Ep 125: Through Adversity to Air HR

Stand by for your car car! You're listening to Inside Air, a behind-the-wire view of the Royal Air Force, its people, technology and operations. Hi, I'm Flight Lieutenant Chris Sully and welcome to the latest RAF Inside Air podcast. In this episode, we'll meet some of the teams working behind the scenes to ensure that all Air HR functions are fit for purpose in 2025 and beyond. I remember going on to the HR app and it had my wrong service number in and that kept sending a message because at the time we weren't allowed to go and visit the office to go and discuss things so it was a sudden an email and you'll get a response within five days and it wasn't sufficient, that really wasn't. Things have massively improved, I will say that now. We do clinics where we visit all stations we look after, we visit the squadrons once a month or more than that. We have a digital afternoon and once a week where people can just call in, talk to anyone and we're all there and we can answer their questions. One of the things I really want to explore in the years coming up is how AI technology can help automate our processes because we can all see how that's developing. As usual, we'll also reheat a few stories which could have slipped onto your radar and we'll be finding out who's under the hat this week with AS1 Ben Russell. What's the best thing about your job? I am in a fuels team and the fact is we can deploy anywhere anytime is probably the best thing about my job. From simple admin tasks through pay and on to the more in-depth issues, we all rely on the support of the Air HR teams to help things run smoothly and to allow us to get on with our jobs. Squadron leader Peter Lisney has met with some of them to find out how they're moving systems and procedures along to help keep RAF personnel ready to fly and fight. Well, thank you for joining us on Inside Air. I'm with Group Captain Neil from Air Command. I'm with Flight Sergeant Angie from 90SU up in Yorkshire and AS1 Laura at Marum right in the sticks. Good stuff. So what I'd like you to do is tell us very briefly what your role is and how you fit in, you know, what, what, why this is important to you and if we start off with you, Flight Sergeant Angie? Yeah, no problem. So I look after 90SU as you say and I look after a flight of 30 people. So it's definitely important that we have the right level of HR support for us. I have a range of AS1s and I also look after a new flight lieutenant as my role should be. So I work in the communications world. So having that level of communications through HR is absolutely vital because I could have AS1s who are deploying or something and they need an answer. The roles and I've looked after when personnel have, you know, the high readiness so they are going quickly. So we need answers sometimes very, very quickly. That's where the lacking is. But yeah, I've got a flight of 31 people. So it's quite a challenge and it's good as a manager's perspective as well. Brilliant Angie and 90 signals unit. You're out the door all the time. Wherever in the world, the RAF goes, you go too. Okay, AS1 Laura, what's your job? I want the front lines. We do every single query, you know, at Marum, we look after everyone at Huntington, Wittering and Marum. That's a lot of people and obviously we're also really understat. And so we try our best. But yeah. Okay, yeah, if you want to upset anyone in the Royal Air Force, mess up their pay. So that's why this topic is so important. Can I just check? Did you join the Air Force when we were still in PSFs, personal services flights? So I tried to join up when it was like that, but then obviously COVID and then I ended up coming in way after. So all I've ever known is the HR arms. Okay, so everything looks golden. Brilliant. Thank you. Right, group captain Neil, tell us your job and why it's not your fault. Thanks Pete. So I head up an organisation called Station Shared Services and the human resources team sits in there. It's actually one of four functions that we're delivering through that. And all of them is a basic premise behind it, which is we're modernising and we're looking to deliver all those services in a much more 21st century style. And at the centre of that, we're using digital tools, automating processes to be able to deliver all those services more productively. So HR was the first of those in all honesty, had a bit of a rocky start. It was a pretty adventurous change programme to deliver it. And as I think you touched on Pete there, if there's one thing that's going to touch people's emotions, it's pay allowances, etc. But I think at the core of it, the model is actually really, really, really good. We are now able to take much more central view of where the pressure points are on HR. And probably more importantly, people like Laura are now able to deliver HR, not only for those customers, those users on their own station, but users across the whole of the Air Force. And that's a real key strength for me in the model. We talk about Veer and Hall and Laura and her colleagues are doing that every day. They can see through data analytics that we now have where the busy units are and we can concentrate our efforts to make sure everyone's getting the best service. Okay brilliant, thanks sir. So where we're at today in Royal Air Force parlance, are we at full operating capability or we are IOC initial? Where are we at with HR? So there are terms I'd tend to err away from. And one of the reasons is we want to and we will strive to keep improving the service continually. So we don't necessarily have a concept of this is the end state, this is the full operating capability because we want to keep harnessing technology to get better and better. But Angie and Laura have already I think touched on some of the challenges we're aware of in the Air Force at the moment. One of the key ones is probably not enough people. There aren't the number of people we wish at the moment. So certainly one area where we're not at the operating capability we would wish to be is with the number of HR clerks we have. And that's why it's doubly important to me that we are providing them the best tools and the best processes so they can be as productive as possible. Good stuff. I mean what I think what we'll do is just wind back the clock a few years. Let's go back 10, 15 years and I'm going to come to you Angie. When you were posted onto a new station can you tell me when did you go to station headquarters and go to PSF for help? What were the things that you needed? You go there more or less straight away because you go and get your arrivals check which is a thing that you always got. You went along. You were given your arrivals check that you had to go around every section that was relevant to you. You were told you were sort of like you were given a arrivals pack I should say and it was good and you have that interaction with a person on the desk. And yeah so you were giving your pack and then once you'd gone around all the other sections to get familiarised with the station you'd go back to HR then, PSF as it was back then and you would go back and get it all signed off from them to say that yes you've arrived and that they were content that you've done all the processes. So it was that interaction with the arrivals you knew you were it's difficult. I would say that you were in relationship. Yeah absolutely. You were getting that you were felt as though you were in that you were being cared for. You arrived, you were being cared for. People knew you. You got to see people. You actually saw people interaction you were I mean I had dread to think what it's like for the new AS1s that are coming in now but you know you've got that I've care if that's what I'm trying to get at. You had that care. Chances were you've promoted so a few weeks later you'd be back because your pay slip would be wrong. And then your leave hadn't carried over so you're back again. Yes. That was it. You went in and the deaths were all laid out with initials above so that if you last name was P as mine is I'd go and sit down and do the P desk if they were free and it was nice you had that and then you built a rapport with people. Okay so it was good. Did it always work? Were you always happy? Not always but you can say that about any of us in any of our trade in all fairness but not always there was always they couldn't help you there and then there were an instant they didn't always instantly know the the answers so you would have to go back around to the obvious as you say the pay absolutely the key thing and leave is is a major thing for people so so yes you would you don't always you could say that about anything cut you really you don't always get the answer straight away you just go back and you and you did cool group captain Neil I'm going to come back to you here why did it need to change yeah I'm going to think it needed to change because we needed to jump into the 21st century you know that that process you described that arrival on the station with a big pile of paper forms that somebody needed to to walk around their station you know my mind that that's just not a way a modern way of doing business and you know when we we reflect on how we interact with organizations in our personal lives now for instance I don't think I've been in a branch of my bank for well over five years the the world has moved on and we need to move on with it but but you touched on an issue there that is is really important people with support and the the end users they do need to still know that that that human touch is there and that support is there for them when they need it so while we we built digital solutions and the first point of call with HR is through a digital app what we continue to develop are the human interactions and their availability behind that so we have got methods when when people need to they can speak to an HR clerk on the phone and they can speak to them face-to-face over a team's call very rapidly when when the situation calls for it we're also pushing out Laura maybe able to to talk to this getting out onto the units onto the flying squadrons particularly when they're preparing to deploy so that they do have the clocks there face-to-face to walk through that process so it's a bit bit of a blended model but I do think upfront we're a modern Air Force and we need to harness technology so that digital front door is the right way to go cool yeah I'm going to come across to Laura Flight Sergeant Angie talked about relationships there you know you're seeing the same people have you been able to develop relationships with some of your customers oh definitely I mean before we got rid of Sky but I had all these people had in me as contacts um no we like the group captain said we've really made an effort to give back that face-to-face that do you like that care we do like clinics where we visit all stations we look after we visit the squadrons once a month or more than that we have like a digital like an afternoon or once a week where people can just call in talk to anyone and we're all there we can answer their questions and what's better with us being kind of regionalized to go alongside that alongside that where you'd have to go back and they didn't have your answer because we have such like a vast you know everyone everyone's got there of SMEs and everything we have that answer there and we can answer it really quickly now and it means when they're calling up we can give them the answer they want and they go away and they've had their answer but yeah they definitely love the fact that we're visiting them like the squadrons when they're due to go away and we're mass prepping them all in you know in an afternoon or a few afternoons yeah it's definitely made a difference the response we've had back is really good in this self-serve system that we we have now what happens when squadrons deploy overseas and you know they're not necessarily going to be taking their modern laptops with them what what's the solution on deployment well it's like the old fashioned kind of docks check we're faced to face and making sure they've prepped everything we have everything ready like a whole pack up so that they don't need to worry about anything while they're away they have the comms they have someone they still have like a squadron clerk as you will like on the ship or on wherever they're in theater to assist them to be able to relate back to as if there is a problem so you're still deploying a a clerk out wherever they may be going in the world that they can lean into if things have gone wrong with pay or whatever yeah there's very rarely someone not there to help them okay so so it it hasn't been a smooth journey and I don't think there's anyone in the air force that would disagree with that can you tell us what went wrong or what didn't quite go right in the in the early days of this transition to HR regionalization yeah so I think we've learned some really key key lessons and I spoke earlier it was not the best managed change program Pete but it been the advantage of learning those lessons is we we're now applying them to the other services we're bringing into the station shared services organization so I think you know by my mind and I I wasn't in the change program at the time but I I saw it very much at the station level because I was a station commander at the time it was probably a bit too adventurous and the the team just tried to deliver it maybe a bit too too quickly it was a bit of a big bang delivery so on one particular Monday we we transitioned immediately from having the legacy personal sport flights etc on onto the new HR model so what we've learnt from that obviously is that it's much better to iteratively deliver these programs and with our other shared services we we are working through them station by station and we're taking review points and we're seeing how the model is bedding it bedding in and then we're able to to check and adjust as appropriate and I think great example be our another my shared services site the the air cyber services center that delivers all the computers and communications across all our air bases in the UK and they step through that iterative process and I think that almost as smooth as a lot of people didn't really notice the change program happening and it's now mature and it's in place and it's working so yeah lessons learned it's about that iterative process and learning as we go along so just from a personal perspective as a as a senior officer where you previously might have asked for a clerk to support you in your personal admin did you have to do things yourself yeah absolutely so yeah you notice how delicately I asked that the HR front end is the same for everybody and everybody everybody in the Air Force even for the chief yeah okay leading by example interesting good what has been the provision for that one tenth of the Royal Air Force cohort the reserves because they have a different sort of life juggling a day job alongside their part-time volunteer reserve service yeah so it's a really good question to ask right now because we're looking at that question this year so air HR has delivered is for the regular Air Force at the moment and it's for those that live and work on our air bases in the UK we are very keen to to bring the reserve component into that so one of my wind commanders right now has that work strand and it and is working with our director of reserves and with the the other stakeholders in there to look at how we now bring the reserve component and particularly that that volunteer reserve component into the same interfaces so you might be aware Pete you know some of the HR functions that the go with the reserve are are unique to the reserve they're not ones the regulars have so we we now need to work through that process but that that's what what we're doing and it's probably worth you know that's good segue into me saying when we do digitize these processes it's not just a case of taking the existing process put it on a digital form and off we go we we go through a discovery phase where where the whole process itself is is unpacked to make sure it's as efficient as possible because there's no point in taking a 20th century process and just put it on a digital form if we digitize and look at the process together then the end result is much more efficient okay so that mean you're going to go out and visit squadrons and see how they do things on a weekend is that the plan that is exactly what is happening right that's really good to hear going back to the struggles of two years ago as a commander what lessons were learned in terms of how things might be done differently in other projects in other change programs what can we learn as an air force from the experience of air HR yeah so one of the one of the things I I talked about previously was the iterative delivery I think another one and I have mentioned this is is the big bang change peak so probably one of the well definitely one of the weaknesses in retrospect in how HR was delivered is it is more efficient it requires few people to deliver it but what we allow to happen was the transition to those fewer people too quickly so one of the other big differences about how we are delivering my other station shared services is we get the processes in place we get the new organisation in place we get the digital and other forms of delivery in place but we don't reduce the number of people delivering it till all that is bedded in and that we know it's working properly and then we can slowly bring bring the number of operators down to to what we think the end state is so with HR those operators left effectively on day one we we are not doing that with any of my other station shared services well that's good that's going to be a bit of a challenge just to get boring here from a beam counting perspective to persuade someone who holds the budget to still pay for someone that's not doing the whole job that they were previously doing isn't that hard yeah I think I think we've been supported in that now without without those who do our overall workforce numbers for the air force you know they they are keen that we realise efficiencies where we can but they understand because they saw the HR journey so they so they know why we need to do it in a different way with there are other station shared services and we're supported from them in that good good all right thanks Laura you're relatively new to the Royal Air Force can you tell us why you decided to join the HR team in the Air Force and how those expectations were met or missed and how is it going now I probably like most people I didn't when I just thought I'd join the Air Force I didn't think I'll join HR you're going to be a pilot were you not quite but obviously when you go to the AFCO it was kind of that was an option and I looked into it and I'm really looking forward to some of the jobs I'll get to do once I progress in a few years so this is an ideally where I probably would have wanted to be but I'm probably different to quite a lot of people I do enjoy it it's so busy and I love being busy which it helps like I learned so much from this new model yeah I'm in a in our office and I don't really face to face talk to a lot of people which is why I'm always like signing up for the clinics and I'm trying to get out there and I'm calling people a lot just to let them know that like we're here we're trying to help them and that's what I kind of wanted I wanted to be face-to-face I wanted to be more involved so yeah that is a bit hard but I'll get there where's the reward what what what is it that really makes you happy when you go home at night and think oh that was a good day when I fix someone's pay when you fix I'm like we always come back to pay don't we when someone's going to bring me a box of chocolates fix in their pay so you've still got some human interaction definitely we still have people coming in we have we like the office is open for people if they really do need us they they are welcome to join to come and see us and they do and they have a little sit we get a cup of tea like they always we go through it and we make sure it's all resolved before they leave because obviously it can be very stressful if something is wrong with your pay and we want to make sure that it's it's sorted for people and that they know that we're here trying to help as good say I think you know Laura's hitting on a real key point there for me Pete you know the the Royal Air Force exists to fly and fight that that's its purpose as an armed force but absolutely critical to that is the people all armed forces are about the people and it doesn't matter how great our aircraft are without the people to operate them and to enable them then we wouldn't have an Air Force so we we often talk about the the moral component and that's about ethically looking after our people and air HR is is right at the the hub at that so it's great to hear Laura talking about that because it's really important to me that everybody that that works in air HR understands and enjoys and can see the purpose of what they're doing and it and it absolutely is without them where we wouldn't be putting ultimate a pilots into the aircraft to to go and fly and so everything we do is core to the Air Force is output. Yeah one big team Angie gonna come to you as the customer as the person relying on Laura and her colleagues to keep you in the fight how has it gone for you over the last couple of years? Well in all honesty I think the the the initial as group perhaps and said that was a real challenge because it was it was around I got posted back into Lehman at that around that time and I remember going on to the HR app and it had my wrong service number in and and I kept sending a message because at the time we weren't allowed to go and visit the office to go and discuss things so it was a send an email and you'll get a response within five days and it wasn't sufficient that really wasn't things have massively improved I will say that now and you can go in as Laura said you can go in and have face-to-face chats with people which has helped definitely when I deployed last year there was a lot of questions because of my F-med and so I was in and out and they were doing the docs checks and they helped me book in the course so that element is is back which is fantastic but we are you know we are a modern Air Force we are keeping with the times and the way that it's gone digitally I think has been really good as well so like you move and track it puts the onus on the individual which really it should be as well because you know when for instance myself at the moment I'm away at a horse show that's I'm in a horse box that's why it looks a bit odd behind me but it really is you know you do your own move and track which is fantastic you're keeping on top of it you know then that it's your responsibility it's we are people are you see across I've got a 24-year-old daughter it's an instant world people want things things now now and and having that digital footprint that we have in the HR is actually a really good thing the way it's evolved into that has been a real benefit for the service person and Laura I hopefully I've not seen it at at Lehman yet but they don't seem to come out to and do visits so it's something that I might approach with some of the HR friends that I've got the reward that they're getting I run the saddle club at Lehman and I've got a couple of HR girls that want to come and do lessons and they're struggling to get out because of their workload and that's you know to get them as the group has says a reward to for all the hard work that you guys do because it can't be easy but I have seen sorry I've gone in a big circle but I have seen a huge improvement with since HR 5 initially started and HR group in hat came in to now yes there's gonna be tweaks on every side of the events but yeah it seems to be working really well I'm able to do line manager interviews for for my guys that deploy in online it is definitely improved I would say it's it's in a good place I would say no I'm not saying that because I'm on a call with a group captain I'm just I'm being honest I think it's in a much better place than when it was when it first came out absolutely well look here's here's a real key how does it compare to ten years ago I think now it's much better now that all those tweaks have been most of the tweaks have been now and now now that the door is up and he can go in and speak to somebody I think I think it's a lot better to what ten years ago with the digital footprint because we do have to move over the times but there is elements that could always deal with a tweak I'm not hit HR specialist I'm calm specialist so I couldn't really say what the tweaks would be but yeah I think the thing that Laura said about going around the UN is we 90s you used to have their own dedicated admin personnel and that was taken away from us that's something that we did feel because there are so many people out the door but it is improved compared to ten years ago yeah I definitely think it's there's there's a lot of a lot of positive things that have come out from from the way it is now yeah I think that that's really good for me to hear from Angie there and I think you know clean not only am I the commander here but I've been a user of their HR for well over 20 years in its various forms and I generally feel the same if I was asked to go back to the point we're out to take a paper form and get it across the station headquarters to get something action and I think I'd reflect that be a retrograde step whereas what I can do right now with the with the hub that we built it take my own personal phone log into my account and action at time and place of my convenience which is great but as I said earlier we we are keen that we don't rest on any laurels and and we want to keep improving the system and one of the things I really want to explore in in the years coming up is how AI technology can help automate our our processes because we can all see how that's developing rapidly in the technical logical world and I really want to explore how we could harness that to take on you know the more mundane the more repetitive the simple tasks that the HR clocks are dealing with today so that we can release their human interaction for the really important the the really crunchy tasks and those that absolutely need a human touch so absolutely the intent is to keep improving the service for both ends for the end user and and for the operators for the HR clocks and what about using personal handheld devices you know an iPhone what can people do from the benefit from the comfort of their armchair with their phone? Yep so they yeah they just need an account on the defense gateway which is available from from the internet on your personal device and they can get into the HR hub and they can do they can use each of our are flows in there so everything up to and including as Andrew was just discussing their their pre deployment and their post deployment flows and they they can what we call moving track which is where they're registering where their duty station is when they're detached or they go away somewhere they could they could do all range of functions and we're keen to keep increasing the flows within there so that all the pay and and allowances and movements functions that we do are centered in that HR hub. What does the error HR do for the agility of the Royal Air Force where we might deploy you know agile combat employment we might send fuelers refuelers drivers all over the shop in small pockets how does it compare now to previously? Yeah I'd I'd think it's leaps and bounds ahead and I'd be interested to know what the what Laura and Andrew think of that but you know that that fact that you can interact through your personal device don't need to be on some kind of MOD device absolutely plays to the agility of the Air Force and because we're in a world now that is enabled by Wi-Fi and 4G and the rest which which means pretty much wherever you are certainly in the UK and you you're able to to access the HR function and and do what you need so when those small teams might be moving around very very quickly to new locations they're able to register in their device where they've moved to and we can track them through that and and also do the other functions for them. I think I think a really good question for Andrew because I know that 90 signals units one of the most agile units in the Air Force have been really interesting her perspective. Yeah you're absolutely right sir one thing that did just pop into my head then when we were talking about that was so one of my colleagues is going to are away on operations and is not allowed to take his ped with him so that's when having the HR person is is absolutely key for you go to locations where you're not allowed your own ped that's difficult then to to be able to access all these online things and and access your my HR so having a clerk in the location is absolutely key to you need that human interaction at those times but most of the time you're absolutely agree having you can access it at any time you're at home on the sofa you can access it at any time to be able to say oh not on my pay is going to be this month and but yes it going on deployment I suppose it all depends on where you go in and what the pet policy is really and if I you know if I could jump in on that yeah it's always going to be those locations where we can't have our personal devices and that's where we do deploy HR clocks forward and do an all range of what we call A1 functions so that extends beyond it HR it's about your real life support etc and they they have the systems to reach back and support the people they're looking looking after overseas are at that deployed location but interesting in our I'll I'll touch on the the current deployment that we have from Marm that I know Laura's been dealing with with with our squadrons away on the aircraft carrier we we found that that footprint forward in this case on the ship on HMS Prince of Wales we've we've been able to reduce the number of HR personnel required there because the the systems are interaction with just that bit more efficient than what we had before okay that's good that means more people in war fighting roles per se rather than supporting at the back yeah absolutely and I think that's a real key point in what we're doing here Pete um you know we station share services is not about finding savings measures saving money saving people but what it is about is it's taken our operators and making them as absolutely productive as they can be so that they enable those fighting elements there's war fighting elements of the Royal Air Force make sure the Royal Air Force can can absolutely optimize it's delivery its ability to fly and fight okay let's come back to you Laura the air HR experience today so you've got colleagues you've lived through it yourself the let's say the ups and the downs more of the downs in the last few years but now it seems that very much the trajectory is upwards what what is morale like in your team I think we try really hard to to like boost the morale in our office because as you can imagine we're not finishing early on a Friday we've got a high workload but um we've got things in place to highlight anything that's major to be able to get people off as soon as possible to enjoy their weekend you know would they the office like the execs try really hard to put that reward kind of system in place so it's not just a constant slog all the time it is rewarding them for working really hard that's made a massive difference you know everyone's productivity productivity is as increased and we've got a really good support system with like JNCOs SNCOs if people are really struggling with the workload it it's adjusted you know we're not letting people drown and I think it's yeah we have a really really good office at Maurem good so lots of smiles and positivity then yeah something else that occurs to me is that the this might apply to you Angie I don't know the certain on flying squadrons where you've got engineering teams and they're wearing the coveralls and if they had to go to station headquarters to visit the personnel services flight for a bit of HR support that have to change out of their coveralls put their blues on cycle a mile across the airfield to go to station headquarters and then find that the person they needed to see has gone on lunch or something what what what is this doing for you how's the picture now morale as far as Laura and her colleagues are concerned yeah I think it's it's definitely a huge improvement being married to a guy who has to do with exactly that has is is is such an improvement for their for their time and life because it's that's it they get unchanged and it all it all adds on time you just you can't just pop in and say you know across the across the station it's that you've got a factor all that in and so people like supervisors where you're going now you know well I've got a good HR I've got to get changed all the rest of it so yes it's a huge improvement to be able to do all these things now on digitally so yeah I think it it's it's very good to be able to have that but having that being able to do the face to face is if you want to have a private conversation just book an appointment that's key as well being able to do that yeah and and the system isn't offshore does it it's still our people locally or you know within reasonable distance just to yeah kind of wrapping things up now but I'm just going to come back to you sir how did you feel when you posted into your current role was it a job you wanted and how does it how does that change difficult absolutely so I'm I was really excited when I learned that I'd been selected for the role and the main reason for that is I I see what we're doing in HR and in the other station share services as a probably once in a generation chance to to modernize how the Royal Air Force works to be part of how we take that forward and make it a more optimized a more effective Air Force and to enable it to become more effective in how it can deliver air power and I don't think those opportunities come come round too often by any job it's come with its challenges and we've touched on some of those today you know and we do need to get more people into the HR teams and you Laura's touched on there you know it it it's hard work but I hope for all the teams it's it's really satisfying work they can see the purpose what they're doing and the fact they're enabling the Air Force to be able to deliver air power what I they also hope as they'll you know share that excitement that I've got and that we can all play a part in modernizing the Royal Air Force you know especially modernizing how we deliver the enabling functions and then we can take it forward further and further into the 21st century. Good stuff just to finish off I'm going to ask Angie from your perspective what do you have to say to Laura and her colleagues or her Oppos in in Lehman what message do you have for the HR teams? In our last day I'm gonna say thank you because as the group haven't said you know we're very busy and Laura said that very busy all the time and they have to deal with all sorts of queries at any time during the day and there's they are for one of our better word fracked to be honest like with the demand on people is it the same as it was when I've joined up 30 years ago but we've got such a huge reduction in in personnel so it's just a huge thank you to to the guys for looking after us really with with all the challenges that have faced it's just a thank you really really appreciate it that's really nice to hear Laura suggestions to your customers the people that you work with anything you'd like to say to them just bear with us with our five to ten day response time we will get to you so Laura with with your experience in people operations coming into HR it might have not been what you had expected when you first signed on the dotted line what has the experience been like is it a good job to do would you recommend it to your friends? yeah I definitely recommend it and there's so many opportunities you know you're not just in an email kind of call centre you there's CIPDs on offer there's qualifications you can do this you can use your learning credits to you know to expand your professional knowledge it can really aid you going forwards into so many different jobs you know as embassy work out there that's something I'm really excited to get into to go overseas I definitely recommend it like well like road shows out in the minute would kind of come try to come to you and encourage people to join up and join our profession because it is it's so key it's customer service and that is that can relate to anything in the world you know you can use that going forward in any single job so it's it's it's very important to learn cool okay and what about the the stuff outside of work sport in adventurous training does that appeal to you? Oh definitely I mean I'm really into golf and I'm able to to go out the office you know once a week I you know for inter-service as well and just get out there and explore different sides of the Air Force you know it's not all about work you are you have all the opportunities on offer there which depth so you're paid to play golf is that what you're telling me? Oh yes yes it doesn't want to do that yeah not just not everything yeah the boss is on the call watch out good other things that we've talked a lot about the pay side of things but what are the other parts the services that Air HR brings so yeah it's a really good question Pete because the the other teams we haven't spoken as much about are what we call our personal support teams and our service discipline teams that also sit in the air HR organisations you know and they're they're intrinsically important how the Air Force works and personal support teams are delivering that welfare when people people getting situations that are challenging and that's something we utterly pride ourselves in in the Royal Air Force is it is the care and attention we we will give people that duty of care when times are hard it is really important obviously the service discipline side is you know you know maybe something in the ideal world you wouldn't have to deliver but people's behaviours not always but also gain that's a really important function that we deliver to to demonstrate that and make sure those behaviour issues or whatever it is I dealt with fairly equitably and you know in a timely timely fashion and and they're both those functions are interested in the air HR model because right up front it was decided they're intrinsically face-to-face function so so where Laura doing pay movements allowances is he is working in a more remote fashion our our service discipline and our personal support teams are right there on the station interacting face-to-face and that's important and that that's a role people will move from from the HR upside where Laura is into a discipline or personal support as they go through their careers but but behind that you know while it's face-to-face we we are still developing the tools we give those teams to to do their job so they they are also benefiting from digitisation from automation and being able to work more productively so face-to-face we're all about modernising those functions we've got a really good opportunity here so to ask the customer Angie from your perspective how's that going really well to be honest yeah so as I mentioned before the SD side of it and the PS side of it has been absolutely invaluable as a line manager faced all sorts of issues and questions and I can send an email off straight away and say can I come and see you another chat and the door is more or less open straight away for me it's an invaluable tool for line managers especially and they deal with so many diverse things that that happen in as well so they've they've if they can't answer the question for you they will be able to guide you to a place where you can get the answers so invaluable absolutely invaluable there so I think Angie's a happy customer that's that's great to hear that's yeah absolutely what we want you know the three functions we deliver in HR can come together I spoke earlier about the the moral component it's absolutely vital that we deliver those three functions to make sure we we've got the best workforce across the Air Force we can have so great great to hear that feedback final word groupcaps in Neil what do you have to say to the customers that have to use a system and really importantly to your team that do the implementation what's your message to these folks my overriding messages we're we're all the same team so what's really important to us is we understand the feedback from those end users from the customers so we we need to understand how air HR in this case is to interact with so that we can learn from that and and continue to make it make it more effective for the end user that's that's what we're all about at the end today we we want to see role air forces aircraft getting there and go and deliver what they they need to so please keep feeding back and our commitment to to everyone in the air forces we will continue to improve the service well groupcapt in Neil, Flight Sergeant Angie, AS1 Laura thank you very much for being on inside air and telling your story thank you thanks hi I'm AS1 Emma Kerwin and this is Reheat where we take a look back and some of the RAF stories you might have missed after nearly two decades in the skies the RAF's repo remotely pioneered air system has blown its final mission since 2007 it's clocked over 173,000 flying hours that's equivalent to travelling to the moon and back more than 50 times it supported UK forces in Afghanistan and remains on coalition combat operations cheering off shader and chief martial hub Smith called Reaper the backbone of RAF operations in the Middle East and praised the skilled personnel behind it now the protected takes over offering longer range and advanced senses over as RAF morning turn the Duke of Edinburgh honorary Air Commodore there was welcoming to commemorate the retirement of the Reaper the RAF has teamed up with the French Air and Space Force for exercise of Wolfer France's key multinational training events held in southwest France the exercise works is on joint operations like air-to-air combat and close their supports in a high threat setting squadron leader league jewels so the exercise boosts training with allies and strengthens ties across NATO the Atlas successfully landed on the remote Arctic island of Yanmeian delivering equipment and demonstrating NATO's readiness in the high north highlight the RAF stability to project air power into severe environment and the brinkers of Wales made her first visit to RAF Collins Bay she taught the quick reaction alert facility meeting personnel he protect UK skies took a flight in the type been simulator and spent time with stations fast to get a closer look at life on the base their royal highness is royal honorary air Commodore of the base that was reheat for inside air thanks Emma and now it's time to find out who's under the hat with Ben I'm AS1 Ben Russell and this is under the hat where we get to know an aviator in less than a minute name you're known by I am a flight attendant Brandon Fairbrother and I'm just known as Brandon what's your profession my profession is logistics and I am based at RAF wittering what's the best thing about your job I am in a fuels team and the fact is we can deploy anywhere anytime it's probably the best thing about my job hardest part of your job making sure that's we are compliant all the time and also being able to support everyone who requires our help best location you've served best location I have served was probably aren't wittering because I feel like I've got a major purpose to support the royal air force what bit of luxury kit do you never deploy without bit of luxury for me would be headphones just so I can take myself away and have my own personal space and what's your proudest moment in the RAF for me was actually internally commissioned from the ranks and to the logistics branch that's all for this episode of Inside Air please give us a review subscribe via your favourite podcast app and then join us again soon you've been listening to Inside Air a behind-the-wire view of the royal air force its people technology and operations if you're serving in the RAF and have a story for us please speak to your unit media and communications officer inside air is written and produced for the royal air force by RAF media reserves