UNDERSTANDING YOUR PAY
What is the “Total Remuneration” model?
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Base Salary
Your base salary is the pay you receive for your role/trade/profession.
It should be based on the relevant sector market median for the role linked to the military or civilian remuneration table.
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Liability Military Factor
The Liability Military Factor or “MIL Factor” as it’s most commonly called, is paid to all uniformed members of the Defence Force (RF and TF) to acknowledge the loss of certain rights and freedoms, and the liability of military service that come as part of signing “The Oath”.
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Superannuation/Kiwisaver
The NZDF employer’s contribution to your Superannuation/Kiwisaver is wound into your total salary.
The NZDF pays the legal employer contribution entitlement of 3%.
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Provisions of Service
Your provisions of service comprises of your allowances such as arduous and hazardous training, posting readiness and operations etc.
It's based on compensation for special and/or urgent demands, not compensated fully by other factors, and non-monetary compensation through additional offerings.
Military Factor
The purpose of the Military Factor is to recognise the unique nature of military service and the liabilities of military service, that cannot be reasonably compensated for by base salary.
It is additional compensation to reflect the accumulative liability of service, the loss of rights as an individual under that Defence Act of 1990, and the compulsion of each individual to serve where and when the NZDF requires.
The Military Factor ensures NZDF is combat ready by helping to retain highly skilled and trained military personnel for longer, and thereby retain capabilities, by compensating military personnel for accepting unlimited liability.
This enables the government to protect and defend the sovereignty of New Zealand, use its armed forces to conduct military operations in response to international requests for military assistance and peacekeeping operations, respond to national emergencies, and provide humanitarian aid.
In swearing the Oath or Affirmation, military personnel (and their whānau by default) agree to:
Renounce significant employment rights (freedom of association, salary negotiation, participation in industrial action, limitations on the ability to leave, and the potential compulsion to return to service).
Be subject to military discipline at all times (which is over and above normal consequences expected by employees from their employers).
And can be compelled to:
Be away from home, or to shift their home base, to undertake their duties – for days, weeks, months or years.
Undertake arduous and hazardous duties up to and including combat operations, which may be life threatening or result in loss of life.
Perform additional duties outside of the scope of their trade, such as security patrolling, assisting with provision of humanitarian aid and disaster relief, military parades, and community outreach.
The impacts of Military service on service members can be significant and include:
Mental and emotional load and or trauma, responding to difficult situations; performing duties that can be emotionally distressing.
Physical injuries and long term health impacts; potential loss of life
The pressure of living under military discipline and the liability of military service at all times
Difficulty establishing and maintaining relationships, starting a family or caring for family members due to uncertainty of establishing a permanent posting location or being prescribed notices to deploy
Moral injury - having to carry out an order that may conflict with the person's values resulting in mental or emotional harm
Limitations on the lives of individuals i.e. travelling to particular countries
Restrictions on leave; can be cancelled and/or called back at short notice due to service restritions
Conflicts between accepting postings and advancing career
Reserve liability; personnel leaving the NZDF can be pulled back in within a certain time period if the need arises.
The impacts of military service on family members can also be significant, and includes:
Mental and emotional load of risks/potential harms to whanau service member and/or difficulty in communicating with or accessing information on whanau service member
Difficulty establishing a permanent family home and or starting a family
Cumulative mental and emotional impacts on children; moving between schools, disruption to routine, interruption to parenting etc.
Families moving to accompany a military partner or family member on posting, or being seperatated by not being able to join a military partner or family member on posting
Difficulty for partners in finding and maintaining a career and the associated financial sacrifice
Impact on family of restritions on personal leave that could be; not granted, cancelled at the last minute or being compelled to return from leave during school/family holidays or family events
Extra childcare arrangements and costs as a result of service requirements, especially when these are at immediate or short notice
Prolonged absences and cumulative service of the serving member impacts cohesive continuity of whanau and community.
The Current Situation
Current wages in the NZDF are up to 28.5% behind the civilian market median.
Due to year on year funding constraints the NZDF has been unable to ensure base salaries have kept pace with wage inflation, or Military Factor regularly reviewed.
For example, the Military Factor was not adjusted for 12 years (from 2012 to 2024) - despite wages inflating 54.4%.
Service personnel currently do not feel that Military Factor adequately compensates them for the liabilities of military service, and base salaries are significantly lower than the civilian market due to the Total Remuneration (TR) model.
The TR model was adopted in 2008, with the Military Factor rolled in as part of the total package used to compare salaries to the wider market, rather than its original intention.
It has led to base salaries becoming more and more out of step with the wider sector, and little attention being paid to the Military Factor itself.