Serving Those Who Serve
Employee Services for Military Spouses

By Vincent W. Patton, MCPOCG, USCG Retired

ESm Magazine

 

The U.S. military likes to say it ‘recruits a soldier but retains a family.’ That’s a sentiment many public and private organizations aspire to that sentiment, in word and in deed. 

• Of the 2.5 million Americans currently serving our country, over half are married and about 44 percent of married active duty personnel have children. Military spouses struggle to manage their careers, household finances and childcare, while dealing with the emotional stress of a spouse who is assigned active duty, who is out of the country, and who quite likely will bring home transfer orders requiring a move across the state, country or world.  These facts present an opportunity for organizations to revisit their employee service offerings with servicemembers and their spouses in mind.

 

Currently, the U.S. government provides military spouses with a baseline of career, education and training resources.  The U.S. Department of Defense, with private sector Military.com, developed The Military Spouse Career Center (www.military.com/Spouse), a free membership site that includes discussion boards, education and childcare information, an online resume builder and automatic job alerts from a database of government and private sector jobs.

Many states are also placing more emphasis on military family assistance programs, certifications and benefits.  These programs include credit counseling, family survivor benefit plans, scholarships for spouses and children, extended deadlines for professional licenses, healthcare and reemployment protection and hiring preferences.

Career Support

About 69 percent of the spouses of active duty personnel are either employed or actively seeking employment in the U.S. Labor Force.  Military spouses are educated, highly skilled and trained in a variety of disciplines, which offers employers a great source of talent to meet the demands of a highly technological and service-oriented economy.  But the frequent change of duty station (relocation about every 18-36 months) creates a major obstacle, often preventing military spouses from establishing or growing their careers.

Job transfers and telecommuting programs can help you retain these employees but there is still more to be done.  Like many of their civilian counterparts, military spouses in the labor force report that the family’s second income is necessary to cover basic family expenses.

Organizations should consider offering part time positions, job sharing, flex-time, career counseling and training services tailored to help military spouse employees advance their careers and support your business objectives.  Military spouse employment and support can also be an important component in your organizations’ diversity and corporate social responsibility initiatives.

Sprint, Overland Park, KS, has a nationally recognized military recruitment program that includes spouses and other family members. While on leave, Sprint pays employees called to active military duty the difference between their military pay and their regluar Sprint salaries. Their families continue to receive health benefits while they’re deployed and have access to Sprint’s Employee Assistance Program.

Enterprise Rent-A-Car, St.Louis, MO, offers military spouses and veterans internship and mentor programs, as well as career continuation with relocation.  The company also has a multitude of part-time employment opportunities that often meet the needs of military spouses.
  
Adecco, a Melville, NY-based staffing and human resource services company, partners with the U.S. government on a project called Career Accelerator.  The project provides career counseling, training and job placement at no cost to military spouses.  Adecco places military members who seek part-time work or are transitioning or who are retiring from the military, as well as family members such as students ages 17 and older who seek summer or part-time work.

While there is no guarantee of employment, the Career Accelerator program means that spouses often can take jobs wherever they are stationed and can retain seniority and eligibility for benefits and vacation time.  Career Accelerator has executed over 13,000 job and an estimated 26 percent of spouses in the program have moved into permanent employment.

Childcare

When both spouses work, childcare becomes an important and expensive consideration.  Add single parent challenges caused by increasingly frequent redeployments and long separations, and the challenge of balancing work and home life becomes even more overwhelming. 

The U.S. Department of Defense military child development system provides childcare services to over 200,000 children between the ages of six weeks and 12 years old.  To determine placement on these childcare lists, the system considers many factors such as application date, deployment, single-parenthood and spouse employment.  Military parents need and deserve flexibility and options so they can decide on the best childcare fit.

The Fortune 200 financial services company, USAA Worldwide Insurance, San Antonio, TX, , offers employees onsite child development centers at most locations, work/life referral sources and convenience services such as an employee travel agency and post office.  Given employee demographics, some organizations may consider offering outsourced dependent care consultation and referral programs, onsite childcare or education/summer camp programs.  Discounting childcare services for military spouses through creative partnerships.

Enterprise Rent-A-Car’s LifeManagement program provides employees with confidential consultation 24 hours a day to plan for a broad range of needs including the arrival of a new child, a change in workplan or an emotional concern.  The company also provides childcare assistance for military spouses who work.

Discounts

Successful money management and money saving discounts are very important to the military family, which is often challenged with sporadic spouse employment due to frequent relocation.  Therefore, military families appreciate product and service discounts associated with relocation such as storage, shipping, and travel.

Suppliers can gain brand visibility from participating in these offerings as well as increased revenue from the military channel, a significant and growing demographic.

Benefits of military spouse support

Understanding and responding to the challenges that military spouses face is in the private sector’s best interest.  Organizations across America are benefiting from providing a support community and tools to help military spouses succeed. 

Military spouses are an untapped talent pool. They embody the same values of their servicemember partners such as strong loyalty and a sense of teamwork. Retaining this employee group through flexible human resource programming is worthwhile.  Recruiting and training a replacement employee is more costly than offering job transfers or telecommuting options.

Conclusion
While both the public and private sectors have made progress in serving the military spouse talent pool, many more program ideas exist.  Examine your current employee services offerings and determine how you can repackage them or add new programs to show support for military spouses. These offerings serve as an opportunity for the company to thank military spouses for their commitment and retain them as goodwill ambassadors to the company.
Master Chief Vince Patton is Director of Community Outreach for Military.com, San Francisco, CA. He executes the company’s grassroots outreach marketing program, oversees the installation ambassadors program and maintains a close liaison with contacts at all levels in the military community. He joined Military.com in September 2002, after more than 30 years of active service with the Coast Guard.

For more information, email him at vince.patton@military-inc.com or visit www.military.com.

 

Military Spouse-Friendly Employers 

Here is a sample of the companies offering military-spouse friendly programs and the services they provide:

Employer	Services Offered
Ceridian, Minneapolis, MN	Military training leave LifeWorks - a confidential, 24/7 consulting, referral and search service Flexible work arrangements including  flexible hours, part-time work, job sharing, a compressed work week, or work at home Reduced rates on long-distance telephone service
Home Depot, Atlanta, GA	Operation Career Front program offering career opportunities for current and former members of America's military community Military associates help coordinate  transfers in the cases of reassignment of duty stations, retirement or separation, depending on store and job availability. If a servicemember is relocated by the military, Home Depot will try to transfer the person's spouse to a store near the new community, if a job is available
Merck, Whitehouse Station, NJ	LifeWorks resource and referral program provides free consultation, materials and referrals covering a broad range of topics Accredited onsite childcare/learning centers ConSern Loan Program provides low-interest loans for private elementary (K-12), undergraduate, graduate and professional education available to employees and their family members Kerrigan awards provide scholarships for children of Merck employees to pursue undergraduate study at accredited U.S. colleges or universities Offers flexible work arrangements such as job sharing, flextime, compressed work weeks, part-time work and telecommuting Site-based amenities at many major locations minimize the need for errand-running (take-home meals, car services, dry cleaning, photo developing, etc.). Flexible holiday schedule including personal floating holidays
USAA, San Antonio, TX	Onsite child development centers at most locations, work-life referral sources and convenience services such as an employee travel agency and post office A full range of world-class health, wellness and financial security benefits Company-paid tuition for college and professional designations

 

Military Spouse Resources

Visit these websites to learn about programs for military employees and their spouses:

Organization	Description
The Military Spouse Career Center www.military.com/Spouse	Sponsored by the Department of Defense and powered by Monster Worldwide
Military OneSource www.militaryonesource.com	A 24-hour employee assistance program run by Ceridian Corp.; available to all active duty, guard and reserve members and their families
The Military Spouse Corporate Career Network www.msccn.org	A nonprofit organization dedicated to placing military spouses in jobs; corporate members can post jobs and military spouses can submit resumes online
The Military Spouse Resource Center www.milspouse.org	Jointly sponsored by the Department of Defense and the Department of Labor; details employment, educational, training and other community resources available to military spouses, including child care and transportation

 

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