+20% increase in military commitment started with a different question

The US Air Force faces a decades-old retention challenge. Hundreds of pilots leave each year at the 10-year mark, the point of peak capability and peak investment. The investment to recruit, train, and retain pilots is substantial, in some cases more than $40M per pilot. Retention bonuses are one part of how the Air Force supports its people, and understanding what else drives pilots to stay became the next frontier. BetterUp's data revealed the real drivers: belonging, purpose, and engagement that extended to families. Together, we co-designed a new approach to impact built as mission-critical infrastructure, with results measurable within four months.

The Air Force and BetterUp set out to understand what retention incentives alone couldn't explain: the behavioral drivers behind why pilots stay. Military commitment, the single largest driver of retention, is shaped by purpose, belonging, and engagement far more than by compensation. Pilots who stay are more likely to report all three. Military family resilience also plays a critical role: 99% of service members stay when their spouse supports the decision. With BetterUp, scores on each crossed into best-in-class benchmarks: purpose and meaning +9%, belonging +13%, engagement +10%. Those gains are what move the needle on force readiness and long-term military commitment.