// Our Personnel World
By GPCAPT Kevin McEvoy, Assistant Chief of Air Force Personnel
Support Trade Rationalisation Project team
Our Personnel team has been working hard this year to ensure our Air Force is in the best place it can be for everyone.
It’s been a particularly challenging year and we’ve seen some big changes, mostly in response to working within a tighter economic environment, which has led to a reduced attrition rate (it was 10% a year ago and is now just 5%). Within this new framework, we’ve continued to make improvements where we can, while being as transparent as possible.
We regularly brief Commanders and Base Human Resource Officers so they can share that information with you. We also provide regular updates through the Headquarters New Zealand Defence Force Personnel Branch, the Defence Transformation Programme websites, as well as Air Force News.
We try to make as much information as possible available so that you can understand the issues fully, and make sure the Commanders in particular, have a working knowledge of the issues at hand so they can explain them to you.
There’s a lot going on, and next year looks like it will be equally busy. So make sure you stay engaged with your command chain and Senior Military Human Resource Advisers (SMHRAs), so we can keep making improvements in the Personnel world.
Update on the major projects and activities
R5 Project
The R5 Project ensures that the right person is in the right place, doing the right things at the right time, at the right cost. It’s being applied across the NZDF, with reviews from Air Commodores, Group Captains and Warrant Officers complete. The remainder of the New Zealand Defence Force are scheduled to be reviewed by mid 2010.
Senior Military Human Resource Advisers
Officer Commanding Administration Squadron positions have been disestablished. SMHRAs are now responsible for advising Commanders and individuals on military and civilian Human Resource (HR) issues. A key priority for SMHRAs is to work with Commanders to ensure they understand their key HR issues.
Promotions
The reality of working within a tighter fiscal environment and falling attrition rates means that this year we’ve had to slow down promotions in order to stay within our personnel numbers and budget for the year (and beyond).
This doesn’t mean they’ve stopped altogether, but every promotion is looked at on a case-by-case basis and needs to satisfy specific criteria before it can be approved.
As this often involves Staff-In-Confidence information, we may not be able to share specifics with you, but can assure you that the process is rigorous and applies equally to both Officers and NCRs.
Defence Transformation Programme—Human Resources
We recently held a series of workshops where subject matter experts helped shape the future operating model. This gave some clarity to what HR will look like in the future. We can now develop the working detail and will continue to engage you in the process.
Support Trade Rationalisation Project
The first set of workshops has been held for Trade Sponsors and subject matter experts. To be successful it’s important that there is a fair representation of our people attending, so all ranks are involved.