Where was that announced?

That's a shame if true. Best of luck to you AT for the future - can't keep a good man down and all that,

This reminds me of Sir Peter Harding's resignation in 1994.

FB

a brief (2 sentence) notification on the front page of the defence intranet.

With the Chief Wokemeister General in charge then I hear that a lateral entry is on the cards… :}

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....5d2c03c31.jpeg

I heard that the current stand-in is a Dentist! Just what you need when the military is on a war-footing!

I suppose they would be useful in the Marathon Man scenario with Dustin Hoffman. "Is it safe?" Forget the "only the Big 5" when someone is wielding a drill with no anaesthetic!

It will give them something to get your teeth into.. Was the out going on gardening leave while all this was going on?


.

No doubt the Dentist gave themselves dentures, all the the better to Hoover one’s way to the cream jobs.

Ladies and Gentlemen,
The officer to whom you refer in the posts just above is indeed a dentist but is an exceptionally gifted officer and reached her current position on merit.
The RAF and others are well seized of the selection of the most able for the top jobs.
I had thought we were above the thoughts that one cannot advance to the top of the greasy pole, unless one is of the winged master race!
The previous incumbent was suspended and resigned - a great pity IMHO but there 'tis.
Old Duffer

No doubt the next door neighbour is jubilant. Of course we are not to know the fine print, but both the complaint and the outcome seem regrettable
A nasty story and, from what I have read, the RAF is the loser..

Maybe so, but I haven’t seen much HR transformation success under her watch! It took me 4 weeks to get an HM Forces Railcard which previously was a face-to-face pick up that took 10 minutes in what is now an empty Personal Services Flight. It is now a faceless centralised HR Centre at a few locations across the UK. Maybe if we had someone who was an HR EXPERT (ie. someone who has been doing HR as a Flt Lt to Air Cdre) in charge then we would not all be suffering from the new “HR Operating Model”… :ugh::ugh::ugh:

I'm not RAF but I have heard grumblings from friends about the changes to PSF which has reduced the level of service? Have they removed all the clerks from SHQs now?

One of the best bits about working on an RAF station was how good PSF were compared to some green equivalents and civilianised admin departments (not all).

4 weeks to get a rail card is ridiculous. I had to return to the UK last year pronto and got issued a new rail card the first day back after a quick visit to the admin office to do the form.

Off topic, but to address the comments about the new HR model, station PSFs have effectively been replaced by a handful of regional HR centres. Interaction is through web apps or email, and telephone consultations can be booked. I was highly sceptical but have been pleasantly surprised so far. Although all emails go into a single multi-user address, I always seem to get a reply from the same SAC who is familiar with my case so there must be someone or something sorting the incoming messages (of which there must be thousands). As for railcards, I found a page in the HR intranet site which shows most stations are administering these through station cashiers or P1/discipline offices, which have not been centralised. I went to the cashier at my station and got a card on the spot without even having to apply through the web app beforehand.

Thanks for the explanation.

(Apologies for the thread drift)

good thing the bloke who was sacked wasn’t responsible for MFTS then…

Yes, that is where I got my Railcard from eventually! But it took them 4 weeks to figure it out. The poor Cpl Clerk was busy with P1 Discip issues when I knocked on their door and had to drop it to issue me a Railcard that a SAC/LAC would normally do. It was so obviously an after-thought ‘fix it’ as I had to wait a week for the physical cards to be delivered to the P1 clerk before they could issue me with one.

Plus don’t get me even started on the loss of staff administering competences, OJAR/SJAR corrections or F5000 admin! Normally an enquiry email comes back with an automatic “give us 10 working days to get back to you”. It’s hardly an advance. Having spoken to the poor TG17 clerks they hate it too, feeling like battery hens hemmed in waiting for an email with minimal face-to-face contact.

The only bit of good news I’ve heard is that the real HR gurus have pleaded to get the cluster that is the new HR Operating Model back to something in-between - that small numbers of clerks are being returned to SHQs, OCU and Trg Units. It should never have happened in the first place and why (even though it pains me to say it) that Scribblies are worth their weight in gold for some things that a call-centre just won’t deliver.

My experience, and those I’ve talked to on other stations is obviously different to yours. Even the some of the so-called “Apps” (which are really glorified web pages) don’t work and it’s always a lottery whether they work on Edge, IE or Chrome!

Does it follow then, that back in the day, Dowding and Harris could just as seamlessly have been replaced by someone in uniform who actually was a Medical Officer? Or an accountant by trade? A theatrical agent? Or would that have been different though!

FB

I suppose that depends on whether you can see any difference between being CinC Fighter and Bomber Command during the most significant war in history and being head of RAF HR today… 🙄

I imagine being Head of HR is something that doesn't require a more erudite discipline, other than office manager. However, the ultimate head of HR I suppose would be Wigston himself? I thought from Nil-Drift's post that to appoint someone to any command level in the RAF, who wasn't produced from within the raison detre, wasn't a good idea, especially under the present circumstances? But, again, if it is a simple matter of dealing with paperwork, why should it matter what the profession of the RAF's senior officers is.

FB

"I imagine being Head of HR is something that doesn't require a more erudite discipline"

It's an awful job - I know 3 clever, intelligent, caring people who went into HR with all the right attitudes and quit 3-7 years in. They found their faith in the goodness of people was so misplaced that it was affecting every facet of their life. They reckon you have few choices - you turn into a box ticker and remove any human attitudes or consideration, you become a total cynic and refuse to believe anything anyone tells you, or you become a manic dictator, feared by all.

I have had senior HR directors who filled every one of those options...............................