HR leaders can build a workplace where veterans can thrive

Imagine hiring an employee who speaks a different language and expecting them to excel at their job without translating their training—you can’t, right? Well, for many military veterans, transitioning to a civilian job may feel something like that.

Up to 72% of US veterans experience high levels of stress during the transition to civilian life, according to the Clinical Psychology Review. Transition-related stress impacts post-9/11 veterans more than those who served during previous conflicts, the authors wrote, and can make finding and keeping civilian work challenging.

That’s where Tom Kastner comes in. A Navy veteran, he’s currently the VP of financial wellness at Wounded Warrior Project, where he oversees the Warriors to Work program. Since 2009, the program, which offers training and transition support to vets seeking employment, has helped 21,525 warriors and members of their families, according to Kastner via a follow-up email by PR rep Bill Smith. It has also worked with HR leaders to provide workplaces the support and resources they need to welcome and help veterans thrive.

Kastner spoke with HR Brew about how HR pros can better accommodate veterans.

What is the Warriors to Work program?

A team of specialists across the country that work with warriors to get them to find a suitable, acceptable, and satisfying job placement, and we spend a lot of time on employment readiness. First we spend some time in discovery. What is it you want to do? What are your skill sets?…Then we of course work with the résumé and the traditional things to make sure that they’re ready to do an interview.

At the same time, we’re coaching employers and answering their questions about how each can prepare themselves to be in a better position to hire veterans.

What makes veterans valuable assets to the civilian workforce, and why should HR prioritize hiring them?

It’s rudimentary stuff like being punctual, being respectful, being able to deal with a little bit of uncertainty and adversity, having a little bit of grit, working well as a member of a team, and being adaptable. Veterans want to serve. They didn’t join the military just because they had nothing else to do. They joined because they wanted to serve; it’s a calling. So, I think employers should harness what veterans bring to the workforce.

Employers will benefit from this infusion of diverse energy, talents, eagerness, and industriousness.

What workplace struggles unique to veterans should HR be aware of?

In the military, things are always taken care of for you. Human resources in a civilian company, in the business sector, looks much different to a soldier or service member [than to a traditional employee]...The language is different…You have to learn a whole new language when you make that transition.

But at a higher level, [vets worry about] how they’ll fit into an organization. That is always a concern, and that’s why [sometimes] we see that veterans in transition, don’t necessarily keep their initial jobs very long. And that can be for a multitude of reasons—perhaps the employer has not hired a lot of veterans and maybe has not readied itself.

What strategies can HR put in place to retain veteran employees?

Consider creating a veteran resource group (VRG), or a mentorship program specifically for veterans, so that as they’re adjusting to the new workplace, the new workforce, their new teammates, they have a support group there that enhances that transition.

The mentorship program could actually be in parallel with the VRG because if you’re coming to work on my team…I can help coach you along and navigate any HR questions or benefits questions or a technical question about the company. In a general sense, convey value and purpose. Recognize the service the veteran performed in uniform to reinforce this idea of value and contributions that the veterans will bring to the company’s mission.