Media Release

28 September 2012

Defence Force Morale Stabilised Before Remuneration Package

Morale and other key indicators of workplace satisfaction within the New Zealand Defence Force had been stabilising, even before the new remuneration package was introduced.

Last week the NZ Defence Force announced that $45 million was being injected into Regular Force, Reserve Force and Civilian staff remuneration. In addition, the Defence Force allocated up to another $40 million in a one-off buy-back or buy-out of specific entitlements and conditions of service.

In response to media requests, the NZ Defence Force has today released the results to their normally internal Ongoing Attitudes Survey (OAtS), which shows six of the seven key ‘state of mind’ measures they track, including morale, have remained unchanged from the previous quarter. These key indicators were: morale, organisational commitment, military belonging, disengagement/anomie, intent to leave, and intrinsic satisfaction.

The last indicator, people’s ‘engagement’, showed a small, but statistically significant improvement over the past quarter.

“We have been embarked on one of the most ambitious reform programmes in the public sector, and this has affected our people deeply,” says Vice Chief of the Defence Force, Rear Admiral Jack Steer. "Our people have told us they want more certainty and more stability.

“Defence Force senior leaders have been consistent in their goal to improve key indicators like morale. We’ve seen in the past quarter that we have arrested the decline experienced in recent times.

“This is significant as it comes before the affects of the recent remuneration changes have kicked in. It provides a platform to work from, but we have never kidded ourselves that there is a single silver bullet and things would change overnight. But certainly these latest results are a first step.”

RADM Steer says there has been a wrong impression created previously that the OAtS results were all negative. This happened because commentators had looked only at one or two measures, and not the entire picture. Overall, the latest OAtS survey shows 13 of the indicators are at or above target; 12 are at a level described as ‘requiring caution’; and just 7 were below targeted levels.

“Morale has been a significant issue, so it is worth noting that when our people were asked specifically about their own morale, 76 percent of people rated their morale as satisfactory, good or excellent. Nonetheless, leaders will continue to focus on initiatives to lift morale,” says RADM Steer.

The Vice Chief said one issue with this internal survey is that it is not bench-marked against other militaries or similar organisations, which made it more difficult to fully understand the results. This was a recommendation made in a recent review of the survey, and he says this is a piece of work the Defence Force will undertake in the coming 18 months.

Some key OAtS results:

• 76 percent of NZ Defence Force people rated their own morale as satisfactory or better. [satisfactory (39%), good (30%) or excellent (7%)].

• 68 percent of respondents rated their workplace morale as satisfactory or better. [satisfactory (42%), good (23%) or excellent (3%)].

• 75 percent of NZ Defence Force people expressed their satisfaction with employment within the Defence Force as satisfactory or better. [satisfactory (39%), good (30%) or excellent (7%)].

• 71 percent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they felt a sense of commitment to their service/NZ Defence Force. [agreed (49%) or strongly agreed (22%)].

• 60 percent of NZ Defence Force people agreed or strongly agreed that that they are satisfied with their job. [agreed (50%) or strongly agreed (10%). A further 20% of respondents were ‘neutral’].

• 71 percent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they are proud to tell others they are a member of their Service or NZ Defence Force. [agreed (47%) or strongly agreed (24%)]

ENDS