Whilst we all feel disappointed that we are not in an Ops Normal situation and therefore maybe need to vent a little we also need a little pragmatism here:
People leave jobs - unless it is retirement then they don’t tend to advertise an intention to go and will leave based on their notice requirements in their contracts - we have all done it. Even with free recruitment there will be gapping of several months
CS Recruitment freeze is not a RAFAC, RAF or MOD issue - it comes from higher up and we have to deal with it as best we can
We need to work together to find ways to deliver the most we can within the capabilities we have at the moment - Adapt, Overcome and Survive - until the Jam tomorrow arrives. Lets not shoot the messenger and fight amongst our selves.
At the end of the day we are where we are - lets find the way to make the most of a poor hand and let the Powers that Be work out what went wrong and what to do to prevent it happening again and how to mitigate. They have far more detail than we do and hopefully the ability to access the data and use the lessons learned. Hopefully we can continue to be briefed in an open fashion and that we will then support.
Unfortunately, this is one mitigation that can’t be applied with generous applications of Bubblewrap
Unfortunately sometimes mitigations don’t work out. The harder plan would have been a stricter pause, earlier. The staffing situation is dire, and has unfortunately become worse in the interim. On the assumption that additional resource couldn’t be attached, there is a logic to the way things have progressed, but the situation continued to worsen for reasons outside of control.
Perhaps there could have been a better plan, but ultimately we’re now where we are and I’m sure a lot of reflection has already occurred - both internally and on comments made publicly such as here (where reasonable to consider).
So as with many on the meeting asking “what can we do?” and “what are the next steps?” are my questions. It’s been enough time with enough commentary that the dead horse is well and truly flogged when it comes to sticking the knife in over what has already happened.
A valid concern and one that is shared. Many are asking for details on how this will be avoided or the pause not extended, but there are more constructive ways to do so than making accusations of “doesn’t care”, “has no idea”.
Why should someone care about you if all you do is disrupt and insult when even after they open up a little more and engage directly/bidirectionally?
If what we heard on Monday was open and honest then I was at a different meeting. Only heard what they want to say. Not the full why and the poor planning that has got us to where we are. I hope they are working harder than volunteers . They are being paid! As to smarter then I don’t have that information. At the end of the day all businesses are struggling to recruit good quality people. But they still demand the output and the customer has to be served. Volunteer staff are their customer just as the cadets are the volunteers customer. We are still producing an output to our customers despite a shutdown by Permanent staff. As to SLA how about start with something simple like maintain sufficient people in the business to carry out functions at Squadrons and Wings.
