The army needs you… to hire our troops
On Tuesday, we published “Benefit not Burden”, our latest attempt to bring an evidence-based perspective to the sometimes fraught world of supporting the armed forces community.
There are around 6.5m people in this community in the UK. And despite their crucial work, they can inadvertently be at a disadvantage. The mobile lifestyle and the demands of military service can leave them, in comparison to the general population, facing unfair treatment.
Mitigating this disadvantage is the core aim of the Armed Forces Covenant. This is a pledge for organisations to sign to ensure that former armed forces personnel have the same access to services as any other citizen.
In our report from two years ago, “Our Community – Our Covenant”, we researched how local authorities can deliver the pledges that they had made under the Covenant.
Now, in our latest report this week, we tackle how six million organisations which aren’t local authorities can also support the community.
Our research has shown that signing the Covenant is an important step towards a business or public sector employer putting real muscle into supporting the armed forces community.
But disappointingly, only around a quarter of those we surveyed had heard of the Covenant – and less than 10 per cent had actually signed it.
So, a simple first step for any organisation is to look online and begin the conversation with the Covenant team within the Ministry of Defence – it’s very easily found by searching “UK Covenant” on Google.
This isn’t just about supporting our nation’s military – there is a strong business case too.
Our research, conducted by our partners Shared Intelligence with the National Centre for Social Research, found that the benefits of employing former serving members of the armed forces were considerable.
We go as far as to suggest that they give a competitive advantage over businesses that don’t tap into this rich source of talent.
Strong values, loyal, communicative, adaptable – these are some of the descriptions received from employers of ex-serving personnel.
This is a key point for businesses to realise. Recognise that reaching into the armed forces community yields benefits for the employer, and take positive steps towards doing so.
Our research shows that organisations often succeed in their support for the Covenant when the catalyst is within. So identify internally who has that particular passion for the initiative – someone with a family connection maybe, or indeed they might be a former service person themselves.
Taking action to overcome disadvantage is the acid test, and our report offers a few examples of how to do this – from recruitment to workplace mentoring to discount schemes.
Plenty more ideas abound among the alumni of the Employer Recognition Scheme, which I thoroughly commend to any employer.
We are also seeing a more prominent role for umbrella organisations – such as trade federations and chambers of commerce. If they get it, their members are more likely to, and we’d like to see such representative bodies really take up the challenge of supporting the Covenant.
Modern society and the world of work is a challenging environment for a service leaver to enter into.
By taking just a few small steps, such as signing and implementing the Covenant, organisations would not just be delivering our nation’s pledge, morally worthy though that is. They could also enhance their own capability.
Engaging with the armed forces community through the Covenant isn’t a burden – it’s a benefit.