By Ryan Blackburn
Nearly 200,000 service members transition out of the military every year and settle into new careers in the civilian workplace. Oftentimes, and for a myriad of reasons, that military-to-civilian career transition can be difficult, whether it is translating skills, feeling connected to the mission of a new employer or having a support structure in place. Organizations can support these individuals (and their families) through effective Veteran Employee Resource Groups.
What is a Veteran Employee Resource Group?
Employee resource groups are voluntary, employee-led groups that support employees with shared characteristics and life experiences. These groups continue to grow and expand in most organizations today. Veteran employee resources groups (VERGs) are those which support the military-connected and veteran employees of an organization. VERGs come in all shapes and sizes, and they are not limited to just big corporations or organizations with a huge veteran employee footprint. And while there is no one VERG that looks exactly like another, organizations can follow certain steps to create and implement a successful resource group for veterans.
What does a VERG do?
Based on the needs of an organization, the industry in which they operate in or the size of the company, VERGs can accomplish a variety of undertakings to help the employees as well as the corporation. Some examples:
-
Recruiting assistance: Many HR employees without a military background struggle to translate and understand a military member’s background and their value to the organization. VERGs can be set up to assist HR members at career events, educate HR members on military roles and help translate resumes when military occupations are not understood or communicated clearly.
-
Hosting events: VERGs, like other employee resource groups, can host events within the organization that bring together groups from all backgrounds to better understand and educate non-veterans in the company about the valuable assets veterans bring to the workforce and help dispel myths around military experience.
-
Community engagement: The military community is one that is connected to service, and often veterans in the civilian workplace want to continue to serve. VERGs allow veterans to communicate volunteer opportunities that build camaraderie and strengthen the company’s reputation in the military community.
-
Mentoring: As new veteran employees transition into the civilian workplace, VERGs can provide veteran employee mentors to ease that transition. Veterans that mentor veterans often can speak the language of military transition and ease any concerns as they have already lived and learned from their own experiences.
-
Increase retention: Nearly half of transitioning military members leave their first post-military job within the first year. VERGs can support veterans during that crucial first year of transition to help with retention. One out of four veterans state they stick with an employer past that first year due to the support from a VERG. And once they get past that first year, veteran employees are more likely than non-veteran employees to stick around for the long term. (Veterans in the Workplace 2016 - Hiring Our Heroes; Veterans in the Workplace 2023 - Hiring Our Heroes).
Steps to Create a Successful VERG
Identify the Need
Every organization is different. Determine what your organization wants to accomplish with a VERG, whether it is from the list above or something else specific to your business.
Find the Executive Sponsor
Employee resource groups take time, resources and often a financial commitment from leadership. Find the right executive to be the voice of the VERG, communicate with leadership and provide support to the group when needed.
Identify Veteran Leaders
This might be the most crucial step and, if overlooked, often leads to the failure of the VERG. As the VERG is being created, make sure to find employees that can take leadership roles within the group. Leading a VERG takes time, resources and a commitment that employees, and their superiors, need to understand from the onset.
Train VERG Staff
Make sure the leaders of the VERG understand their roles, whether it’s recruiting members, developing programs or managing events.
Recruit Members
Invite members of the company to join and DO NOT limit the VERG to just veteran employees. Often, VERGs consist of more non-veterans than veterans, such as military spouses, family members of veterans or employees who just want to support the veteran community.
Create Mission/Structure
Once the right individuals are in the right place, determine the mission, values and structure of the VERG. How often do you meet? In person or hybrid? What is the VERG going to be called? This can often be a fun exercise to get members involved and connected early in the development of the VERG.
Implementation
The fun part — start accomplishing what the VERG was created to do!
Measure Success
An important step, especially to leadership, is to find a way to measure success and return on investment for your VERG. This will help demonstrate the value of the VERG to your executive sponsor and find other opportunities that may exist for your VERG to be involved in.
Capitalize on Momentum
Once the VERG is set up and operating, capitalize on that early momentum to keep it going. Keep the meeting cadence strong so employees continue to feel connected to the VERG and willing to support future efforts.
Share Your Success!
Now that you’ve succeeded in developing and implementing a successful VERG, share your lessons learned and best practices with other organizations so we can continue to support the military and veteran community!
Resources for Veteran Employee Resource Groups:
Veterans Workforce Team, Ohio Department of Veterans Services
Hiring Our Heros ResourcesPsychArmor
Ryan Blackburn is a U.S. Air Force veteran, 2020 graduate of the John Glenn College of Public Affairs Military to Civilian Leadership Certificate Program and director of projects and programs for JobsOhio – Military and Federal Installations.