Top 100 CEO Interviews
Issue No. 37 - October/November 2007
Why we can take pride in baggy green
Australia’s defence effort geared up in August when all major car manufacturers endorsed ‘Defence Reserves friendly’ leave policies.
Mitsubishi, Ford, Holden and Toyota said they “value and support all employees who are members of the Australian Defence Force Reserves” and committed to supporting their Reservists with leave payments higher than required by the Reserve Service Protection Act.
The ADF hopes the automotive industry agreement can be a model for other sectors to follow. Firms are compensated when workers are absent for training or deployment ¬— there’s controversy the compensation doesn’t always reflect the employee’s responsibility — but that isn’t the only benefit employers get. The agreement affirms the idea Reservists are motivated employees very much worth keeping in today’s stressed HR market.
Reservists can be surprisingly skilled — and surprisingly senior. Major Kathryn Presser, a Top 100 panellist, supported Beach Petroleum’s rise to fame as the firm’s company secretary.
“I joined the Army Reserves in 1981 as a sapper (private soldier) with the Corps of Engineers and then transferred across to Ordnance Corps as a clerk in 1986,” Kathryn says.
“I completed my Officer Training in 1987 and served as a supply officer with an ordnance platoon, training captain with the Adelaide Universities Regiment, second-in-command of the supply company, served as a staff officer with the HQ of 9th Brigade and then took command of the supply company on promotion to Major in 1995.
“I then served with the Army Personnel Agency for a number of years, managing logistics officers, until I took leave to have my first child – Jemima. I then returned to manage health officers in SA until I had my second child, Lilli.”
Kathryn says military experience has broadened her horizons immensely.
“The Reserve involvement gives a greater understanding of p...
