Fed: Defence optimistic about recruiting, retention

AAP General News (Australia)
08-29-2008
Fed: Defence optimistic about recruiting, retention

CANBERRA, Aug 29 AAP - Defence has reported significant success in attracting recruits
and hanging onto those already in the ranks.

A variety of strategies and programs had been launched to both lift recruitment and
reduce the number of separations of already trained personnel, the defence department
said.

"We grew the ADF (Australian Defence Force) over the last 12 months to 53,071," the
department's deputy secretary Philip Minns told a parliamentary committee today.

"Over the 12 month period we have had more enlistments and fewer separations."

There were 7,039 full-time enlistments during the year to the end of June, 1,009 more
than the previous year.

"The separation rate has been coming down - 0.9 per cent less than the rolling five
year average," Mr Minns said.

"We lost 632 less people in the last financial year than the one preceding it," he
told the committee.

The separation rate earlier this year of 9.9 per cent across defence was regarded as
a good result, although in the last month it had slightly exceeded 10 per cent.

Defence was especially focused on recruiting and retaining those with technical skills
across the three services, Mr Minns said.

To retain people with desired skills a series of bonus packages were offered personnel
such as to navy engineers and technicians, with a 65.6 per cent acceptance rate.

For specialist submariners the takeup rate is 44.6 per cent and in the past month,
170 submariners revoked their notice of intention to discharge.

"These bonuses are working," Mr Minn said.

"We aren't seeing them at the 80 per cent takeup rate yet. We consider people are still
reflecting on it and making decisions, no doubt in their total family context."

The program to retain experienced army personnel had a 76.9 per cent acceptance rate,
the committee was told.

But the army trade transfer bonus, designed to encourage infantrymen to transfer to
technical trades, had 176 per cent acceptance.

"That strategy of recruiting people into general ranks within the army and then seeking
to migrate them to critical trades has been working," Mr Minns said.

Parliament's joint standing committee on foreign affairs, defence and trade is reviewing
defence's annual report.

AAP mb/rl/cjh/de

KEYWORD: RECRUIT

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