Centralising most Human Resource advice and administration services at a new service centre will mark a big change in the way the Defence Force supports its personnel. And changes underway for training and education will also be far-reaching.
The decision to set up the service centre is part of the move to consolidate and standardise HR processes, and will provide the basis for a more efficient service for Defence people.
Instead of relying on HR administrators on each base or camp, Defence personnel will do most of their basic administrative tasks themselves, like querying leave and pay entitlements by using the intranet or service centre.
This means HR resources can be redirected into priority services, like specialist HR advice before personnel are deployed. This type of approach has been taken by comparable overseas Defence Forces aiming for better support for operations.
The HR Service Centre will be complemented by specialist HR functions managed out of the new Defence Personnel Executive (DPE). Formed after a major structural reform of the old Personnel Branch, the new DPE aims to use world-class HR systems and processes. For example, this will see civilian and military HR advisors working in a single HR advisory organisation, with clearer lines of accountability and improved collaboration. Alongside that work Defence has almost completely overhauled the way it develops personnel policy, developing new “intent-based” policies to replace many of the old style Defence policies.
The recently set up Training and Education Directorate will drive all training and education services across Defence, after the decision to have a single point of accountability for those functions. By the end of this year, the Defence Force will have, for the first time, a common set of policies and processes for all training and education, allowing a single “back office” function to reduce the administrative load on instructors.
There will be far more common training – 40 areas of common content have already been identified - across the three Services, with as much as possible being delivered centrally.