Managing Diversity: U.S. Military Veterans Introduction

As Hazle, Wilcox and Hassan (2012) point out, U.S. military veterans re-entering civilian life often face numerous challenges that can be difficult for to overcome. In many cases a total mental and social adjustment is required, a support system is needed, and guidance or direction must be provided to help prepare veterans for life outside the military. The order and functioning system that they are used to in the military is not present in civilian life, and the hierarchical chain of command in which they have worked is typically not the enforced with such rigor in whatever workplace they end up joining in civilian life. U.S. companies also face the challenge of addressing the needs of this population: it is a significantly large talent pool, with skills and knowledge—but tapping into the pool can be difficult for businesses as well because of the readjustment process that veterans must go through, which can often be discouraging and upsetting for all stakeholders. Wenger and Snyder (2000) have argued that bringing veterans back into the fold of civilian life, including helping them obtain work, is a community challenge that requires assistance from everyone no matter their station in life. U.S. companies, however, can play a particularly strong role in helping U.S. veterans develop their skills so that they are more oriented towards civilian-style work and achieve employment. This paper will discuss precisely what companies can do to help veterans develop their skills and become employed. First it will compare the different typical skill sets of veterans and non-veterans to show how there is a difference. Second, it will look at the strategic management process and the challenges that employers face with respect to a veteran workforce. Then it will assess the competitive advantage that businesses can gain by working with veterans, describe best practices, provide a brief case analysis, and finally offer recommendations that U.S. companies can use to address this issue.

U.S. Military Veterans vs. Non-Veterans (Skills)

Many U.S. veterans entered into military service right out of high school. They never held a job in civilian life and never acquired the skills needed to look for work, interview, or build a resume. The work-related skills they acquire in the military may be narrowly defined by the occupation they hold while in service—for instance, working on military helicopters, serving a general, passing orders down the chain of command and so on. Non-veterans, on the other hand, typically go on to college out of high school: they obtain training and education in the area they want to pursue in business. They can train to be engineers, teachers, business managers, doctors, nurses and so much more. While veterans are off defending the country, non-veterans are spending their years learning the skills they need to obtain a job in the field of their choosing. U.S. military veterans upon returning home and re-entering civilian life are at a major disadvantage because they have not had the opportunity to complete their education in some cases; they have not acquired the college-level business skills and education...

They may have managed groups and departments in the military, but military experience differs from civilian workplace experience in fundamental ways. For instance, in the military, if an employee fails to do his or her duty, they can very likely be sent to the brig. That is a powerful incentive to get workers to fall in line. In civilian life, the threat of the brig simply does not apply—which means managers and leaders have to be more creative in terms of how the incentivize and motivate their employees (Gerhart & Fang, 2015).
Strategic Management Process—Challenges that Employers Face with Veteran Workforce

The strategic management process is all about defining goals, identifying areas for growth as well as problem areas or issues that need to be addressed, formulating strategies for achieving the goals, growing the company in as many benevolent ways as possible, addressing the issues, developing and implementing a strategy, and evaluating and controlling the outcome (Daspit, Chrisman, Sharma, Pearson & Long, 2017). Successful U.S. companies employ the strategic management process year round, constantly assessing where they are, where they want to be, and how they can get there. When it comes to employing the veteran workforce, there are a few challenges that businesses must address in order to successfully implement their strategic management process.

The biggest challenge is simply helping the veteran to adapt to the civilian world of business. This includes assisting the veteran with social and professional acclimation. One way businesses can facilitate this transition period is to engage in an extended onboarding process with veterans. Onboarding is a strategic tool that businesses can use when training new hires. Typically, a new hire will be brought into a company, be given a few days or weeks’ worth of training and be let loose to do his or her job. The onboarding process is much more extensive: it provides the new hire with a mentor who can give the worker support at any time, answer questions, serve as a kind of guide, and assist the new hire simply in feeling more comfortable in the workplace (Hamburg & Harris-Thompson, 2017).

Competitive Advantage

The competitive advantage that comes with U.S. companies choosing to work directly with the veteran workforce, find solutions to their issues and hire them long-term is that it boosts the company’s reputation and standing among the community. No community wants to see its veterans treated poorly upon returning home from their service abroad. One of the things that companies have learned in recent years is that consumers want to patronize companies that care about communities. For this reason, companies have developed the corporate social responsibility platform. On this platform, companies will define the values and ideals that they hold dear, and commonly those values will reflect ones that are important to their communities. For instance, Tesla’s platform is sustainability: the company makes taking care of the environment its number one priority and sells electric vehicles specifically so that the next generation of…