Defence Forces staff unhappy with pay and promotions policy

Defence Forces staff are unhappy with pay and promotions policies, and many are open to looking for work elsewhere, according to a new report.

The Defence Forces Climate Survey 2015 was commissioned in order to compare satisfaction levels of personnel with the last such report in 2008, and it broadly found staff have become less happy with their work situation over the intervening years.

While many of the over 1,000 respondents from all ranks said they still enjoy their work, with longer-serving and higher-ranked Defence Forces members registering the most positive results, there is a perception of a “lack of justice” in the organisation.

Many of those surveyed “strongly” felt pay is not fair, and there was general dissatisfaction in relation to other rewards and workloads.

Just under half of respondents were unhappy with their career progression prospects and opportunities for promotion, and there is a “disconnect” evident between what employees expect and how their expectations are met in the areas of pay and promotion.

Although 70 per cent felt loyal to the Defence Forces and its values, just 23 per cent of members felt obliged not to look for work elsewhere. This is replicated for transfers to other geographical areas, with 30 per cent feeling obliged to move as requested.

Espoused values

It was further found that the espoused values of the Defence Forces are not effectively enacted on a daily basis, according to responses, and that “the majority of respondents do not feel a sense of belonging to and identification with the organisation.”

A passage from the report read: “Whilst it is accepted that issues such as pay and other resources are outside the direct control of the Defence Forces, this is something which needs to be examined.

“If not, the Defence Forces will continue to lose highly qualified and skilled members.”

A later excerpt concluded that while Defence Forces personnel feel proud of what they are doing, “it also emerges some members feel disaffected and unhappy with the way certain things are done”.

It also flagged issues around the complaints procedure, with many feeling it is ineffective.

Career prospects

When asked why recruits would potentially be dissuaded from lodging a complaint, the most common concern was that doing so would damage career prospects.

Perceptions of the Defence Forces approach towards gender diversity were “less than positive”, families had issues sourcing care for their children if a parent was serving overseas, and there are indications that LGBT personnel are “reluctant to come out at work”.

The authors of the document acknowledged that constraints and difficulties imposed on the organisation since 2008, including reorganisations and a recruitment moratorium, will have affected staff perceptions of their work situation.

Accordingly, staff who joined between six and 10 years ago had the lowest satisfaction scores, and women gave more positive responses than men.

The report included a number of recommendations, such as managers increasing their daily engagement with subordinates, more mentoring and coaching for leaders, and a review of opportunities for promotions.