ASPI

The Strategist

By Shaun Cameron and David Lipschitz*

10 October 2024

Source: https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/changing-our-perspective-on-adf-recruitment-and-retention/

A cultural shift is required around how we think about careers in the Australian Defence Force and metrics of capability and retention. Counterintuitively, we should consider not only how to recruit and retain ADF members, but also how to support them to leave, thereby retaining extended service.

The core function of the ADF is deployment and operation of a tri-service fighting force. To maintain this capability, we must consider that the arc of national service can be life-long and take many forms. 

Metrics of recruitment and retention can look beyond short-term service obligations to how ADF capability can be retained following full-time service. This requires a shift in perspective from recruitment to post-discharge retention.

Australia needs to consider innovative approaches to generate the same commitment through schemes and marketing the benefits of service. Redeveloping financial supports for members to enter the housing market has been suggested, as well as flexible career paths, improved compensation and opportunities to upskill in new technologies.

None of these ideas are new. Nations such as Denmark and Finland have long-term service commitments with their citizens. In Sweden, military service marks conscripts for excellence to potential employers due to high standards in selection. 

These countries also use varying approaches to conscription. Their decisions are also supported by centuries of history and by having a nearby nuclear-armed great power prosecuting war in Ukraine.

Similar connections between Australian military service and employable skillsets would provide similar effect. This could be facilitated through strengthened ADF-industry partnerships in critical technologies, which would not only build skills and establish the calibre of ADF training and education but also capitalise on recruiting from existing capacities in the civilian workforce. ADF-delivered microcredentials could also support member transition.

Further supports and incentives could be targeted towards issues facing modern Australians. Options could include subsidising past and ongoing government education loans in non-military disciplines, retailer benefits for service members similar to those provided to community volunteers and other methods of reducing cost of living and housing pressures.

Any potential benefit schemes can be tailored so maximum benefit for the individual is gained incrementally over the longer term. This contrasts with service benefits that scale over time and increase over years of service.

This benefits schemes would also require consideration of how ADF careers can continue following initial service obligations. Potential transitions out of the ADF and exit pathways should be considered and advertised as a normalised component of military service.

It has become a common approach in the modern civilian work environment to shift careers several times. For the ADF, this could take the form of supported transitions with partners in defence industry, the public service or alternative service options such as emergency services. 

This service pathway can then be advertised during recruitment and as a means of retention. 

Using existing service category and service option systems to allow for maximum flexibility in ongoing service opportunities into ADF reserves would further help in retention over the long term.

The attraction of a career beginning with ADF service followed by supported transition into a second profession, alongside supports such as housing and education, would allow the military to advertise a unique, flexible and varied opportunity in a competitive employment market.

The aim is to cultivate a transformation in how the public views military service: not as an outlier for only those with a military interest or family history, but as a career-starter and life-starter.

Other initiatives could involve following the lead of the British reserves in decentralising responsibility for recruitment to local units, many of which already cultivate their own social media presence through savvy videos displaying a relatability that official Defence communication often lacks. 

Local parliamentarians or celebrities could act as unit patrons and support ADF recruitment in their areas, an approach taken by Canada. Further, adapting basic and ongoing ADF training into tertiary electives could support university-level recruitment.

Reserve compensation likely needs to be revisited also. Analysis has shown a fully trained private earns more working a weekend at Woolworths than at a reserves weekend. 

There are also arguments for adopting variable tax and superannuation systems, as well as pro-rata remuneration, to further improve the attractiveness of ongoing reserve service for civilian applicants or full-time members transitioning out of the ADF. 

This could entail an opt-in system, whereby members choose the most appropriate tax arrangement for their needs; university students might prefer the tax-free salary, while older members could choose taxed payments alongside superannuation.

We need to acknowledge that recruitment into the military is unlike that of any other employer. Any attempts to raise recruitment and retention levels must reflect this difference. 

To improve the current retention and recruitment problems, the ADF must create a culture that supports members during their service and beyond.

*Shaun Cameron is a serving part-time soldier in the Australian Army and a member of the Australian Public Service. David Lipschitz is a serving part-time officer in the Australian Army and a business owner in the private sector.

Image of an army careers day in Victoria: Hannah Donald/Department of Defence.