Veterans Enhance Company Culture, Profits, and Leadership

US military veterans can be a company’s secret weapon in the battle for talent, but corporate leaders must carefully strategize how to recruit, engage, and transition them to private sector employment.

Veterans, as well as still-serving members of the Reserves and National Guard, have a duty-first attitude instilled by years of training and service. They know how to be both leaders and members of a team and are accustomed to taking initiative while operating in challenging, hostile environments with limited resources.

To effectively access this pool of prospective employees who possess a winning, adaptive mindset, executives and their HR departments should become familiar with the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994. This provides information about their deployability and employment requirements.

For instance, USERRA generally requires an employer to reemploy a member of the Reserves of National Guard if they are called upon to deploy, so long as the employee provides notice and has less than 5 years of cumulative active duty while employed with that employer. Like most statutes, it contains conditions and caveats, but it’s worth the read.

The federal government and many states also direct financial incentives, such as the federal Work Opportunity Tax Credit, which offers a tax credit for hiring qualified veterans. Another example is New York’s Hire a Veteran Credit for up to $15,000 of a veteran’s first-year salary, and up to $20,000 for a disabled veteran.

But being a veteran-friendly employer should mean more than simply complying with USERRA and not violating federal law. An employer could give a veteran with PTSD paid time off to attend periodic therapy sessions or provide a top-of-the-line standing desk for a veteran who injured their back jumping out of airplanes.

Those serving in the Guard and Reserves, sometimes called “weekend warriors,” are experts in time management, often with extensive networks and contacts in their fields. They are assets for civilian employers. Members of the Guard and Reserves are used to balancing military and civilian life, have leadership training and experience, and work in fields from almost every field imaginable, from finance and medicine, to IT and law.

By way of example, I practiced as a litigator for 10 years while serving in the Army Reserve, and was still a very productive attorney at the firms where I worked, even though I was sometimes writing emails to clients from the back of a Humvee.

Showing support to those who serve in the Guard and Reserves also can help attract veterans who have already completed their service. If a veteran sees that a company has employees still serving in uniform, it’s a powerful message that the company respects and appreciates military service. Instead of simply holding open a position for a reservist called to active duty, companies can make up the difference between that employee’s salary and their military pay while they serve.

Veterans as Clients

Veterans are well-suited to the challenges of starting their own businesses or contributing anywhere they work. A survey by the US Census Bureau in 2022 found 304,823 businesses (5.2%) were veteran-owned and produced an estimated $922.2 billion in receipts. American military experience translates into productivity and profits.

That said, veterans starting and operating businesses face some challenges. They’re used to being part of an organization where everyone around them had the same mission of addressing dangers posed by our nation’s enemies. The civilian world can be a different minefield of personal liability, with a new, unfamiliar set of threats.

In representing veteran-owned businesses, the mission is to head off legal problems before they arise, resolve issues once they pop up, help cut through red tape, and assist in navigating state and federal court systems.

Simple things such as warnings and waivers can limit or even eliminate liability, and a proactive approach to litigation can save precious resources. Veterans also may need assistance obtaining resources and funding from the Small Business Administration and capital markets.

Working with veterans can be personally rewarding by giving back to those who have sacrificed for the country. But veterans can also serve as financial rocket fuel—a boon to the bottom line. If veterans aren’t already a part of your portfolio or your team, it’s an opportunity you should seek out.

For we attorneys, working with veteran-owned and veteran-friendly businesses can be a worthwhile and satisfying experience. If these businesses aren’t already part of your practice, you should certainly consider it.

Personal Experience

Veterans are used to overcoming obstacles. I joined the Army Reserves before going to college. While pursuing my undergraduate degree, I trained at locations around the US and in Germany and served in Bosnia—a deployment as a NATO peacekeeper is certainly not your typical internship. Part of my training for Bosnia took place for 10 days in early December 1998, right before finals. Studying at night after training all day was good preparation for late nights in the office as a litigator.

While playing rugby in May 2002, a scrum collapsed on me, smashing my spinal cord, and the doctors said I’d probably be confined to a wheelchair for life. But law school was starting in the fall, so I used the work ethic I learned in the military to work hard in physical therapy, beat the odds, started my first-year classes on schedule, and enjoyed carrying my backpack full of law books after being told I’d never walk again. I was even back in uniform training soldiers in 2003 and deployed to Iraq in 2004 for the first of two combat tours.

That’s just one soldier’s story, but if companies actively try to hire veterans, they’ll hear many other stories of winning despite adversity.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg Industry Group, Inc., the publisher of Bloomberg Law and Bloomberg Tax, or its owners.

Author Information

Andrew J. Wells is a shareholder at Segal McCambridge.

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