The One Fingered Salute

As a young corps officer, Athol Hendrickson hated writing reports for DHQ. He always said that if he was ever in a position to do anything about the amount of paperwork officers were required to do, he would.

Now, as the newly-installed Secretary for Business, Lieut-Colonel Hendrickson has a goal to reduce the number of reports required of COs by twenty percent in the next three years.

“We’re going to be conducting a fairly comprehensive review into the desk work our officers are doing. It was ridiculous thirty years ago, and it’s only gotten worse.”

When asked what sorts of things might be included in the review, Lieut-Colonel Hendrickson pointed us to Phase One of the plan. “We’ve got to find out exactly what officers are doing on the ground. No one person in any Headquarters actually knows the full range of paperwork required of COs. So we’re going to do some research to see what’s actually going on. We’re going to find out who’s asking for paperwork, the number of reports required per month, the amount of time officers take to complete their reports, and the amount of paper used. Phase Two will look at what the various Headquarters do with the reports once received and how much useful information is gleaned from them.”

The Salute was interested to know how this research would be conducted.

“Phase One will take a year. Officers will submit a questionnaire every two weeks about the forms they’ve had to fill out. It’ll cover all the aspects we’ve identified to ask, as well as give officers space to tell us how the report-writing process affects their work. Do they enjoy it? Does it help them in their work? What would they do with their time if they weren’t writing reports? It’s their chance to tell us what they think.”

The first questionnaires will be posted to COs at the beginning of April. The Salute will be sure to report on the findings as they come to light.

Do you have any thoughts on this process? Do you think the amount of paperwork D/THQ require is too much? Is Lieut-Colonel Hendrickson’s plan going to help? Let us know what you think in the comments. Anonymous commenting is welcome!