Australian Army Journal

ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE
Family Friendly Army —
First Class Policy, Second Class Implementation
As this article has argued, Army’s family-friendly policies are often impeded by a
prevailing workplace culture of ‘presenteeism’, the tempo of the force generation
cycle, and the willingness and ability of commanders to approve the use of
these policies. This discussion has also identified that the force generation cycle,
deployments and postings have a direct impact on families and children by not
providing certainty to families or time to rest and reconnect. This undermines
Army’s credibility as a ‘family first’ organisation.
To address these concerns, this article recommends consideration of the following
policy amendments:
• parental leave entitlements should be available until a child is eight and
should be expanded to include care for immediate family members
• Army should actively manage careers that deviate from the command,
leadership and management model to better retain talent and organisational
knowledge
• management skills for flexible working arrangements should be taught via
Campus courses to raise awareness and encourage managers to approve
their use in the workplace
• posting orders should be issued in May and Defence Housing Australia
should inform members of their new residential address in June (before the
end of the financial year)
• school years of grades K to 1 and 11 to 12 should be classified as critical
years for a child’s education
The work-life balance that Army promotes is certainly achievable. It is simply
a matter of prioritising different aspects of members’ lives in concert with their
families and employers to ensure that all parties are receiving the support they
need. It is not the role of Army to dictate one model for the perfect work-life
balance, but rather to provide policies which equip serving members with practical
options. Army’s policies provide these options — it is now for commanders to
be encouraged and supported in implementing them. If commanders support
the implementation of flexible working arrangements, and the recommendations
outlined in this article are adopted, pressures on Army families will decrease and
the recruitment of new serving members will increase as Army’s first class policies
will be implemented at a first class standard, raising Army’s status to that of
preferred employer.
Australian Army Journal
Culture edition 2013, Volume X, Number 3 Page 184