A deep dive into diversity and inclusion

Next to layoffs, talk of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives on the cutting room floor has dominated HR discourse. Following the 2020 police murders of Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd and police killing of Breonna Taylor, companies jumped to attention and started championing the Black Lives Matter movement. Many Black activists were skeptical of performative allyship, but corporate America kept 2020’s energy alive in 2021. 

Then came 2022.

While some reports said employers were narrowing the gap between DEI intention and action, death knells tolled by the year’s end. Published in November 2022, research from Glassdoor indicated that corporate investment in diverse hiring initiatives, pay equity audits and employee resource groups ticked up between 2019 and 2021 — only to fall slightly in 2022. Monster reported that only 5% of recruiters see DEI as one of their top three priorities for 2023. In the same report, 10% of respondents said diversity initiatives are among the “first to go” in bearish economic markets. 

Following this turn in tone, HR Dive spoke to two DEI practitioners who made sense of the less-than-stellar 2023 outlook. 

Thesis No. 1: DEI may not be dead, but it needs a revival.

“It’s not a priority whatsoever,” Randi Bryant, a self-identified DEI disruptor, told HR Dive when asked about her view of DEI progress reportedly stalling. Her theory: Corporate leaders do not see diversity, equity and inclusion work clearly.

“I believe there are a lot of people — particularly people in power – that are so distant from the real picture of the world for everyday people that [they] don't understand how much of a priority it must be. I believe a lot of leaders see it as a ‘soft area,’” she said. “It’s something that they do to be kind to their employees. And they don't realize that DEI is absolutely necessary for the employees to be kind to each other.”

Bryant also described the need for a DEI revival in the truest sense of the word — “To restore to consciousness or life; to restore from a depressed, inactive, or unused state: bring back; to renew in the mind or memory,” according to Merriam-Webster. In her experience as a DEI consultant, Bryant has found corporate leadership sees DEI as “altruistic, like a social responsibility, or they see it as marketing.” 

“I have been involved in so many companies where it is important to them to look like they care about creating diverse, equitable and inclusive environments,” she said, “but not actually creating them.”

Thesis No. 2: DEI is changing faces

DEI is on HR’s “short list” for 2023, according to Cinnamon Clark, McLean and Company’s practice lead of diversity, equity and inclusion services. But notably, Clark and her team have seen an uptick in HR interest in employee experience. “I think that — and there's lots of evidence to prove that — ‘employee experience’ is the new way of saying inclusion without being off-putting to some audiences,” she told HR Dive.

She noted the “polarized environment” in which HR practitioners are to do inclusion and equity work,  nodding to the Stop WOKE Act and “don’t say gay” laws. “All of those things play into that discomfort and the negative connotations around saying ‘DEI,’” Clark observed.

In February, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott published anti-DEI memo, following former President Donald Trump’s 2020 executive order restricting diversity training. While Clark doesn’t “necessarily agree with” the idea of rebranding DEI objectives as employee experience initiatives, she understands the importance of it.

“If [the term ‘DEI’ is] going to prevent the work from happening, then we have to take an authentic approach based on our stakeholders and based on our audiences, and be very intentional with that,” Clark said.

Solution No. 1: Revisit the business case — maybe

How can the HR professional who wants to pursue DEI proceed in this climate? While many practitioners have argued that the “business case for DEI” can be hollow, centering the financial gains and ROI may be key in a recession-like era.

A Glassdoor economist previously told HR Dive that as reported interest in DEI falls and leadership re-assesses organizational budgets, HR leads would have to plead “a much stronger” case for diversity and inclusion initiatives.

But diversity, equity and inclusion responsibilities should not be pinned solely on HR, Bryant said. Her belief is two-fold: First, DEI issues touch all parts of a business, from supplier diversity, to accessibility in products to creating inclusive workplaces. 

Secondly, in her experience, HR professionals aren’t equipped with the proper training to tackle DEI issues. C-suites should hire chief diversity officers, she recommended, and grant them the same analytical access and powers as CFOs.

Solution No. 2: Know that trust is the real DEI

Both Clark and Bryant underscored the importance of trust for both attracting and retaining talent. If an organization centers trust, the work — be it “DEI” or “employee it experience” — will be carried forward, Clark said. “When you don't feel as though [management has] your back or even more importantly, they understand, then you're reluctant to share those parts of yourself,” she said. Clark added that lack of trust shows up as “lack of engagement, lack of empowerment, lack of innovation,” as well as attrition. 

“We think of these things as one thing in a silo, but really, they're all interconnected and they all contribute to that overall employee experience,” she said.

“It comes down to productivity, and what people will give to you if they feel comfortable and safe and protected — if they feel empowered, if they feel as if they can share their opinion without being criticized, if they feel as if they see someone that looks like them, if they feel as if they can move up,” Bryant added. “I mean, how much effort am I going to put towards working my hardest in order to gain mobility in a company in order to reach the highest areas of success if I don't feel like it's possible, right? Why would I do that?”

Many HR experts tout the benefits of upskilling as a retention tactic. A look into Torani’s recent diverse hiring push paints a slightly different portrait: A company culture of upskilling can help employers reach their diversity goals more rapidly while also sustaining a solid talent pipeline and life cycle.

Torani recently announced that over the past five years, its HR department “has doubled down” on its diverse recruiting efforts. But what does that actually mean? 

The syrup company said it increased representation of women by 625%. Becca Russell, Torani’s chief of people and opportunity development, explained that while half of company leadership has long been women, the demographic was underrepresented in front-line manufacturing and distribution roles. Now, almost 28% of those roles are filled by women — something Torani called an “impressive feat” due to the field’s history as a male-dominated space. 

Adding some context, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest “Women in the Labor Force” count indicates that women are overrepresented in industries like education and health services (where they make up 75% of the workforce). By contrast, women comprise 11% of talent in construction, about 15% of the mining workforce, about one in four transportation and utilities workers, and about 30% of people in manufacturing.

Torani’s own talent overhaul started with the design and launch of its new facility, nicknamed the “Flavor Factory,” in 2020. 

Through automation, Torani made manufacturing work less strenuous for people assigned female at birth. Previously, syrup workflow required thousands of empty bottles to be loaded manually; now they are automatically fed. 

Instead of hand-weighing ingredients, workers handle pre-measured ingredients that are automatically incorporated into mix tanks, via touch-screen machinery. “This shift from demanding physical labor enabled us to diversify our workforce significantly,” Russell told HR Dive via email.

More than mechanics, the people team’s practice of hiring for potential expanded possibilities for women at the company. Russell noted the mass attrition of women from the workforce that continues to take place throughout the pandemic. 

“At Torani the trend was the opposite,” Russell said. By offering the opportunity to upskill as well as flexible roles, Torani’s jobs have “been particularly compelling to women,” she added. Broadly speaking, it’s phenomena like the mass exodus of women from the workforce that have caused benefits such as flexibility — in part to accommodate caregiving demands — to be a top draw in 2022.

Throughout 2022, many high-profile companies have notably been carving out paths forward for caregivers that have stepped away from paid labor and toward their family. Earlier this year PepsiCo followed the lead of Goldman Sachs, IBM and JP Morgan Chase in creating “returnships” to help pick up again with their careers. Likewise, Schneider Electric’s maintained a returnship program, which sought to slowly re-integrate women on hiatus back into the workforce. Like Torani, Schneider Electric also aimed to champion women in spaces where they are underrepresented.

“What sets us apart from many manufacturers is that we are excited to train for manufacturing skills, to help create onramps for prospective team members who normally wouldn’t be qualified,” Russell said in an email.

By offering every temp the opportunity to work at Torani as a traditional employee, the company has also created a sustainable talent pipeline. And as Russell emphasized, there’s a framework at the syrup manufacturer to support upskilling, through L&D programs and something she called “career mixology.”

If a recruiting arm — or even an “HR department of one” — wants to start hiring diverse talent for potential, the character of the candidate should be top of mind, Russell suggested.

“We have a multi-step interview process where every step builds upon the last,” she said. In the first interview, her team shares about their company culture and what the role entails. They also learn about the potential hire, that person’s needs and their desires. 

“We then move onto a group interview process with a diverse panel of Torani team members from across our organization, to ensure we have representation of a variety of experiences and perspectives,” Russell explained. Throughout the process, the Torani team primarily is looking for competencies and values, she said. 

Naturally, Russell spoke to how the hiring push was worth the effort and investment. Front-line “Flavor Factory” workers have drummed up creative ways to reduce down time, for example, with a new break schedule. “Our distribution team is finding new ways to pick and ship complex orders each day to better service customers,” she said. “These new ideas come from having diverse perspectives at the table.

LinkedIn recently rolled out Diversity Nudges, a tool the company says will help recruiters improve representation in their talent searchers. For example, someone hiring an electrical engineer, a traditionally male-dominated field, could get a Diversity Nudge suggesting that they add things like data analysis and analytical skills to the posting so more women are included in a candidate search. 

While the tool is new, the concept of diversity nudges is not, said Rachael McCann Jones, senior director and global DEI solutions leader at WTW. Organizations are changing how they’re recruiting and posting jobs to make sure they don’t miss out on candidates because of antiquated biases, she said, whether those biases are intentional or not.

Technology can stop candidates from stopping themselves

LinkedIn said it hopes its new tool will address a problem they found in their own research: that 77% of talent professionals say diversity is very important to the future of recruiting, but 47% believe hiring managers aren’t held accountable when it comes to interviewing a diverse selection of candidates.

To address the problem, hiring managers can revisit job descriptions and look at specific terms and words that may not be inclusive, said McCann Jones.

That could be re-thinking criteria like years of experience and types of experience, which might push candidates into “self-selecting” out, she said. That way, your perfect candidate who has an associates degree plus 20 years of relevant experience won’t pass on your listing because of a bachelor’s degree requirement.

Looking at specific terms should be part of this process, too. For example, women are less likely to apply for jobs whose descriptions include traditionally masculine terms like “aggressive,” “fearless,” and “self-sufficient,” according to a University of Waterloo and Duke University report.  

Alexé Weymouth, director of DEI at Booz Allen, said the company uses an AI tool on their job postings to “weed out gendered terms” and other things that would likely encourage men to apply but maybe lessen the chances that women or historically marginalized communities apply. 

A DEI approach to job listing is just the start

Taking a DEI approach to who is reading and reviewing resumes, and selecting who to bring to the next stage of the recruiting process, is also critical, said McCann Jones. That includes work done internally, externally and by recruiters to make sure their biases, even if unconscious, aren’t pushing them to nix candidates who may have gaps in their work history, non-traditional backgrounds or come from a culture or group the hiring person doesn’t personally know. “What guidance are they being given so they’re not unintentionally excluding candidates who might be a good fit?” McCann Jones said.

Nudges can be deployed to make sure all these things are happening, she added, so that someone doesn’t stop forgetting to check where posts are going or that the same group of people aren’t on every interview panel. It may become second nature, but reminders ensure that things like including employees with different backgrounds and work experience, and at different stages in their careers, on these interview panels becomes standard practice.

Nudging for DEI recruiting only works with executive commitment

But nudges alone also can’t create the kind of top-down DEI commitment that makes equitable recruiting translate to more than just finding more people to interview.

“Requiring training in general becomes a thing you have to do and check the box while doing something else. It doesn’t fundamentally change your behavior,” said Weymouth. “If you really want DEI to work…that should be shared on the shoulders of everyone, not just within the human resources” team. 

But that’s also why a commitment to DEI, in tandem to using technology like AI to strip limiting terms from job listings as part of the recruiting workflow, can be a catalyst to company-wide change. “You start through the process of recruitment and how you evaluate through annual assessments and the review process,” Weymouth said. “You can knit DEI into every other part of the organization, and that’s when you start to see system change.”

Human resources professionals know diversity efforts can fail if not coupled with inclusion initiatives. There are myriad ways employers can work to ensure workers feel a sense of belonging at work, experts say, including through employment benefits.

“Employee benefits play an important role in recruiting talent and upholding the employer brand,” said Samantha Melendez, management consultant on diversity, equity and inclusion for Helios HR. “Those from traditionally marginalized communities often experience social, political, and economic disparities, and denial of participation or exclusion is a common life occurrence.”

An inclusive employee benefits package offers unspoken support and consideration, she explained, developing a sense of loyalty, improving work performance and mitigating stressors.

Know your population

It can be important for HR pros involved in benefits decision-making to have a deep understanding of their workforce. For example, Melendez said, flexible leave programs, flexible scheduling, child care provisions and even on-site day care can go a long way for certain populations.

“Statistically, people of color are more likely to live in multigenerational households, often placing adult employees in the sandwich generation that cares for their parents and own children or dependents,” she explained, adding that caregiving resources or education around flexible spending accounts also could benefit individuals with these duties.

Benefits can serve as a powerful signal that a company values workers’ presence and contributions, according to John Dooney, manager of workforce analytics for the Society for Human Resource Management. Benefits that cover gender confirmation care, for example, demonstrate a commitment to belonging for transgender employees.

Adoption and surrogacy assistance can be of great interest to LGBTQ+ workers, Melendez noted, as well as a gender-neutral parental leave program. “Employers should also work with their carriers to ensure benefits are available for domestic partners of employees and validate and affirm that such relationships are consistent with other spousal relationships,” she said.

Mental health benefits can demonstrate a commitment to disability inclusion, Dooney pointed out. Companies prior to the pandemic, he said, were hesitant to discuss this issue, but since then have become more comfortable both talking about and providing support in this area. While access to more healthcare benefits virtually everyone, it may be especially helpful for neurodiverse individuals.

“One of the things we see is a significant increase in use and value for mental health benefits. No one used to take that seriously, but we see increasing use available of [these services]. It wasn’t a high-use benefit previously, but after the pandemic people saw value in that,” he said. Telemedicine in general, also improves access for a variety of individuals, he said.

Watch for unintended consequences

Just as employee benefits can attract diverse candidates, they can have the opposite effect. According to Dooney, a failure to publicly value flexibility may do just that. Many people today, he said, will simply reject a company if it doesn’t have a remote work policy that fits with their lifestyle.

“There are some tasks and jobs where an employee must be in the office and people understand that. But for people who don’t have that restriction, [they ask] ‘why does this company not have this option?’ It could send a signal of being overly controlling, not trusting,” he said. “And even if that isn’t the case the signal is still sent, so if a person is moving companies and looking at their options, that can almost telegraph the culture.”

An employers also may signal that it doesn’t value someone by making decisions about them without them, Melendez said; a company that wants to improve DEI and foster an inclusive and welcoming workplace should take employee consideration into account whenever it renews its benefit structure, which may include discussion of unique new benefits. HR also may need to check for non-inclusive language or images in benefits documents, and consider whether it offers different benefits to different employee groups.

“Transparency with employees is vital when exploring benefits, making changes or deciding not to make desired changes due to cost,” Melendez said. If an HR team is consistently fielding benefits questions, that likely means employees don’t know what’s available, she continued. “Having a compassionate HR team who [is] available to discuss employee options will go a long way. Employers should also lean on their brokers and carriers for information related to mental health, family expansion, caregiving and financial resources,” she said. 

Get creative

While a large organization might have plenty of room to maneuver in offering or modifying benefits, a smaller one may be more constrained, Melendez noted. This means smaller organizations need to get creative in their benefit offerings, she said, potentially through education.

Members of marginalized groups may not have received the same development opportunities like internships and mentorships that others had, she said. “Offering educational and advancement resources can help bridge the skills gap, giving the employee more confidence in their work performance. Offering industry-specific learning opportunities — such as a book allowance, conference registrations, webinars and training — is a great start,” she continued.

Walk the walk

Employers may need to acknowledge that sometimes benefits may be there on paper but workers don’t feel psychologically safe taking them. Both Melendez and Dooney said managers should lead by example and aim to be seen taking advantage of such benefits; there can be less fear involved in using a benefit if one’s own manager does so as well.

“One of the best solutions is to have managers take the benefit,” Dooney said. “One of the things you see in telework is I’m not teleworking because my manager isn’t. But some companies said, look, you have to telework yourself and communicate that to others.”

It’s not easy being the first at anything, especially in creating an entirely new equity, diversity and inclusion role — at the C-suite level.

But that’s exactly what Audra Jenkins did. In 2017, she was the first person to take on the role of chief diversity and inclusion officer for North America at Randstad, a multinational human resources consulting firm. Not only that, but she was among the first CDIOs in the staffing field. 

In September 2022, she moved into a new position as Randstad’s global chief equity officer. We asked her why she chose to work in HR, what it was like to shape a new role, what she hopes to accomplish in her new position and the importance of DEI work today.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What lead you to a career in HR?

AUDRA JENKINS: I’ve been this underdog my entire life. I didn’t like the way that felt. I wanted to be in a role where I could create spaces for people so they could be seen valued and heard. That’s my passion for this work and for ED&I [equity, diversity and inclusion].

And what brought you to Randstad specifically?

I was referred by a colleague. I had just had my twin infants and was looking to scale back my business travel. It was a great opportunity to work for a specific client and local account. So I joined Randstad and advanced over the years into CDIO and then global chief equity officer.

In your position as CDIO, what did you do?

My biggest role was building up the ED&I capabilities for us internally, but also externally for clients. It was a dual role to create a department and bring some standardization and guidance and governance. It was to shape a culture of inclusion, where people can bring their authentic selves and opportunities to feel like their voice matters. That’s what ED&I is all about. It helps people realize their potential, but also that they also have a place in the organization where they belong.

Were you Randstad’s first CDIO?

I was first CDIO for any major staffing firm in the world. I feel like we’re trail blazers in that space, in bringing this industry of human capital to the forefront of what clients are doing for prioritizing DEI. I had to build this from the ground up, and I didn’t have a peer in the industry who understood. There’s a lot of client services delivery work that you would not see in a typical CDIO role. 

What advice would you give to someone who also wants to pioneer a CDIO role in their field or at their company?

The first thing is you have to look at it as a partnership of HR and business leaders and the organization. We have to really focus in on how do we solve the needs of the business in order be seen as something other than HR. Action has to be embedded and integrated into your business to solve problems and show DEI can impact business. Our team has done a good job at that, and building up that model in North America, and I’m really excited in how we’re able to grow that out at a global scale.

Why is DEI work critical today?

Right now, it’s a storm. We’ve got COVID-19 and long COVID — people are still getting sick. There’s macroeconomic conditions, where everybody’s worried about recession; plus social justice and human rights issues.

Any time that you are silencing someone, or creating an opportunity for someone to be categorized as “other” or outside of mainstream, that’s a very dangerous time. You can’t rewrite history, and you can’t rewrite an experience of a person. That’s why DEI is important. It’s about education and awareness, not about creating divisiveness.

Divisiveness is silencing a whole generation of people. History has shown us that doesn’t work very well. There’s only so much that people will tolerate. Anytime anyone feels they’re not accepted or they’ve been wronged, it’s very difficult for you to be your true self in the workplace and be yourself at the same.

Antisemitism is on the rise, surveys show — and it may be time for employers to speak up, Jonathan Segal, partner at Duane Morris LLP and managing principal of the Duane Morris Institute, told HR Dive.

In 2015, results from the Anti-Defamation League’s Global 100 index of antisemitism shared with HR Dive by Segal showed that 16% of people surveyed globally said that Jews have too much power in the business world. In 2019, the same index showed 35% of people surveyed globally said the same — and that was before the pandemic, which prompted more racist and antisemitic rhetoric to be shared widely.

These conspiracies of control are part of common antisemitic rhetoric that portrays Jews as both vermin but also somehow the group that runs the world in secret, Segal explained. It’s a common form of scapegoating against Jewish people — and one that may explain why calls to respond to antisemitism are often met with less urgency, he said.

“If I see a neo-Nazi, it’s so obvious that it’s hateful and everyone condemns it,” he said. “But there’s an element where it has become … acceptable.” Even in progressive spaces, some people feel comfortable espousing “beyond regressive” views regarding antisemitism.

“It would be naive to assume that the hate we see outside the workplace doesn’t enter the workplace,” he said. But Segal, who is Jewish, said there’s reason for optimism: Even if close to 40% of people espoused antisemitic views, that means 60% of people don’t agree. They simply need to be empowered to speak up.

So how can employers respond most effectively?

First, recognize that this may be the moment to make a statement if a company never has before. Just as the Harvey Weinstein revelations opened the door to conversations around sexual harassment at work and the murder of George Floyd prompted employers to speak out about racism, recent comments by Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) valorizing Adolf Hitler may give employers impetus to raise their voices. “I think we are at that kind of moment now with antisemitism,” Segal said.

When making a statement, make it a clear statement about opposing antisemitism. Avoid generalizing the issue into racism generally or sandwiching it with other forms of hate. Segal pointed to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's statement condemning antisemitism as a great example that employers can point to alongside their own words.

Recognize that Jewish employees may feel uncomfortable presenting their whole selves at work right now, Segal said. Nearly 1 in 4 Jews surveyed by the American Jewish Committee in 2021 said they avoided publicly wearing, carrying or displaying things that might identify them as Jewish.

“We talk about wanting employees to be their authentic selves, but we now know many Jewish people don’t feel comfortable doing so,” Segal said. “If 1 in 4 are admitting it, the actual number may be higher.”

Take a look at the company’s DEI training. If training around antisemitism is “absurdly obvious” and “doesn’t get into the conspiracy theories on Jewish wealth, it is flawed now based on what we know,” Segal said.

And if an organization doesn’t have an interfaith employee resource group, now may be a great time to start one, he added. “In the same way we heard a lot about male allies with #MeToo and White allies with racial bias, I think allyship is really important here.”

Veterans Day originally began as a day of remembrance to mark the end of World War I. In 1938, it became a national holiday. And in 1954, that holiday officially became known as Veterans Day, to recognize and honor America’s veterans.

To thank veterans for their service and to recognize the honed skills service members bring to the workforce, many private employers have committed to hire and retain veterans.

Through military service, veterans gain in-demand skills for workplace success in the private sector, including mental fortitude, flexibility, leadership and management experience, teamwork and collaboration, professionalism and discipline. Private employers need those skills and realize the value of military service in sharpening those vital capabilities.

Recruiting approaches

As an initial step in attracting job-seeking veterans, many employers, regardless of size, have demonstrated a commitment to hire veterans by offering veteran-specific opportunities or outreach. Some companies have committed to hiring a specific number of veterans within a stated timeframe. Many companies have dedicated human-resource and talent-management teams, often lead by an executive, focusing on recruiting veterans.

Members of those teams are knowledgeable about military roles and duties. They are also trained on translating military experiences into private sector skills and identifying positions particularly suited for military experience. A dedicated office or team for recruiting military talent, however, may not make sense depending on company size and resources. In those circumstances, here are four practices companies can consider implementing to recruit veterans.  

Train HR on what to do

Companies should train HR representatives to understand how to translate military jobs and duties into private sector roles and responsibilities. The SHRM Foundation, in conjunction with its corporate partners, provides HR professionals a free certificate program offering critical insights for recruiting, onboarding and retaining veterans and military members.  

Have solid position descriptions

HR staff, along with hiring managers, should identify positions well-suited for military talent and tailor job descriptions accordingly. Where appropriate, job descriptions may be edited to state relevant military experience qualifies.

Create a veterans website

To attract veteran talent, companies can create a separate link on their corporate websites for job-seeking veterans. Webpages targeted to recruit veterans can highlight open positions that are well-suited for military talent, identify key HR professionals in the veteran space and describe internal company resources focused on developing and retaining veterans.  

Find military recruiting sources and job fairs

HR representatives should attend hiring fairs at military installations and Veterans Affairs facilities, and other veteran-focused employer hiring groups, like the Veterans Jobs Mission, to recruit military talent. Potentially, HR professionals may want to partner with veteran employees or local Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve representatives to brainstorm additional ways to attract veteran talent.  

Retention Initiatives

The transition from a military work environment to the civilian sector poses unique challenges to military members, including uncertainty about promotion processes and performance evaluations, communication-style differences and cultural changes. Companies that want to retain military talent frequently implement veteran-specific practices and programs to help veterans acclimate to corporate culture. While the size of a company and its resources may dictate the availability of veteran-specific retention tools, three retention initiatives and programs are highlighted below.

Provide promotion and career path transparency

In the military, service members receive clear guidance on requirements to achieve their next promotion, including the dates of upcoming promotion boards, their eligibility for promotion and steps they can take to increase their chances for promotion. The same transparency often does not exist in the private sector and the absence of clear career development guidance is a common reason veterans leave companies.  

To retain military talent, companies should provide career progression training throughout a veteran’s employment, and particularly, at milestones, like new-hire training and annual performance reviews. If possible, career path training should also identify resources and personnel available to discuss career paths, promotions and opportunities within the company.      

Establish mentorship programs

Many companies allow veterans to participate in mentorship programs to ease the transition from the military to the private sector. These programs pair new veteran hires with senior employees who can answer cultural assimilation questions, assist veterans in building their business networks outside the military, help them establish professional goals and steer their career progression.

Companies should formally advertise mentorship programs during new hire training and encourage new hires to participation at the onset of their employment to increase program participation and maximize retention. HR professionals should also highlight the existence of these programs on company websites and in recruiting materials to serve as a selling point to job-seeking military members.

Form affinity groups

Veteran-focused affinity groups and mentorship programs help military members transition to the private sector by introducing new hires to a network of peers with shared employment and life experiences. These groups also aid established veteran employees in maintaining a connection to the military and the sense of purpose that military service offered. Advertising these programs can also boost a company’s reputation as military-friendly, which may attract new business and help recruit military talent. 

The efforts and recommendations discussed above represent some of the many ways that employers can recruit and retain military talent in today’s challenging job market. Employers should partner with employment counsel to identify and discuss legal considerations in developing targeted efforts to recruit and retain veteran employees.