Australian Government, Department of Defence

AIR FORCE personnel face life in the Service with positive attitudes, are committed, and are confident in their superiors, according to the results of the latest Defence Attitude Survey (DAS).

In October and November last year, 1883 Air Force personnel participated in the 2006 DAS, providing a snapshot of the attitudes and opinions of personnel and contributing to an understanding of Defence’s organisational climate.

The results indicated that 84.7 per cent of members were willing to go the extra mile in order to help the Air Force succeed. Members also agreed that their current posting utilised their skills and training (75.8 per cent) and that they had access to learning and development opportunities to improve their skills (54.5 per cent).

Confidence in immediate supervisors remained strong, with 75.1 per cent confident in their immediate supervisor, 80.8 per cent trusting that their immediate supervisor would behave with fairness and integrity, and 74.8 per cent agreeing that their immediate supervisor set a high standard of ethical behaviour.

In addition, participants believed their work made an important contribution to the Service (73.2 per cent) and that there was adequate recognition and reward for work through honours and awards (37.4 per cent).

Air Force had the most positive attitudes towards life in the Service (72.8 per cent), with 60.2 per cent agreeing that their workplace encouraged a healthy balance between their work, home and family. On the home front, 75.7 per cent indicated that their family strongly supported their Service career.

Positive results continued in the areas of OH&S, equity and diversity, and the environment, with personnel agreeing: that their commanders/managers promoted a safe working environment (86.6 per cent); that their immediate supervisor actively provided and supported a fair and inclusive work environment (82.2 per cent); and that Defence had a responsibility to look after the natural environment (92.1 per cent).

“Conducted annually, the DAS is commissioned by the CDF and Secretary of Defence and is sponsored by the head, Personnel Executive,” Director of Military Administration GPCAPT Andrew Elfverson said.

“The information collected in the DAS is used in the development and evaluation of new and existing policies in areas such as conditions of service, job satisfaction, family mobility, career management and retention.

“Ultimately, this contributes to the impetus of new personnel initiatives, such as the re-evaluation of remuneration packages for ADF personnel, with the overall aim of improving your life in the Air Force.”

There was a decrease in agreement that there was sufficient contact with the career management agency (down 7.3 per cent to 49.2 per cent), which may be attributed to a decline in base visits by Directorate of Personnel – Air Force staff to facilitate the bringing forward of posting notification. However, a reinvigorated base visits program is planned for 2007/08.

There was a fall in the belief that promotion prospects were good (40.5 per cent); more than half of the Air Force respondents thought postings were having a negative impact on their children’s education, and 64.4 per cent agreed that postings were having a negative impact on their spouse’s employment.

Only 29.5 per cent indicated that they were satisfied with their current salary (a sharp decrease from 41.3 per cent in 2005). There were drops in those who believed that they were adequately recognised and rewarded for their work by verbal recognition (down 9.5 per cent to 45.5 per cent), and that people’s contribution to the Service was valued by their leaders (down 2.7 per cent to 51.7 per cent).

However, 77.5 per cent spoke highly of the Service to their friends and 82.1 per cent were proud to tell others that they were a member of the Air Force.

View the survey results at www.defence.gov.au or on the DRN at http://intranet.defence.gov.au/dpe/