Veteran Employer Maturity Model

The Townsville business community is enthusiastic about recruiting more veterans and their partners. This is not only because of the tight labour market but also because these businesses recognise the value of having veteran community members as employees. That's certainly why the businesses belong to our Veteran Business Alliance (VBA).

Our VBA members are champions of the cause and helped create and continue this momentum.

Here are five top reasons why an employer would want to hire a veteran or a veteran's spouse:

Strong Skills and Experience: Veterans have many transferable skills honed through military service. These include leadership, teamwork, problem-solving, communication, and the ability to thrive under pressure. https://hiring.monster.com/solutions/veterans/.
Work Ethic and Dedication: Veterans are known for their discipline, work ethic, and commitment to getting the job done. They understand the value of following through and achieving goals https://www.veteransemployment.gov.au/.
Diversity and Inclusion: Veterans come from all walks of life and bring various experiences to the table. This can help create a more diverse and inclusive workplace, which can lead to better decision-making and innovation https://www.careersourcecapitalregion.com/employers/hire-veterans.
Quick Learners: Military training is designed to teach new skills and information efficiently. Veterans are accustomed to learning quickly and adapting to new situations https://hiring.monster.com/solutions/veterans/.
Loyalty and Strong Work Ethic: Veterans often demonstrate high loyalty to their employers. Their military experience instils a strong work ethic and a commitment to excellence https://www.careersourcecapitalregion.com/employers/hire-veterans.

Hiring a veteran's spouse can also be advantageous as they understand the unique challenges of military life and are more adaptable and resilient.

Veterans Business Alliance Employer Maturity Model

One of our objectives is to support member businesses' development of policies and practices to make their workplaces more attractive and supportive of veteran and partner employees. All members have benefited from belonging to the VBA by learning what other businesses are doing. Every business has been innovative in this endeavour. It has proven valuable to share good ideas and not 'reinvent the wheel'.

The table below lists 20 initiatives from our members. Most of our members do many of these, and others would like to replicate them. By working together, we can develop and copy some great ideas so that all businesses achieve best practices and veterans and partners benefit.

The score against each is a simple way of determining if an employer could be reasonably called:

a veteran employment supporter (between 4 and 10)
a veteran-friendly employer (between 9 and 16)
a veteran employer of choice (greater than 15)

The idea is that any business might do any of these and receive the score attributed to it. The score is based on the ease with which a business can adopt an initiative. The easier it is to adopt, the lower the score.

At this stage, we expect each business to self-report its status.

We are keen to hear from anyone with ideas for other initiatives, modifications to these initiatives or scores, or any enhancement to the model.

Number	Initiative	Score
1	Provides a guide to Veterans on 'how to win a job at this company"	5
2	Mentors other companies to develop systems to support their Veteran employees	5
3	Has an established specific program to support newly transitioned Veterans	5
4	Has a safe environment for Veterans to disclose health issues early to seek support	5
5	Measures performance of efforts to support Veterans	5
6	Assigns a Veteran employee to a Veteran undergoing recruitment and induction process	4
7	Has an established communications channel for Veteran community within company	4
8	Has specific material on website for Veterans looking for a job with company	4
9	Encourages Veterans to apply to join the company without a specific advertised job	4
10	Supports education and training opportunities for Veterans and partners	4
11	Has a Veteran and Veteran Partner employment target	3
12	Has an application for employment that offers opportunity to identify as a Veteran or Veteran partner	3
13	Has a military skills translation guide for jobs with the company	3
14	Conducts/participates in Veteran-specific recruitment events	3
15	Supports Reserve service	3
16	Advertises through specialist Veteran-focussed job agencies	2
17	Provides flexible work opportunities for partners, eg. Take your job when you post	2
18	Advertises 'Veterans and Veterans Partners encouraged to apply'	2
19	promotes Veteran and Veteran Partner employment success stories	2
20	Shows support for Veteran causes and events & holds commemorative services for company	2

Veteran Employment Committment

Our VBA Employer Maturity Model is a less sophisticated model than the Australian Government initiative, Veteran Employment Commitment (VEC), where organisations show their commitment to employing veterans and creating an environment where they can perform at their best. The VEC aims to support organisations in achieving these positive outcomes.

This document lists the activities for small to medium organisations (1-199 employees).