• Cart
Log in

Log in

home page banner blank


Focus On Series


Recruitment and Retention of Specialist Skills for Navy

Recruitment and Retention of Specialist Skills for NavyAudit Summary

Publication Date:
December 2014

Audit Office:
Australian National Audit Office

Link to full report:
https://www.anao.gov.au/sites/g/files/net3721/f/ANAO_Report_2014-2015_17.pdf

Audited Entities

  • Royal Australian Navy

Audit Scope and Objectives

  • To examine the effectiveness of Navy’s strategy for recruiting and retaining personnel with specialist skills. In particular, the audit assessed whether:
    • This strategy supported Navy in maintaining and building military capability and carrying out its mission; and
    • The plans and activities underpinning this strategy were effectively administered and implemented.

Audit Criteria

  • Navy has conducted adequate workforce planning to identify personnel requirements including numbers and skills required to maintain and build military capability.
  • Navy has suitable plans, policies and procedures in place to support its recruitment and retention of personnel with specialist skills.
  • Navy has identified shortfalls in personnel with specialist skills, giving particular regard to Navy’s future capability, and is addressing these shortfalls.
  • Navy’s recruitment and retention activities are supported by expert advice, research and analysis, legislative and procedural guidance, and training for staff involved.
  • Navy monitors and evaluates the outcomes and cost effectiveness of its recruitment and retention strategies, policies and activities.

Main Audit Findings

  • Long‐standing personnel shortfalls in a number of ‘critical’ employment categories have persisted, and Navy has largely relied on retention bonuses as a short to medium‐term retention strategy. The number of Navy employment categories assessed by Defence as ‘critical’ has reduced from 23 in 2007 to 13 in 2014. Despite the overall reduction in the number of Navy critical employment categories, three of the remaining 13 critical categories have been critical for 15 years and Navy does not expect seven of these categories to recover within the next 10 years, including technical sailor, submariner and medical employment categories.
  • Navy’s principal workforce strategy is to ‘raise, train and sustain’ its workforce. This traditional strategy allows Navy to select from a large recruiting pool; develop a workforce with the skills it needs; and significantly, to fit its culture and often demanding operational environment. However, reliance on this strategy presents risks to the extent that trained personnel leave Navy early in their career, and it limits Navy’s ability to quickly and flexibly respond to workforce shortfalls and changes in the wider labour market.
  • Ongoing work is required for Navy to firmly establish a range of promising workforce management practices, including: providing the right training at the right time; more flexible approaches to managing individuals’ careers; more challenging work; a more flexible reward system; improving access to more flexible working arrangements; using civilian qualified personnel in the right roles; and improving workplace culture, leadership and relationships.
  • Navy has not systematically assessed the impact of recruitment and retention initiatives to help shape its overall workforce strategy and improve the design of initiatives. Of particular note, Navy has not formally evaluated the impact of its retention bonuses despite making over 22 000 payments totaling some $311 million in the past decade.

Audit Recommendations

  • To inform the development and implementation of Navy’s revised Workforce Plan and associated workforce initiatives, the Navy should draw on external human resource expertise to complement internal expertise.
  • To refine its workforce strategy, the Navy should:
    • evaluate the impact of retention bonus schemes on the Navy workforce; and
    • determine the future role of retention bonus schemes within its overall workforce strategy.