Military Remuneration System
GPCAPT Grant Crosland, Assistant Chief of Air Force Personnel
It is our pleasure to introduce you to the new NZDF Military Remuneration System, due to be rolled out in phases starting 4 Jul 08. The new system will provide equity and choice, and will result in a better deal for our military personnel.
At the time this article was going to print, certain key decisions affecting the NZDF Military Remuneration Review had yet to be finalised by the Executive Leadership Team (ELT). The CAFGRAM subsequently issued in early April, which most of you will have read now, explains the changes to remuneration as a consequence of these ELT decisions. The purpose of this article is to illustrate the main remuneration concepts that will transform the Military Remuneration System (MRS) and to assist your understanding of them. These concepts include market indexing (market sectors), rank as the recognition of responsibility and authority, pay groups (tiers) based on overall skill level, latent value to service, and pay progression (pay progression steps), encapsulated within a total rewards framework. These illustrations should be read in conjunction with the CAFGRAM and you are urged to familiarise yourself with them, as they will be built on as and when further decisions are taken and released.
To assist with questions arising, the Military Remuneration Project Team (MRPT) has established a Q&A webpage accessible from the pers Branch intranet site.
Determining Your Take Home Pay
CDF has given an assurance that all military personnel will be better off following the introduction of the military remuneration system.
Variables
Includes taxation, superannuation, allotments and allowances – reflects compulsory payments, variable and additional remuneration and voluntary payments.
Total Fixed Remuneration (TFR)
Is the dollar value shown on the Military Remuneration Model and is the starting point for your remuneration slip calculations.
Pay Progression Steps
A method of providing pay progression within rank based on experience, skills, qualifications, competence, responsibility, accountability and individual performance (to be implemented fully by 1 Jul 09).
Tier
Trades and specialisations have each been amalgamated into just three ‘pay groups’ based on similar overall skill levels and ‘latent value to service’ (which includes recruitment criteria, educational requirements, trade difficulty and task complexity, training commitment, utility and contribution to output generation).
Rank
Is the primary factor in determination of an individual’s Total Fixed Remuneration.
Market Sector
A new opportunity to achieve parity for selected ranks and/ or specialisations/trades with either the All Organisations index (Market Sector B) or the Private Sector index (Market Sector C), and not just with the Public Sector index (Market Sector A).
The Military Remuneration Model is presented in two halves: Officers and Airmen & Airwomen.