$50,000 retention bonuses roll out to eligible ADF personnel
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Eligible ADF personnel are now able to receive a one-off $50,000 payment in exchange for an additional three-year commitment to serve.
FILE PHOTO:Navy aviation technician Able Seaman Casey Anderson, of HMAS Toowoomba, takes oil samples from the embarked MH-60R helicopter Valkyrie during a regional presence deployment. Photo by Leading Seaman Ernesto Sanchez.
EDITOR’S NOTE: CONTACT does not know which employment categories are eligible for the retention bonus – so, apologies to Able Seaman Anderson and all aviation technicians if our assumption that they are eligible is wrong.
Approximately 85 per cent of eligible personnel have accepted the offer of the continuation bonus, an incentive for junior ranks to continue in the Australian Defence Force beyond their initial service obligation.
Established in response to the Defence Strategic Review, the bonus is a part of a suite of initiatives aimed at retaining and growing the skilled and experienced Defence workforce.
Minister for Defence Personnel Matt Keogh said there was no doubt that the greatest capability in the Australian Defence Force was our people.
“This program helps to retain people in the early to middle ranks, providing more opportunities for personnel to undertake future career and training activities,” Mr Keogh said.
“This continuation bonus complements a number of other retention payments and initiatives across Defence services and ranks.
“While the first payments will flow throughout January and February, offers will continue to be processed as personnel become eligible for this bonus.
“Payments under this initiative will continue over the next two years, and this two-year pilot will be reviewed to ensure it is supporting junior and middle ranks to continue their careers in the ADF.”
Mr Keogh said it was no secret that Australia needed to recruit more people to join our Defence forces.
“Critically, we need to keep those people that we have invested so much in training, who have gained such great skills in our defence force to continue to contribute to our capability.”
Fewer than 2000 people across the ADF are eligible for this particular retention bonus.
Those who are eligible have been or will soo be formally offered the bonus – but so far, just 721 have accepted their offer.
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Nothing new, they were offering people in the Army a $3000 bonus to sign on for another three years back in the 1970s in order to keep numbers up – $3000 seemed like a fortune at the time.