Abstract
The Problem
Historical trends reveal that after protracted armed conflict, the U.S. Military has experienced troop reductions (Shanker & Cooper, 2014). Over 200,000 service members from the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have left active duty each year since 2014. For veterans who successfully navigate the hiring process, transitioning into a civilian workplace may prove daunting (Minnis & Wang, 2011), particularly regarding retention. Some studies reveal that nearly half of newly hired veterans left their first post-military job within the first year of hire (Maury, Stone, & Roseman, 2014).
The Solution
This article explored strategic talent management planning considerations and their relationship to military-to-private sector transition processes, from the perspective of the organization and veterans who made successful transitions. Through the utilization of a conceptual framework focused on integrated processes across organizational levels, we suggest that human resource development (HRD) practitioners can effectively integrate veterans into the workplace and assist organizations with maintaining optimally performing workforces by identifying strategic relationships between veteran transition processes and organizational talent management objectives.
The Stakeholders
Through the use of a framework, HRD practitioners enhance their ability to assist organizations in attracting, developing, and retaining veteran talent using a systematic approach.
Historical trends reveal that after protracted armed conflict, the U.S. Military has experienced troop reductions (Shanker & Cooper, 2014). This pattern holds true for veterans of the recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan with an average of 200,000 service members leaving active service each year (Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff [CJCS], 2014). Research suggests that, from a business perspective, veterans are a value-added element of the private sector workforce (Syracuse University, 2012). Recent veterans, which the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) terms as Gulf War II–era veterans (those who served on active duty from September 2001 to present) possess higher levels of education than non-veteran contemporaries, particularly women veterans (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 2011), and are likely to exhibit many of the work characteristics that civilian employers value (Harrell & Berglass, 2012). In efforts to capture veteran talent, some employers have created hiring programs and initiatives specifically designed to capture high-quality veteran talent. For those veterans who successfully navigate the civilian hiring process, transitioning into a civilian workplace may still prove daunting (Minnis & Wang, 2011), as some veterans face not only issues related to finding gainful employment but also issues maintaining post-military employment. Some studies have shown that nearly half of newly hired veterans left their job within the first year of hire (Maury et al., 2014). Given the relative dynamics of Gulf War II–era veterans, the likelihood exists that as veterans transition out of the military, HRD professionals will increasingly engage this population as a source of talent well into the future and therefore should be prepared to manage veteran talent throughout the employee/employer life cycle.
Definitions
The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) suggests that Talent Management is,
Broadly defined as the implementation of an integrated strategies or systems designed to increase workplace productivity by developing improved processes for attracting, developing, retaining and utilizing people with the required skills and aptitude to meet current and future business needs. (Society for Human Resource Management [SHRM], 2016)
We define the term Veteran, using U.S. Code, as “a person who served in the active military, naval, or air service, and who was discharged or released therefrom under conditions other than dishonorable” (38 U.S.C § 101). Transition is defined as “a movement, development, or evolution from one form, stage, or style to another” (“Transition,” n.d.). We describe a successful transition as one in which veterans, who have fulfilled their active military service obligation, returned to the private sector, applied for vacant job positions, and were subsequently hired. In the case of National Guard and Reserves, veterans are service members who fulfilled their deployment service and returned to their place of employment, with the benefit of all rights accorded to them under the provisions of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) of 1994.
Room for Improvement
In recent years, data from the DOL have shown trends toward decreased rates of unemployment among recent veterans to levels statistically similar to that of non-veterans at 4.7% and 4.9%, respectively. However, when categorized by gender, Gulf War II–era female veterans have consistently experienced higher rates of unemployment than male veterans (Walker, 2010). Current data reveal that female veterans also experience higher unemployment rates, 7.3 versus 5.1, than non-veteran females (U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2016).
In earlier years of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, when the first waves of veterans began transitioning into the civilian sector, a major challenge for many businesses and HR practitioners was translating military skills into non-military language (Sargent, 2014). With the advent of skills translation technologies and through cooperative efforts between state, federal, and private entities, many of the issues concerning military-to-civilian job translation were mitigated through effective interventions (CJCS, 2014). However, problems regarding alignment of veteran skills to civilian job requirements persist. A foundational principle of the hiring process is matching the right person to the right job; when employee talent, skills, and interests are misaligned with the requirements of the job, it leads to occurrences of skills mismatch, which, research suggests, directly affects veteran retention (Sarbaugh-Thompson, Thompson, Wolman, & Olson, 1999; Amundson, 2007). In a 2014 study, jointly sponsored by Syracuse University and VetAdvisor, researchers found that 65% of veterans surveyed reported leaving their first post-military job within 2 years of being hired (Maury et al., 2014). The study determined that “Regardless of the number of jobs held, there was an association between job alignment and job tenure with the respondent’s preferred career field” (p. 1). As a strategy to retain qualified veteran talent, the study suggested that HR professionals consider creating veteran-centric career maps to aid in appropriate job alignment and veteran retention.
Studies such as those cited underscore the need for effective integration, development, and retention practices, which, when put into practice, have been shown to result in positive outcomes for organizations and employees (Bauer, 2010). As veterans shift into the private sector, HRD professionals should gain awareness and understanding of their organization’s strategic objectives regarding veteran talent acquisition and its implications; equally important is an awareness of how veterans may view the process of transitioning into the workplace. With knowledge of the transition process from the veteran and employer perspectives, HRD practitioners may affect organizational ability to create effective talent management practices that attract, develop, and retain productive workforces.
Method
To gain insights into the transition process from veterans’ perspectives, we utilized in-depth unstructured interviews and a small-scale purposive sample. Three in-depth unstructured interviews were conducted from April 18, 2016, to April 27, 2016, with veterans who were working at various levels of management in the private sector. We interviewed one CEO in the healthcare industry, one Corporate Executive in the telecommunications industry, and one mid-level executive in the aviation industry. Each interviewee was a combat veteran who worked in organizations consisting of 1,000 or more employees.
For the small-scale purposive sampling, questionnaires were distributed online and in paper format from April 27, 2016, to May 28, 2016. The questionnaire consisted of 18 items that asked veterans questions about their transition experiences into the civilian workplace and demographics. The average time to complete the survey was 6 min. Initially, 40 individuals responded. However, 14 questionnaires were rejected due to incompletion, built-in exclusion criteria (Questions 1 and 2), or administrative errors, and thus the final respondent number of 26 veterans. Every effort was made to mitigate sampling bias; the condition for selection for the survey was that the veteran participated in military operations in Iraq or Afghanistan and subsequently transitioned back into the private sector workplace. It should be noted that, in earlier war years, the umbrella term the Global War on Terror was used that encompassed individuals in support operations around the world.
Demographic characteristics of the group included males (92%) and females (8%), and enlisted members (77%) and officers (23%). Age ranges of respondents were 18 to 24 (0%), 25 to 34 (4%), 35 to 44 (31%), and 45 to 64 (65%). Individuals lived and worked in the United States (Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New York, Texas, Virginia) and in global locations (Germany, Italy, Republic of Korea).
Limitations of the research include the size of the veteran groups surveyed and interviewed. The research was confined to a small purposive sample of, predominantly Army, veterans. Service-specific skill transferability was also a consideration. The condition for the selection for the survey was that the veteran had participated in military operations in Iraq or Afghanistan and subsequently transitioned back into the private sector workplace. Given the plethora of possible variables that could influence attainment of post-military employment, a job search may have been influenced by the transferability of occupational specialty skills unique to a given branch of service.
The geographic dispersion of respondents was a limitation in that local and regional economies influence the job search process and type of employment obtained. The small number of participants did not represent the demographic composition of each of the five branches of the military that have taken part in combat operations since 2001. In addition, other factors may have directly or indirectly influenced veteran employment. Variables such as individual aptitude, employment preferences, and many other reasons may have influenced post-military employment dispositions.
Veteran Integration Strategy Framework
Based on our review of the relevant literature and the results from a small, but purposive study sample, we offer a conceptual framework as a guide for HRD professionals to plan and track the progress of the veteran integration initiatives. We suggest that there are three interconnected phases of interaction between the veteran and HRD processes—anticipate, maintain, and sustain phases, which facilitate an understanding of the veteran’s transition into the organization. Understanding the flow of transition enables HRD practitioners to serve the organization and veteran best through the timely application of planned activities or interventions. These phases are general, in the sense that many talent management models (e.g., Ashton & Morton, 2005; Bersin, 2010; Christensen, 1997; Weiss, 1999) address various aspects of the continuous activity that occur throughout the employer–employee life cycle. Viewing the phases from the perspective of the organization, HRD function, and worker levels create a conceptual framework from which the practitioner may affect the veteran transition process using a systematic approach.
As illustrated in Figure 1, the framework, although not all-encompassing, focuses on integration processes from three organizational levels: strategic, operational, and tactical. These perspectives, used in the private sector and the military alike, refer to the levels of an organization at which decisions are made and/or activities planned.
Veteran integration strategy framework.
In a military context, these levels are known as the levels of warfare and refer to synchronization of efforts, which “link tactical actions to achievement of national objectives” (U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, 2013, pp. 1-7). In a private sector business context, these perspectives correspond to the three levels at which interrelated business activity simultaneously occurs, as observed in Rummler and Brache’s (2013) nine performance variables. Where strategic, operational, and tactical levels are used in the military context, Rummler-Brache utilizes organization, process, and job/performer labels, respectively.
Discussion
Employee Value Proposition
Insights into the framework concept are best understood when viewed from a linear hiring process orientation, with the anticipate phase signaling pre-hire actions taken by the organization. Extensive research has shown that veterans largely add value to the workplace (Syracuse University, 2012). According to a study sponsored by the Center for a New American Security, researchers found that veterans entered the workplace with many of the desirable qualities and attributes companies look for in new hires, such as leadership, teamwork, and adaptability (Harrell & Berglass, 2012). Therefore, HRD practitioners should prepare for the likely encounter with veteran job applicants.
The veteran’s relationship with the organization begins at the point of the job search, which may be initiated through contact with a company’s website, social media, personal or professional networks, recruiters, or interaction with its employees. Both the veteran and company are in the anticipate phase. During this phase, the organization, through its talent acquisition processes, is simultaneously reaching out to potential talent sources. Organization-level activities in this phase may include the establishment of systems that create value for stakeholders and provide resources that support local, regional, or global talent acquisition strategies. During this phase, HRD practitioners may engage in activities such as strategic workforce planning, human capital management activity, and other facilitative activities that support organizational objectives. The anticipate phase, for veterans, is the period they begin searching for post-military employment. In the case of veterans affiliated with the National Guard or Reserve forces, this may be the period in which they prepare to return to a job.
During this phase, organizations must ensure that job requirements are validated, and the veteran applicant’s skills align with position requirement to preclude skills mismatch, which, to a larger extent, also include consideration of the veteran’s talents and interests. It is not clear that veterans primarily seek employment with organizations that sponsor veteran hiring programs or initiatives (Veteran Friendly). However, anecdotal evidence suggests that many veterans do not want jobs that they view as charity or handouts for their service (Schultz & Chandrasekaran, 2014). When asked about the method by which their employer hired them, 62% of veterans in the sample group indicated that they were not hired through company-sponsored veteran programs or initiatives. This finding corresponds with other research such as that conducted by the SHRM that showed that only 45% of companies made specific efforts to recruit and hire veterans, and 42% indicated that they made no specific efforts to recruit and hire veterans and had not planned to (SHRM, 2012).
These findings raised the question of whether veteran hiring programs were a general best practice. In considering the efficacy of company-sponsored veteran programs, Greg Gardner, a combat veteran, now a senior executive with NetApp, a Fortune 500 company, observed that
It comes back to the purpose of a private sector organization, the purpose is to grow the business, increase revenue, and profit, and therefore increase stockholder value for that company; that’s the bottom line, that’s the reason private companies exist. Therefore, veterans programs must be clear-eyed, and understand the value of the program. If veterans programs can be shown to provide distinct value to the private sector company and do it in a way that helps the company grow, then that is useful, and it’s a very positive thing. (G. Gardner, personal communication, April 18, 2016)
Integration and Development
Once hired, the veteran’s relationship with the organization shifts to the maintain phase, where “onboarding” is an organizational, or systems activity. At the strategic level, activity is oriented toward the maintenance of efficient and effective talent management functions that support its operations. Organizational activities may include monitoring and regular assessment of talent management systems and other processes. Sir Andrew Likierman (2007), Dean of the London Business School, suggests that in measuring talent management, organizations should consider developing “a set of ‘monitorable’ milestones to show comparisons with the original plans” (p. 47). A caveat here would be a lack of industry standards by which to measure veteran programs or initiatives—standards would necessarily be internal to the organization.
The onboarding process represents a key touchpoint for the HRD function and the veteran, as the quality of the onboarding is a key factor in determining the success of the veteran’s total transition into the organization. According to Mary Gowan, Chair of the SHRM Foundation Research Evidence Committee, onboarding “helps new hires adjust to the social and performance aspects of their jobs so they can quickly become productive, contributing members of the organization” (Bauer, 2010, p. V). HRD activities may include ensuring access to the company’s learning and knowledge management resources to help facilitate the transition. Computer and Internet access may be considered innocuous activity, but some experts consider the lack of employee access to enterprise knowledge/learning management systems a threat to the organization (Kisielnicki & Sobolewska, 2010).
Onboarding processes vary by organization, with some lasting a few weeks to many months, while other programs, as in the case of the toy manufacturer Radio Flyer, may last as long as a year or more (Dixon, 2016). For newly hired veterans, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, for example, maintains a 6-month onboarding program, which varies only slightly in content from its onboarding program for its non-veteran new employees (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 2014, 2015). Maintaining an effective program enables companies to assist the veteran in making a successful transition into the organization. Among the many companies that sponsor veteran-centered onboarding programs, three onboarding practices or themes were common: (a) the buddy team concept, for a period the veteran is partnered with a fellow veteran; (b) the use of employee resource/affinity groups comprising other service veterans, and (c) the use of mentors, where the veteran is assigned a mentor (which may not necessarily be someone who served in recent conflicts or have military experience).
From an HR perspective, it is not unusual to onboard transitioning veterans into the company under existing processes as opposed to creating unique veteran-centered programs. For example, among our sample group of veterans who worked in organizations with 1,000 or more employees, 80% indicated that their organization had no veteran-specific onboarding practices; of the entire sample group, the number was 73%. This finding suggested that the utility of veteran-centered onboarding may have had internal relevance to the individual organization.
Veterans Who Do Not Self-Identify
In designing or maintaining employee and leader development initiatives, the HRD practitioner should be aware that some transitioning veterans choose not to self-identify as veterans or, in some cases, decide to enter the organization through programs other than those that may be veteran focused. An example of this practice was illustrated in the case of Francene Duncan, a former Army Medevac Pilot, and now Manager for Aftermarket Proposals at Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation. Duncan’s company brought her into the organization under its MBA Leadership Development Program. After completing the program, she circulated through several business divisions for periods of 3 to 8 months, which is a common succession practice for high potentials. Duncan made a conscious effort not to self-identify, as some veterans do, for reasons important to her. Regarding her preference for entering her organization under a non-veteran-focused program, Duncan stated,
When I initially transitioned, I specifically sought out recruiting companies that were for Veterans. This is a resource that is a huge player in placing Veterans in roles that are suited for them and companies that are looking for specific qualities from a military officer. It is a great opportunity to get your foot in the door of corporate America, where you may not have any connections. However, I eventually began to lean more towards the companies that were not so connected to the Government, so I could “fully transition” out of the military. (F. Duncan, personal communication, April 27, 2016)
By providing developmental opportunities, the organization, and the veteran benefit. Duncan’s pathway into the corporate sector is not dissimilar to that experienced by many junior and mid-level military leaders, primarily mid-level officers and noncommissioned officers who enter the corporate setting. Many companies recognize the skills and attributes that these leaders possess and attempt to capture that talent when individuals are near the end of their service obligation and must decide to stay in the military or pursue options in the private sector. Companies such as General Electric, Enterprise Rental Cars, USAA, General Motors, Deloitte, Wal-Mart, Shell, Amazon, and PricewaterhouseCoopers utilize various incentives to attract high-quality mid-level officer and noncommissioned officer talent.
Veterans as Executives
As a unique subset of transitioning veterans, senior military leaders frequently enter the workplace as externally hired executives. These individuals often do not have the benefit of established private sector networks. From an HRD perspective, senior military veteran onboarding may require the assistance of executive-level HR professionals such as Chief Human Resources Officers or Vice Presidents of Human Resources. According to Dori Meinert (2015), Senior Writer/Editor for HR Magazine, senior HR leaders contribute to onboarding external executives in four ways: handling administrative aspects of the change, serving as internal advisors to the outgoing CEO, facilitating communication between board members and senior managers, and helping the new CEO strengthen senior managers’ teamwork. The nature of executive reception and integration necessitates practitioner familiarity with executive and leader development. In organizations where formal executive development programs may not exist, HRD practitioners may assume facilitative roles in executive development by providing assistance with self-directed learning and other leader developmental opportunities.
Time Constraints and High Expectations
Extended onboarding is not the norm for executives. Experts suggest that senior executives are expected to begin influencing their organizations within the first few months on the job. Michael Watkins (2013), author of The First 90 Days: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter, states, “No matter what kind of transition you’re making, by roughly the three-month mark key people in the organization – your bosses, peers, and direct reports – typically expect you to be getting some traction” (p. 13).
The 90-day timeframe is a widely accepted standard for executives. In the book, Before Onboarding: How to Integrate New Leaders for Quick and Sustained Results, executive consultant, and former military officer, Michael K. Burroughs (2011) suggests that one way to assist in successful executive transition is for new leaders to undergo an integration process he termed as pre-boarding. Burroughs explains pre-boarding as a collaborative process between the new leader, a process consultant, and the new leader’s boss.
Burroughs (2011) states that pre-boarding
Typically begins the day an offer is accepted, reaches a high point by the end of the new leader’s first day on the job, and culminates 90 days later after a series of follow-up meetings at 30-day intervals with the process consultant, new leader, boss, peers and direct reports. (pp. 4-5)
Self-Directed Rapid Assimilation
Executive onboarding requires significant preparation from all stakeholders to enable a newly hired executive to successfully transition and contribute effectively. The primary responsibility for preparing for a new leadership position rests with the individual executive; therefore, the executive must be capable of self-directed rapid assimilation to contribute to the organization quickly.
Self-directed rapid assimilation, as used in this article, is an amalgamated term we use to refer to the quick development and adjustment of a characteristically effective leader into a new position. Self-directedness, a principle of Malcolm Knowles’ adult learning theory, or andragogy, relates to the notion that adults, over time, develop a “self-concept” of their own learning needs, which generates a desire to assume personal responsibility for what they want or need to learn (Knowles, 1975). The rapid assimilation of information refers to a cognitive processing ability, which itself is nested in the larger theory of accelerated learning—a process that involves an active engagement of all areas of the brain used to learn new information (Fairbanks, 1997). Therefore, the model external executive candidate would characteristically possess the ability to quickly synthesize what needs to be learned about a new organization, within a condensed planning horizon, given little to no guidance. An example of this concept was illustrated in the case of Jerry Penner, a combat veteran, now Chief Executive Officer of Murray-Calloway County Hospital. When asked how he made a successful transition from military to private sector leadership, Penner stated,
I was motivated by a challenge. In a perfect world, you’d wish you had someone [an incumbent] who you could have a little overlap time with, but how many times do we go into a job where there’s an incumbent; you are it. You are drinking from a fire hose, you have to learn everything you can about the position and company, and oh, by the way, you’ve got two weeks to get all of this done. As I was going through it [onboarding], I always had someone that I could go back to and ask a question; maybe it was a board of trustee member, or maybe it was the chairman of the board, that I’d ask if I was traveling in the right direction, and if I hit all the right flags what else would they like for me to do. I paid an awful lot of attention when they sat down with me and said, Jerry, this is what we want from our CEO. From there I put together a strategic plan based on some of the same processes I had learned in the military, such as use of the Balanced Scorecard concept, and that is one of the things we now use here. (J. Penner, personal communication, April 21, 2016)
Penner’s case illustrates the type and level of coordination, experiential judgment, and application of what Revans termed action learning, which is necessary for an effective executive-level transition within the first months on the job (Revans, 2011). Whereas many nonexecutives routinely undergo formal onboarding, probationary periods, or other integration activities during the first 90 days or more, executives essentially use the time to prove themselves. When equipped with sufficient knowledge about the new position and company, a skilled executive is better positioned to make a rapid assimilation into the organization.
Supporting the Long-Term Organization Outlook
As veterans transition from onboarding and other assimilative activity, they enter into the sustain phase, at which point, the veteran may be considered by the company to be fully integrated. This phase is not an endpoint, but part of a broader organization development continuum that encompasses aspects of engagement, performance management, professional development, and retention-oriented activities, which are supported throughout the employee/employer life cycle.
During the sustain phase, organizations are concerned with providing resources necessary to strengthen major systemic operations. For example, a company may be concerned with the evaluation of its strategic talent management function, sustaining gainful processes, or making what Swanson and Holton (2009) refer to in Foundations of Human Resource Development as “Whole System Changes” (p. 293). Organizations may assess enterprise functions, examine returns on their investments for programs (such as veteran hiring initiatives), examine business analytics, and evaluate strategic goals related to system-wide functions. At the operational level, HR/HRD professionals may represent the organization, or coordinate support to veterans and other interest-based employee groups (also known as affinity groups or employee resource groups), which, research has shown, can create significant organizational value (Welbourne & McLaughlin, 2013). Conventional metrics such as turnover rates, retentions thresholds, cost per hire, quality-of-hire data, for example, are also common measures of effectiveness at this level for veterans’ initiatives and other human capital metrics (Dooney, 2014).
At the tactical level, communication with the transitioned veteran is central to identifying needs and helps to sustain an environment that supports employee career development, engagement activities, work–life balance initiatives, retention, productivity, and performance management functions among other factors. As veterans become integrated into the environment and the proverbial newness wears off, they may find it valuable to utilize services of the organization’s employee assistance programs (EAPs). Depending on assigned areas of responsibility, EAP management may fall under the auspices of the HR function; therefore, HRD practitioners must maintain an awareness of company-sponsored programs and measures (Rothermel, Slavit, Marlo, & Dan, 2008).
From a Veteran’s View
A key benefit of continuous communication at the tactical level is the identification of high-potential talent for organizational succession planning. Communication at the tactical level allows the organization to listen to the voice of the veteran that supports the prospect of success in retaining high-quality high-potential veterans. Organizations considering creating or maintaining veteran-focused programs should consider veteran input into their analyses. Figure 2 shows the results of a survey question that asked veterans in our sample group to rank order 10 workplace factors they considered of relative importance in a private sector workplace.
Veteran expectations of private sector employers.
The majority of veterans identified respect and fair treatment as most important. These types of inquiries illustrate the benefit of tactical level communication in career planning and sustaining mutually beneficial relationships. The rank order question corresponded to a question earlier in the survey, in which the sample group was asked, “When you conducted your job search, how important was it to you that the organization you worked for be designated/identified as a veteran-friendly company?” A total of 39% of the respondents said it was “important,” 35% said it was “neither important nor unimportant,” and 15% indicated it was “unimportant.”
As a result of the answers to the responses to earlier questions regarding veteran-friendly workplaces, a follow-up survey, was distributed online from September 25, 2016, to October 15, 2016, which yielded a 30% response. The participants were provided with our definition of a “veteran-friendly workplace,” which was stated as, “For the purpose of this questionnaire, we define a Veteran-Friendly workplace as an organization that has designed, developed and instituted programs and initiatives to attract and retain talent from sources in the veteran population.” We then asked the participants to choose among four answers that they considered best represented their opinions on selecting a veteran-friendly workplace relative to other workplace factors. The options (with corresponding answer percentages) were as follows:
Whether a company was advertised as a veteran-friendly organization simply was not a factor in my job search activity (57%).
Whether a company was advertised as a veteran-friendly organization was a factor, but was not as important as other factors presented (43%).
That fact that a company advertised themselves as veteran friendly caused me not to consider them in my job search; in other words, it was a turn-off to me (0%).
Other (0%).
The relevance of the question as to whether veterans preferred veteran-friendly workplaces illustrate the idea that communication with the veteran at the tactical level of the sustain phase yields reliable unfiltered information from which to facilitate strategic planning.
Conclusion
Businesses recognize veterans as a viable source of high-quality talent. The value of establishing a veteran initiative is organization specific, and many companies do not use veteran programs to attract and retain qualified veterans. There is no single, widely accepted standard for veteran-focused programs and process; however, there are some techniques that were commonly observed across the business spectrum. For companies that utilize them, veterans programs vary in scope and purpose and are configured to fit the business needs and strategic goals of the individual organization. From a talent management perspective, the development of veteran programs involves the same business decision-making processes that determine the allocation of resources as other non-veteran-related initiatives. We found no special veteran-specific techniques or tactics associated with creating, resourcing, measuring, or evaluating veteran initiatives.
Seeking input from employees who are veterans and may, or may not, be associated with existing veteran employee resource groups, and the like, as a resource for planning veteran initiatives may be beneficial, but, as a business tactic, such employee input is essentially no different than hiring external consultants, which may be more costly. Reviews of relevant literature, personal interviews, and examination of available company information showed that organization-sponsored veterans’ initiatives did not necessitate systemic changes to existing organizational talent management processes.
Companies with efficient acquisition, development, and retention practices, indicative of what Peter Senge (1990) termed as learning organizations, were able to incorporate support for veterans’ initiatives into their business practices through the utilization of existing infrastructure and technologies. In addition to those practices mandated by law, existing institutional knowledge necessary to support veterans’ initiatives included consultative assistance, as in the case of Employer Support of the Guard and Reserves (ESGR) and compliance assistance, such as that offered by the DOL’s Veterans’ Employment and Training Service. Essentially, no companies in this study were discovered to have changed systemic talent management process to accommodate or create veteran initiatives. Accordingly, there were no new or emerging techniques discovered to measure the success of veteran programs other than conventional analytics in common use.
As veterans re-enter the workplace, HRD practitioners endeavor to identify strategic relationships between veteran transition processes and strategic talent management goals and objectives. Within the context of talent management, use of a veteran integration strategy framework may assist practitioners in developing a systematic approach to affecting veteran transitioning processes through the timely application of planned activities and interventions.
HRD Implications
This article addressed the subject of talent management and its direct relationship to veteran transition. Prior research has examined aspects of both as separate areas of study, with some overlap, these areas as integrated processes have received little attention, however. Information in this article contributes to understanding veteran transitioning within the context of talent management and is intended to contribute to the HRD body of knowledge regarding veterans in the private sector workplace.
As there is no single model or standard set of best practices for veterans programs, the creation of organization-sponsored programs and initiatives should be undertaken with consideration given to the inclusion of the voice of the veteran and informed by research and thorough analyses. It was observed that veterans did not primarily seek to work for organizations with veterans programs, and some veterans chose not to self-identify during and after the hiring process. Some veterans, particularly former midlevel officers and noncommissioned officers, entered organizations through programs other than those that were veteran focused. The fact that many veterans did not self-identity may be an area for which more extensive study may be warranted. A prevalent theme among some veterans was a preference to enter the workplace under the same standards as non-veterans.
When compared with other factors, veterans ranked working for a veteran-friendly company relatively low among choices of preferred private sector workplace conditions. This result supports the necessity for HRD practitioners to perform continuous assessments of veteran initiatives and programs to ensure viability and appropriate allocation of organization resources. To preclude perceptions of charity, it is important that companies apply the same standards and due diligence during veteran acquisition processes as they would with non-veteran talent pools—the difference being the source of talent. Support programs and initiatives for veterans varied by business and ranged from small tokens of appreciation such as providing lapel pins on Veterans Day to employee veterans, to more comprehensive corporate social responsibility initiatives such as building dwellings for homeless veterans. HRD professionals should endeavor to create and sustain alignment of veteran initiatives with the organizational talent management strategies.
Executive-level veterans were a unique subset of the veteran population. Many executives are former senior military officers and noncommissioned officers with substantial leadership experience and years in the military. Senior military leaders enter the workforce, in many cases, through the same processes as non-veteran externally hired executives. Unlike junior military members, many senior members do not undergo lengthy orientation processes and must often use what would be considered an onboarding period, to exhibit discernable action. Senior military members enter the workplace primarily in a dual external status. Like many of their non-veteran counterparts, they are external to the organization; however, they are also external to private sector executive leadership. Recognizing the dual external status of executive-level veterans, practitioners should endeavor to coordinate early engagement and assessment of learning and development needs of transitioning executive-level veterans. Executive education for senior military veterans is an area worthy of further empirical research, as we feel it will be beneficial to the field of executive learning and development.
By the time veterans have completed formal onboarding processes, they may be considered by organizational standards, to be fully transitioned. However, there may be a dissimilarity between the point at which an organization determines veterans to be transitioned and the point at which the veterans may feel as if they have transitioned. Thus, the notion of a fully transitioned or integrated veteran may be a personal benchmark. Further research is necessary to determine the utility of identifying a threshold at which transition into the private sector by veterans is considered complete. We believe that additional research will broaden HRD practitioners’ acumen and strategies for supporting veterans transitioning into the civilian workforce and enhance their ability to add to the HRD body of knowledge.
Footnotes
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.