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Defining
the Army salary
By
Maj Carl Webb
SO2 PP, DGPERS-A
How
many of you have seen job advertisements with salary packages that
appear thousands of dollars above what you currently make?
Maybe
you’ve read the job description and thought you have all the
qualifications. Well, me too. That was what made me find out the
difference between the advertised salary packages in the paper and
my military salary.
What
I found was that the majority of the high salary packages are just
that, a package of items including wages that someone would be offered
to do a specific job.
For
example, a civilian salary package advertised at $100,000+ PA appears
very attractive on the surface. However such a package could be
structure to offer:
-
$60,000 wage component,
- $20,000
additional Superannuation contributions,
- $12,000
towards rent subsidy and/or vehicle lease/purchase,
- $6000
for childcare,
- $1000
gym/health club membership,
- $1000
towards private health insurance, and
- Employer
picks up the bill for Fringe Benefits Tax.
Even
after the break down was identified, this example still looked a
lot better than what I get. To confirm my ‘package’ I
went to the Comparative Employment Value Adjustable Model (CEVAM).
CEVAM
is a computer program that allows Defence members and or their dependants
to in-put all the specifics of the member’s current salary,
allowances and other entitlements. The program then calculates the
relative value of the salary package. CEVAM can be accessed via
the INTRANET at http://defweb.cbr.defence.gov.au/dpe/resources/cevam/cevam.htm
or via the INTERNET at http://www.defence.gov.au/dpe/cevam/
or go to the DEFWEB home page and initiate a search for CEVAM.
To
give some of you an idea of your salary packages, I in-put the generic
details of four average Army members at the ranks of private, sergeant,
lieutenant and major.
I have
included the results in the tables with this article. It should
be noted that my examples are generic. Real members packages will
be influenced by many variables such as which super scheme they
are in, specific time in rank, type of accommodation they occupy
and any other remunerable qualifications they possess.
Additionally
there are a variety of other points, some of which are covered by
the notes below the table.
At
the completion of this activity my perceptions changed. I gained
an understanding of how my total Army salary package competes with
other salary packages.
I recommend
CEVAM to everyone who has not accessed it and/or is considering
separating from the Army.
I further
recommend it as a quality tool for all unit retention officers.
Everyone should confirm his or her current salary package before
chasing something else on the assumption that it is better.
|
Examples
of total packages as calculated by CEVAM
|
| Description
Of Member |
Financial
Benefits |
Non-Financial
Benefits |
Health/Housing
1 |
Package 2 |
|
Salary
3 |
Allowances
4 |
Super
and other benefits 5 |
|
|
| Private
Pay Group 3P |
$32,162 |
$10,057
6 |
$7069 |
$4084 |
$53,371 |
| on
MSBS super, aged 20 MWOD. Living-On-Base in level 2 accommodation,
receiving Paratrooper Allowance (3RAR) and based at Holsworthy
Barracks in Sydney |
| Sergeant
Pay Group 4 |
$40,631 |
$8907
7 |
$10,980 |
$5189 |
$65,707 |
| MSBS
super, aged 33 with one year at rank. MWD in receipt of Rent
Allowance and based at Lavarack Barracks in Townsville |
| Lieutenant |
$41,086 |
$11,022
8
|
$8675 |
$3777 |
$64,560 |
| on
MSBS super aged 25 MWOD, living-in Base in level 3 accommodation
at Larrakeyah Barracks in Darwin,with a group 2 intermediate
language proficiency allowance |
| Major
(2002) |
$59,008 |
$7783
9 |
$21,
818 10 |
$4314 |
$92,923 |
| on
DFRDB super, aged 42 MWD, living in MQ in Canberra |
|
Non-financial
benefits do not include difficult to apportion cost benefits
that non-Service personnel would generally have to pay for,
or if provided by employers, would attract Fringe Benefits
Tax. Specifically, the vast majority of ADF members have the
opportunity to gain free access to and/or use of: well appointed
gyms, pools, squash courts, tennis courts, basketball courts,
other indoor and outdoor sporting courts, sporting fields,
recreational areas, sporting equipment.
Additionally
most members receive sports days and/or activities during
working hours and can access, free individual fitness programs,
supervised fitness training, nutrition advice, protective
clothing, HPAS, HPSEA, DASS, AMF Relief Trust Fund, DCO member-family
and extended family support, Defence Force Leave Plan (DFLP)
and the DEFCOM card scheme. With the growing cost of insurance,
many social and sporting groups have ceased to operate or
have been required to increase their member’s contributions
to meet the costs.
All
ADF members participating in authorised activities receive
full cover without the direct financial burden. While it is
easy to dismiss theses advantages they need to be at the very
least considered if members wish to make accurate comparisons
between civilian and military salary packages.
-
Health benefit is calculated on the MEDICARE levy foregone
and average cost of top level cover with private health
insurance companies. Housing benefit is based on the difference
between comparative costs to civilians with similar income
living in the same area in similar accommodation.
-
Total package calculation.
-
Base salary only. Allowances not included.
-
Does not include “on occurrence” allowances such
as Field Allowance, Separation Allowances, etc.
-
For the priavate, sergeant and lieutenant, this is an estimate
of employer contributions to superannuation for this member
based on less than seven years’ service and average
contributions made by defence under the MSBS scheme according
to actuarial figures.
-
For this member this figure is made up of Service Allowance
UMA and Paratrooper Allowance (3RAR).
-
For this member this figure is made up of Service Allowance
UMA and District Allowance.
-
For this member this figure is made up of Service, UMA and
District Allowances as well as the Group 2 intermediate
Language Proficiency Allowance.
-
For this member this figure is made up of Service and Uma.
-
Estimate of employer contributions to superannuation for
this member based on more than 20 years service and average
contributions made by Defence under the DFRDB scheme according
to actuarial figure
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