How to Include Veterans in Your DEI Plan
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Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives are directed toward several diversity groups based around classifications such as culture, age, gender, sexuality, disability, race, nationality, and pregnancy. It is imperative to include veterans in this group. The men and women who make up the United States military as members of our Navy, Army, Marines, Coast Guards, Air Force, Space Force, National Guard, and Reserves dedicate their lives and time to serving us.
Of the millions who join, a significant number of them return to civilian life needing jobs. The unemployment rate for male veterans was 6.5% in 2020, and for female veterans, it was 6.7%. Although veterans bring some of the most sought-after hard and soft skills to the hiring pool, many find work as a civilian can be a struggle. There can be a lack of understanding of getting veterans employed from both the organizational side and on the veteran side.
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Many organizations looking for diverse hires do not know how to find veterans or connect with them. In addition, many veterans have trouble adjusting to professional culture outside the military. Despite these challenges, it can be beneficial to take the time to create strategies to hire, engage, and retain veterans.
Understanding the Transferable Skills of Veterans
Veterans bring a wealth of knowledge and skills from their military experience. They are thrust into fast-paced, high-pressure, competitive environments during their military careers. They learn the structure and must quickly develop time management and organizational skills. They must constantly balance performing their jobs at a high standard while learning new skills. Then, they must still participate in professional development activities. This creates a strong work ethic and an ability to reach goals.
Along with the particular hard skills they learn for their military jobs, veterans also bring soft skills, such as problem-solving, critical thinking, teamwork, adaptability, and leadership. In addition, the military is highly multicultural, and many veterans are from foreign countries or come from families from foreign countries. This gives them international skills and means that they know how to work in a diverse setting and speak additional languages. These are some of the most highly desired skills among employers.
READ: DEI: How to Build an Inclusive Climate in the Workplace
Recruiting Veterans for Employment
Every organization needs to have a DEI strategy for creating a work environment that is diverse, productive, and engaged. DEI strategies often target all diversity groups, but there are some specific strategies organizations can use to make sure that they target veterans.
One of the most critical aspects of recruiting veterans is making certain veterans know you want them. Utilize veteran-specific job search websites or social media pages, such as LinkedIn to let the world know you're hiring veterans. Develop relationships with military-based programs and resource providers in your community.
Organizations can also utilize referral programs, in which employees are rewarded when they bring in new hires. These can be targeted towards members of diverse groups, such as veterans, or ask current veteran employees to refer other veterans.
Engaging Veterans in Your Organization
Engaging veterans in the workplace means finding ways to encourage them to be committed to the organization's goals. Employees need to feel they belong and that they are an essential part of the team. This is especially important for veterans because they understand the importance of teamwork.
Providing opportunities for veteran employees to work on team-based projects is a great way to engage them. Organizations can also partner with veteran-friendly companies or nonprofits that benefit veterans to provide resources or produce events that engage veterans. It's also helpful to ensure that their role is well-structured and clearly outlined.
They should understand how their position helps them grow or reach their goals. Lastly, set them up for success. Please provide them with the tools and knowledge needed to exceed expectations.
Understanding Bias Toward Veterans
An important factor in recruiting, hiring, engaging, and retaining veterans is understanding how to prevent bias. Bias refers to people's conscious or unconscious judgments that are a result of our own experiences or cultural background.
These judgments are often harmful to diversity initiatives because they limit our ability to see people as individuals with unique talents to contribute. For example, bias against veterans includes assuming they have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or mental health problems just because of their military background, assuming they have a particular personality type, such as being rigid or stern. Some may assume that they do not have the skills to work outside of a military setting. It's essential to put assumptions aside and ask meaningful questions to learn the truth instead.
There are many benefits to including veterans as part of your DEI strategy. When organizations increase the diversity of their staff, they grow, and they save money. Different cultural backgrounds in the workplace create an environment with several talents and many problem-solving perspectives.
The most significant benefits of hiring veterans include the many skills that they bring. Soft skills and engagement are often the most critical determining factors of employee success. Hiring veterans increase your human capital value and provide tax breaks for your company. If your company can apply veteran skills to hiring needs and effectively recruit and engage veterans, they can contribute to your organization in invaluable ways.
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