The Shape of New Zealand's Defence - A White Paper (November 97)
Chapter V (Five) - The People In Defence
The Investment in People
Fundamentally the NZDF is about people. Sailors, soldiers, airmen and women are the heart of the NZDF’s operational capabilities. Individually they are its most valuable asset; collectively, they are the most costly. The NZDF comprises 9,462 Regular Force personnel (full time, military personnel), 4,159 non-Regular Force personnel (part-time, reserve or Territorial Force people) and 2,175 civilians, a total of 15,796. The NZDF is a major employer of New Zealanders.
Service personnel are expensive to recruit, train and retain. The military and technical skills they need in order to conduct combat operations successfully, and with the least risk to themselves, are expensive to impart. Those skills also take long periods to be effectively developed. These considerations are part of the process of defining force structures and balancing the application of resources to military tasks.
The training and experience personnel acquire while in the Defence Force make them highly marketable in the private as well as the wider public sector; the service person has skills, attributes and habits which are attractive to the external employer. Unfortunately the converse is seldom the case; with few exceptions there is little scope for lateral recruitment into the uniformed NZDF from the private or public sector. This makes it especially important that the Defence Force retains the people it recruits and gains a satisfactory return of service for the considerable training investment it makes in them.
What is being done
New re-engagement and retention incentive schemes have been introduced to foster the retention of military personnel who would otherwise be lost to the Defence Force. Both of these schemes have improved retention rates. Beyond this, to meet the future challenge of attracting, retaining and responding to the needs of service personnel, a fundamental internal reappraisal of the NZDF’s personnel programmes is underway. Known as "Service 21", this project aims to re-engineer the NZDF’s personnel requirements, policies, practices and costs for the 21st century.
The first requirement is to ensure that personnel levels are sufficient to meet operational commitments and that workloads are kept manageable. Meeting these goals will necessitate recruiting, training and retaining sufficient people to bring the NZDF’s establishments up to strength. It is recognised, however, that rectifying personnel shortfalls in a single stroke is impractical and unaffordable. A graduated buildup is the most feasible approach.
The present twenty year engagement cycle no longer appeals to individuals. In fact it serves as a disincentive to young people whose career aspirations are more short term. Accordingly the NZDF is examining shorter periods for initial engagements each geared to specific employment groups and based on obtaining a return of service commensurate with the training investment made in members of the group. The engagement structure would be complemented by financial (including superannuation) and non-financial incentives designed to reward people for completed periods of service and to encourage selected personnel to undertake further extended engagements.
The NZDF superannuation scheme itself is under review. In particular the review aims to obtain a better return from the employer’s contribution while enhancing benefits for a wider range of NZDF personnel.
The approach to accommodation assistance is also being examined. This is an especially sensitive area as, in addition to its practical value, NZDF personnel regard the level of accommodation assistance as a barometer against which their value to the NZDF and to their country is measured. Notwithstanding this, the aim in reviewing accommodation assistance is to ensure that housing is provided for those who need it - especially the families of those in the junior ranks who are unfamiliar with the military environment and who need the most help when their spouses are employed on operational commitments overseas; for example, the families of the junior NCOs and junior officers deployed to Bosnia with Kiwi Company or the families of junior naval personnel habitually separated from their spouses.
A range of non-financial conditions of service are also important elements in terms of improving retention. Greater support for families, extended leave provisions and the use of the NZDF’s corporate "clout" to secure commercial benefits for its members are included as part of Service 21. Retention is also fostered by an equitable system to recognise achievement. Operational service medals and medals for good conduct and long service (which also recognise the part families play in supporting the NZDF) are important.
Considerations associated with people, pay and conditions-of-service are equally as important in defining force structures as are capital acquisition plans. Indeed, without a personnel recruitment and retention plan, a capital equipment plan would have no substance. Maintaining the NZDF’s operational capabilities is thus dependent on the investment in people.
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