and physicals.

“We make sure they have the paperwork needed, and that everything is filled out correctly,” Erika Siler, an analyst working in the office, said.

Working on a military installation is not something just anybody is eligible for, so maintaining the structure can be a tedious process. The expectation of the office is that a tenant actually needs to fill a position and there is a way to pay for it.

“We maintain the structure,” Richard Cox, another analyst at the office, said. “The base itself is the infrastructure. The infrastructure is what we maintain. We constantly monitor the positions we have here (and ask), ‘Is it necessary?’

“(Managers) have to justify a new position. We have to approve it from Headquarters (Marine Corps).”

Potts said the office’s employees hit the ground running as soon as they walk in the door in the morning. There are certain reports that need immediate approval, numbers are run on which key decisions are based, and roundtables are often employed to discuss the condition of divisions on base to see that needs are met and hash out what needs can be improved.

“If there is a position elsewhere not being utilized that we can use for a different purpose (we look into that),” Cox said. “We are a focal point at the base. If (a division) needs something, they have to come through us.

“We are like a go-between for divisions to make sure if there is an action we want to take, can we justify it? We are not putting out fires, but keeping up. The focal point for us is to come in and ask the questions. We are the appropriate office to get that question answered.”

Potts said the division’s job needs must accomplished within the controls it has been given. When someone is preparing to leave, a Request for Personnel Action needs to be signed and approval must to be given for another person to be put in that place.

The initial action is followed by the interview, eligibility and screening processes.

“A big facet is making sure we have the money to cover the billet,” she said.

These tasks are becoming increasingly critical as the baby boomer generation is retiring, which means there are more gaps to fill at MCLB-Albany over the next couple of years.

“We do surveys to anticipate (vacancies),” Potts said. “We have to plan ahead (because we need to know) how to fill that gap.”

Even with some level of anticipation, the Manpower office employees have their work cut out for them. Theirs is a job that needs to be done in order for the pieces to be put together so MCLB-Albany can fulfill its mission of supporting the nation’s warfighters.

“Even if we go out (of a position), the funding may not allow us to fill the billet,” Cox said. “We help keep the base running; we keep the seats filled. (Without the Manpower office it is) not only just the base that can’t function, it’s the tenants that can’t function and the warfighter cannot function.

“It’s not a hard-to-describe job. It’s a hard-to-do job.”