3 ways to invest in veteran employees
How to include veterans and military-connected individuals as part of your diverse and engaged workforce.
In May, we celebrate and recognize the sacrifices made by the members of our nation’s Armed Forces with Military Appreciation Month. If your company has committed time and resources to veteran recruiting or is actively ramping up these efforts, you must also think about ways to invest in their success once they’ve been hired. Here are a few tips and best practices to keep in mind.
Assess your benefits & policies
When fostering a diverse and engaged workforce, actions speak louder than words. With veterans and military-connected individuals, you can take action by integrating more catered benefits into your company offerings. For veterans, group life insurance and health insurance products available can act as valuable supplements to coverage those employees have through the government. If you employ a significant number of veterans or are actively recruiting within that group, you should want to offer benefits exclusive to their circumstances and lifestyle. Not only do many of these options come at lucrative rates, they offer something traditional providers don’t: more comprehensive and personalized customer service features and financial education tools for military-connected employees.
Working from home or in a hybrid model is now commonplace across many industries. Make sure you’re extending all your flexible work options to military spouses and veterans. Providing a serving spouse job security in the face of relocations or allowing a recently-separated veteran the opportunity to find a forever home while maintaining employment at your company goes a long way for the employees and lets your organization retain top talent regardless of location and lifestyle.
Research affinity groups and employee assistance programs and make them known to employees. These can vary in nature but many give veterans direct access to added resources and incentives – everything from referrals to trusted mortgage providers to veteran discounts on gym memberships and easy access to physical and mental health assistance. Show support and appreciation by proactively connecting with affinity groups and making their resources readily available to veteran employees during their onboarding and on a continuous basis through internal communications.
Encourage networking
Many veteran hires will be at a major transition point in their life and career. Taking advantage of existing talents and structures within your organization can help them feel welcome and supported. If your organization employs other veterans or military-connected individuals, consider creating an employee resource group for them specifically. This can be a great space for them to establish mentor relationships, learn about company culture and connect on shared experiences. Company leaders, particularly those involved in human resources and employee benefits decisions should stay in touch with this group. Gathering their feedback and concerns on things like family leave, childcare and training programs can help identify the need for change. Actively listening and reacting to improve and alter company policies will be appreciated by all your employees.
Promote continued education
If your company has committed to increase veteran hiring, you also need a robust education program in place. Providing veterans and military spouses with easy access to certifications, college credits or tuition assistance is always a win-win. They will improve their skills and gain confidence in a new work setting or industry and what they learn will make them a greater asset to your organization. Make sure your HR representatives and anyone mentoring veterans takes the time to ask what they want out of their career in the future and encourage them to think about higher education.
On-job training and development programs catered to new employees of all backgrounds are also essential to maintaining a strong workforce. If you have a network of veteran employees, this is a great opportunity to encourage mentorship within specific teams and departments through training and development programs. Talk with new and old employees and let them participate in the creation of these programs. Their experience can inform decisions on structure, goals and metrics for training and development efforts.
If you’re still building your veteran employee workforce, turn to external organizations and affiliates to augment your offering for these new hires. Companies like American Corporate Partners can assist with mentorship, recruiting, onboarding and more while you establish in-house policies for these efforts..
Engage with other companies and service organizations
Even if your veteran hiring and engagement program is strong, turn outward and seek opportunities to collaborate with local and national service organizations that assist veterans and their families. Countless groups exist with focuses ranging from general awareness and support to industry- or issue-specific. Explore affiliate programs with these organizations to see if they can offer specific services to your veteran employees, such as mental health resources or financial advisory services that will supplement the company benefits provided.
Another great way to keep employees of all backgrounds engaged and further your connection with other local military and community organizations is to provide dedicated annual volunteer hours to employees. Again this is a win-win-win for local nonprofits, veteran employees looking to remain engaged in service and your company as it expands its role as a change-maker for staff and the community.
