From Deployment to Employment: Hiring and Supporting Veterans with Disabilities

okay uh welcome everyone to n's webinar from deployment to employment hiring and supporting veterans with disabilities um my name is Felicia nson and I am managing director of employer services for nood and I want to welcome everyone to our event I'll start by describing myself and would like our presenters to do the same so I am a middle-aged white woman I have a longish blonde hair just below my shoulders I wear black framed glasses and today I'm kind of wearing a shirt that has a lot of different colors in it because it is gray and rainy here on the East Coast uh today we will be discussing uh C how businesses can hire and support veterans uh with disabilities in their Workforce joining us to moderate the discussion today I'm very excited uh to say that Luke visanti our chairman and founder of fair 360 and nod's uh board chair will be here is here rather uh joining him is Jennifer Tracy vice president of talent attraction and acquisition at Charter Communications known through its Spectrum brand and ish Escobar program lead at uh Northrup grumman's operation impact allow me to share some housekeeping tips uh before we get started first today's webinar is being recorded second if you wish uh to uh see the closed captions for this event and you're not already seeing them appear on screen please click the live transcript button on your toolbar located at the bottom of the zoom window then select show captions you can also view the captions separately in your in your browser by clicking the link posted in the chat as you can already see uh we also have an ASL interpreter signing throughout the webinar thank you so much for being here uh third if you like to submit if you would like to submit a question please click the Q&A button on your toolbar uh in enter your question into the box and then click Send finally we will be launching a short survey at the end of the webinar and would appreciate your feedback we use your responses to improve our programming and it really is important for us to hear from you and have your thoughts by way of introduction the National Organization on disabilities mission is to increase employment opportunities for people with disabilities we are the national leader in partnering with business nonprofits and government entities through five key initiatives we have our employer Services which I oversee um that is all of our consulting services our uh employment tracker as well as others Data Tracking and Analysis which is the core of our uh initiatives we look at the data in order to support our organizations and we continue to change uh and update our analysis and our questions that we're asking to ensure that we are providing the most pertinent and as well as the most recent leading practices and data to support that Innovation projects which we have now many of our Leadership Council Members are partic ipating in one of our Innovative uh Innovation projects and you have if you have not signed up for our engagement survey that will follow tracker uh completion then please do uh we also have our policy Roundtable that's 15 of the largest disability organizations working together to provide uh that support and the extra push that we might need as far as those government policies are concerned that really affect all of us with disabilities and our corporate membership group The Leadership Council which is really an excellent benefit uh an excellent group for companies to join if you're not already a member it not only helps you to network with other companies that our uh are very committed to disability inclusion but also allows you to participate in programs like this as well as uh hear from other experts have access to all of the information and resources that we provide and again be very happy uh to answer any questions that you have after the webinar I'd like to thank and most importantly thank Charter Communications and North Grumman for sponsoring today's webinar they are also longtime members of the N Leadership Council and their generosity is what really enables us to continue no od's Mission as well as the generosity of all of our Leadership Council Members now I would like to introduce today's moderator Luke visanti uh Luke thank you Felicia and thank you for everyone who is joining us today for a discussion on this important topic I am a older white man I have mostly brown hair a lot of gray stuck in there I'm wearing reading glasses a blue striped shirt and a blue blazer I'm especially glad to be here today because I'm a veteran myself I served as a Naval aviator for more than eight years on active duty and another 18 months in the reserves in addition I was a member of the chief of Naval operations executive panel for 10 years and another four years as a special adviser to the chief of Naval operations on Talent Development I live with a disability although it's not service related I credit founding diversity Inc which we have just renamed Fair 360 and my time on no's board to the values I learned from my military experience it was that and the leadership I saw from Martin Luther King Jr his life and words have had a profound impact on me and I would not have gotten to know him if it were not for a black veteran helicopter pilot who Meed me on all of this so Tony KO thank you um military's been a big part of my life as for our program veterans are a large portion of the disability community and often when we talk about inclusion efforts we separate veterans from disability this is not always helpful with this conversation we want to focus on diving into their intersection so here are some high level statistics on the population there's 18.4 million veterans in the United States 4.9 million veterans or 27% of all veterans have a service related disability onethird of veterans with the disability are employed compared with three4 of veterans without disabilities this discrepancy in employment is why no founded its Wounded Warrior careers program back in 2007 for injured service people returning from Iraq and Afghanistan it addressed and helped provide support for the hiring and advancing of careers of veterans with disabilities augmented by a number of valuable resources you can still access this information at nd.org veterans I'd now like to bring on our guest speakers who will speak about their company support of Veterans as disabilities in the workplace first let's welcome Jennifer Tracy hello Jennifer could you please describe yourself for our audience and a little bit about your role at Charter sure um I'm Jennifer Tracy and I am a middle-aged woman a white woman who has brown hair and brown eyes and wears glasses I'm wearing a hounds tooth black and white jacket um for today and my role within Charter is I oversee the military early career Talent attraction the recruiting technology and recruitment marketing and branding for our organization as well as our contingent Labor practice ish could you just could you you introduce yourself please yes thank you Luke good afternoon everyone my name is Ish Escobar I'm the uh program lead for the operation IMPACT program at north of Grumman I am a middle-aged Hispanic male uh black hair I am wearing reading glasses and I'm wearing a blue uh polo with the nor of grman logo a little bit about myself and my role I as I mentioned I I lead our operation IMPACT Program which is a program specifically designed to help transitioning veterans but specifically those who have disabilities um you'll hear me talk a little bit more as we go through the questions about what we do how we do it and how we support our veterans so looking forward to the call thank you ish could you describe your veteran experience for us please absolutely so um I served into the United States Army from May 01 to October of 08 um I served as an infantryman um I've been several Duty stations everywhere from Korea Fort Louis Washington Germany uh and then I also did uh two combat tours uh in Iraq um you'll hear me talk a little bit more about this but I was actually hired through this very program that I now lead at nor of Grumman operation impact and no pun intended and the impact that it's had in my life not only myself but of course uh my family as a whole as my wife was also hired through the program uh and is still currently working at nor of Grumman just celebrated her 15 years actually at nor of Grumman uh this this uh last month thank you for your services thank you let's get started both of you come from gr companies that have a great track record on hiring veterans with disabilities I'd like to explore that by asking you both and we'll start with you Jennifer how did Charter Communications get started on their veterans with disabilities program so um the veterans program specifically started in 2007 what which was our Legacy time War cable um organization we recognized that veterans brought a unique skill set to the organization and would bring value to both the company and the veteran community that we already employed and so from there we created a dedicated team of military recruiting professionals and also military spouses that are contractors that help us set bases to attract individuals into our organization and from there we've built on to having our veterans brg and also our military um Outreach and transition programs throughout the organization can you give us I I'm going to go a little bit ahead because you you told us information during our prep for this about the success of your program because I was really amazed at the statistics not surprised but it was really impressive sure sure so at Charter we actually have an 8% veteran representation at the entire Enterprise level and we at the manager and above level we're actually at 10% and we're really really really proud of that um for those that are familiar The ofccp Benchmark is currently I think at 5.4% um and it continues to drop because of the declining population of veterans um but the things that are important to know about um what we what we appreciate more about our veterans is they turn over less so we have an 8% better retention on our veterans than we do with um the regular population and so it's an investment that's smart for Charter from a business perspective but it's also um demonstrating of the skills that they received while they were in the military that come through in into our business each and every day that's really great information thank you Jennifer I really as a veteran I deeply appreciate what the whole program and what your company's doing um ish could we hear about your efforts at north of grman please absolutely so I'm if we go way back I mean North's been hiring Veterans for ever and ever it seems like but our program specifically operation impact was started in uh 2005 uh as we all recall is the height of the war in Afghanistan and Iraq um it started very small one of our sectors um at the time I believe we had six sectors um but one of our sectors uh their HR office one person running the program just to kind of pilot the program to see where where it you know where it needed to go um fast forward to 2009 the program was then launched enterprise-wide um to where it is right now so um at one point we've had up to seven people running or working through the program and of course we work very closely with our HR Partners managers stakeholders Etc making them aware of the program and up to date we've we've helped thousands upon thousands of veterans not just F employment uh at north of Grumman or some of our partners but even just um assisting them in transitioning out of the military and how to find game for employment at companies like nor Grumman and other companies Etc is your company has an enormous self-disclosure rate for people with disabilities which tells me that your programs are viewed with trust by the people who work with North bomman awesome work really awesome thank you so what have the challenges been some of the challenges in getting your programs up and running and let's start with you ish well I think awareness right and then of course um just selling what whatever effort we're trying to put forward um and what what do I mean by that just convincing the powers to be that this is not only the right thing to do but a thing that we have to do not only to support our veterans but to help those with people with disabilities Etc I think like many of us I think that you know companies that we work for sometimes it feels like we get flooded with information seems like our inbox is always full of local Com or I'm sorry internal coms Etc so I think that has been one of our biggest challenges just sort of getting people to you know make them aware of such programs make them aware of such in initiatives at our company so we work very closely like I mentioned with stakeholders one one of them being our ERG which is our Veritas uh which is our our veteran specific employee Resource Group and we work very closely with them making them aware of whatever effort or whatever uh campaign whether it's a self-id campaign making them aware to to spread the word not only within their membership but to also encourage their membership to then share that information with other veterans within our company that's awesome Jennifer how about the challenges that you faced yeah so we operate in a very decentralized fashion so I would Echo what ish has already said specifically around cons constant education and reinforcement so we meet um quarterly or biannually with our our VG both chair and co-chairs to make sure they understand where our barometer going like if our hiring is improving in terms of Veteran representation or um where we might need their help and then they in part in part and parcel to this huge volunteer organization can then help us get the resources we might need if we have an event um and we might have an Outreach and so there's a lot of partnership that happens um but I also leverage our our talent acquisition Council so we have 10 different recruiting leaders that are responsible for the hiring at Charter and I leverage them um through awareness and education to make sure they're aware of the different events that we're doing and then they in part um give us resources to help us execute all those events so you must communicate almost constantly since there's new people coming on and going off all the time really question everybody has to realize you const have to constantly re-educate just the nature of it yes tracking self ID is important yet encouraging veterans to self ID is challenging how do you approach those challenges ish as I mentioned um our ERG is a big part of that we work very closely with our eeo partners as well to do um community Communications campaigns and I think one of the biggest challenges um that that I have encountered when when I'm talking to Veterans about self ID is the the question what's in it for me right and that's my job and not not only my job but to encourage those veterans and making them aware as far as this what's in it for you this is this is how we use the data this is what we use the data for this is how we all win um as you know we use the data for even in some of our contracts right that we're that we're pursuing uh and then of course we we are mandated by ofccp to hire a specific number of veterans and we s we blow that number out of the water every single year so we're constantly putting our you know that emphasis and that encouragement to Veterans to self ID and and letting them know it's a win-win uh not just for me and and the company for all of us and then of course any future veteran that'll be joining our company as well that's a great answer Jennifer so I think when we when we look at this a couple things we've done over the years is not only do you have to educate internally you have to educate externally and so one of the things we did during the pandemic was we actually re reallocated dollars that were assigned to um travel for our military recruiters to hiring these military spouse contractors and so continuing to have this base presence um of someone that's embedded in the community um at these six different bases throughout the country where we operate gives an automatic Outreach to create a sense of familiarity to our organization um but also it's it's as simple as looking at the questions that are being asked so obviously there's a questionnaire that the government provides you but you have to look at it and say okay is this really something that someone understands and can answer accurately or correctly and so we've changed that around because what we noticed is that in some instances people were answering the question incorrectly just because of the wording and it being Incorrect and so you oftentimes have to look operationally and say okay what can I change just a little bit to make sure it's clearer and that people can understand it that's a really good point because I I think you know ish for your answer anybody who served knows the Perils of volunteering for something is sometimes it's good but sometimes it's not so good so you want to make sure that people understand the benefits of it and I think that know the networking and everything Jennifer that you're doing and especially reallocating that budget during coid to be more effective that's awesome um how do you promote trust throughout your organization I think trust is the key part of this Jennifer we'll start with you so part of it to me is as we move into this world where AI is probably used in almost every conversation that we have to me it is a combination of using Tech but also using the human touch right and so with our military recruiting team as a candidate applies if they've self ided we automatically send have the system send an email so we don't see that email it just goes out to anybody and invites them to talk to one of our military recruiters they don't have to but what we see is that we have a stickier conversion rate when a veteran talks to one of our military team members likely because they're better understanding what the job is where they want to go and they can ask questions of our recruiters because they're not the ones hiring these positions they just they are a resource for these veterans to talk to get information on how to interview better information about our organization so that they can be better better prepared um or even if they want resume advice um we do that as well and so doing that human touch and Technology together is where we found the the best success you must have great takeup on that on that opportunity I mean I know if I were in the veteran somebody's shoes that needed that help it would be an awesome opportunity to get some advice directly from a person that's really cool yes yeah is about trust how do you promote trust throughout your organization for me the big key is credibility right um kind of piggyback on Jennifer we have what we call our Norr Grumman information sessions we do them once a month we send this invite to all transitioning veterans all transition centers throughout the United States and we invite them to come and and learn about not not only Norr Grumman but how do you apply for employment what are some of the benefits that we offer more importantly how do we support you what are some of the resources that we have once you join our company so that's you know preh hire once they're hired we also launched about five years ago we launched our our coin our veteran coin initiative so right this time of the year around Veterans Day those uh newly hired veterans will receive a coin um the intent there is and and I'm referring to self self ided veterans by the way not just you know again um in the intenders number one is to recognize them clearly right to make them feel welcome into the company and to make make them feel that they're they're part of the team that they're important right and I think that's part of the transition and the assimilation from the military into a corporate environment and then secondly it's sort of an added benefit it also identifies those veterans that haven't self ided and it gives us an opportunity to then Express or and educate as I mentioned um the need or or the or or the importance of self ID so we we'll have veterans that say Hey I I was just hired six months ago I didn't get a coin well have you self ided no I haven't okay let me tell you why it is important and then they self ID and then of course we'll get a coin over them so it's sort of a win-win um we found through through is a a wonderful program that's a really great idea I really like that a lot um so next question how do companies benefit overall with these initiatives uh ish start with you yeah as I mentioned uh you know we we share this information on our proposals um maybe I haven't mentioned it 18% of our employees within our company are have been self-id as veterans okay we think that number is higher uh but again it is a personal choice we do have have veterans that you know don't want to disclose and again that's okay that's that's a personal choice but the ones that we do know of is 18% which is a huge chunk of our of our employee population and then of course there's 8% of of veterans with disabilities also within within within that 18% so it is it is even a huge number within itself and as I mentioned um we share this information with within proposals anything that we're trying to capture and then of course this is information that we do share with other veterans as I mentioned our information sessions we talk about these kind of things where you're coming into a company where you're going to be one of many veterans right so it's going to be uh maybe not easier for you to transition but there's going to be that support right we are familiar with who you are what you're bring to the table and we're ready to support you as you transition into nor gr that that's really great Jennifer yeah so what we do for a living is we communicate or we have to help people communicate right so there are so many different jobs that are in the military that are direct translation so the people that are protecting the network to make sure the internet we don't have cyber attx and things like that that is direct translation out of the military into our business units and so both our network operations and also our field operations when you go into a war area you have to create and set up communication systems so that's one of the biggest things that we're invested in right now we're building out Ard off and be um to build out internet to Rural America that doesn't have it today and so so to us this having veterans in our Workforce that have these different experiences than we might do in terms of setting up also gives us other troubleshooting ideas that we would not have had if they weren't in our Workforce veterans are good at troubleshooting that's for sure it's been my experience Jennifer Charter says it recognizes the skills veterans develop during their service can you share some of those skills that Charter finds valuable yeah so when we think about skills some of them I would say are more soft skills than hard skills I just talked a little bit about the hard skills but the soft skills to us are really the craftsmanship the quality the dedication and service orientation that the veterans bring into our business is critical to the interactions that they'll have with our customers um the leadership skills that they get by Leading platoon those are the things that we value and and want to see within our Workforce and so those are the things that matter to us most ish can you share some examples of accommodations for veterans with disabilities such as a veteran with post-traumatic stress or a brain injury and Jennifer feel free to weigh in sure absolutely I'm very proud to say that we have a centralized workplace accommodation program within nor of gramman and this is available to all employees not just veterans um but I'd like to take a moment just to talk specifically about operation impact when we have uh an operation impact candidate accept off accept a job offer from Norr grman we have a nurse that's assigned to our program 247 uh that that provides pre and post-employment support but within 24 hours of offer accept she's on the phone with that veteran and they start talking about his or her disabilities she is a dedicated nurse by trade so you know no no need to worry about violations of hippo or anything like that so she's having those discussions with the veteran she then turns around and works very closely with our workplace accommodations team who will then do everything they can to implement that accommodation prior to the employee starting or shortly after the employee has started we feel it's very important that we level the play field uh for for our veterans and to to answer your question look we offer I mean the sky's a limit again it's a centralized budget we're not affecting no local budget no program budget um I've seen everything from noise cancelling headphones rear viw mirrors I've seen people's desk be moved moved a specific way because they don't want their back perhaps towards a door or a hallway Etc I really feel that nor Grumman really goes above and beyond to ensure that again we're leveling the playing field and that people feel that they they are included that they are heard as I like to say nor Grumman we don't want to focus on your disability I want to focus on your abilities what are those abilities that you bring to the table and then maximize those those those abilities while you're here at north of gr I've got a followup for you before Jennifer I want you to chime in on this do you get a sense from people without disabilities that are working for you for a north of Grumman and the support of veterans with disabilities and people with disabilities do you get a sense of Pride from people who don't have V Vis do you think they're proud to work for your company because of this treatment of people oh absolutely and I mean I'm a person with a disability and and and and you know I know I appreciate it but I can certainly I I tell you what I meet veterans who have disabilities self idid with you know veteran with disabilities and those who you know may not have a disability and the feedback has always been great specifically when it's it's we're talking about a centralized budget again we're not affecting a manager's budget they don't have to reallocate money um as long as the it's a reasonable accommodation and as long as it coincides with the disability um I'm telling I've seen everything you can think of um I'll give you one example really quick um and unfortunately this one we could we could not meet and I I'll get to that point but we had an employee with a service animal who was working in a a a specific lab where you had to wear almost almost like a space suit I tell you what our folks spent weeks and weeks figuring out where can we get a space suit for for the dog great I'm telling you that's how important things are to us and unfortunately the unfortunate part is they don't they don't make them that's I'm sorry to say that maybe hopefully some some someday in the future we'll be able to say hey we we've accomplished that but we didn't just pushed the employee to the side and said hey well you know sorry we couldn't help you we we found the employee another position that did not require that employee to work in one of those types of spaces and guess what the service animal was with them the entire time so awes even when we don't accomplish what we're looking for for things out of our control I am very proud that our company goes above and beyond and really looks out for our employees not as I mentioned not only employees with disabilities but all employees Al together that's awesome that's a great story Jennifer do you have anything to add with the this question so I'll take it from the customer vantage point so we too have a centralized um accessibility team and and workplace accommodations not not quite as extensive and I love all the stories that his has shared though with us both now and in the P practice sessions are amazing but our entire accessibility team that sits in Denver is really focused on the customer experience and so um most recently in partners ship with Comcast we just launched Zumo and Zumo has a voice activated remote and that'll allow our customers to be able to get the content they want when they want how they want it and so we look at it from that but we also look at it from the tools that our employees are having to use and so um one of our billing systems is not was not able to use a screen reader and so they've spent the last two or three years working on updating that so that we could employ individuals that had um um difficulty with vision and so that that kind of commitment where you're constantly trying to improve your work environment for your employees is really where I think we always want to be you it's it's just interesting perspective on accommodation I was sitting next to a guy named Steve hanamura who's A diversity consultant who's blind and we were talking and then the subject came up and he nudged me he said Luke are the lights on in this room and I said I knew where he was going I saides Steve they are he goes that's an accommodation for you I don't need the lights and I you know we had a good laugh but it's it is a matter of how you frame this it is not out of your way to help somebody be productive for your company and in your workplace it's it's just an interesting thing to think about how much all of us are accommodated every day in our lives and getting around um it's just about being a human being um next question beyond their disabilities veterans who may also be dealing with issue of returning to civilian life do have any thoughts on that Jennifer yeah so we understand that returning to civilian life and military veterans can be challenging so after active duty veterans can find it be difficult to reconnect with family and friends and so what we try and do is provide them with an opportunity to build on the technical skills they bring to our table and then develop that second career to become part of our Charter family and to me it's to us it's more than just a job it's a career so one of the things that we um recently launched in August was our partnership with Gil bu education and so anyone that comes to our organization um is able to then pursue a a degree tuition free if they want to do a master's degree there's a tuition reimbursement program for that and so for me it's taking care of the whole employee and we also are incredible about our benefits we haven't increased our um Healthcare premium to our employees in 11 years and I just don't know how many companies can say that and so it's really taking care of the whole employee that's really great ish do you have any thoughts about re-entry oh absolutely um as I mentioned our information session right we try to get the uh the veterans or the transitioning service members uh you know right before they're getting out of the military to really understand what it's like to work at a company like Norr greman we also offer skills bridge at our company um you know where we bring veterans who are about a year out of milit active duty military service to come and work for us for about 12 weeks uh and they have about a 95% uh offer um for a final job offer for those who are participating uh in the program so it's it's it's a it's a very very high number of those who are participating and who eventually uh you know uh transition into nor government as full-time employees now additionally um to the operation IMPACT program we offer support and resume um we offer support and identifying a career path we offer support in mock interviews not only that once they're hired um because I I I really feel like a lot of companies put emphasis in hiring veterans and it is important I'm not going to argue I'm not saying it is not but I think they failed to really recognize what it takes to keep a veteran at at at their company right so we we've considered that and we still look at different programs that are out there and different resources that we can offer a couple that I'd like to talk about one is we created our what we call a newly hired veteran orientation so it is an addition to your traditional you know newly hired uh employee orientation that your company offers but this one's veteran specific we went to our ethics department and we asked we said what is the number one thing that is getting our veterans you know quote unquote in trouble at our company and without hesitation uh one of my colleagues who who's a retired first sergeant from the Air Force he said without a doubt is time cards he's like time cards seems to be an issue within our veteran community yeah right so think about it when you're in the military you're on 247 you're not punching out you know what I mean so um I especially someone who's been career military it's kind of hard for them to grasp why do I have to do a time card and we remind them why and again we use this opportunity to educate them this is why these are the differences between the military the Marine Corps the Navy the Army the Air Force Etc and this is how we do it at nor grman these are the similarities but now let me draw your attention to some of the key differences within our company we also have an internal veteran website where we centralize all of our resources not only internal resources but extern external resources and we're constantly updating it we're constantly being informed of new whether it's a government initiative or a nonprofit initiative we're doing those partnership reaching out to those organizations trying to get educated on what they're offering and then we're coming back to our veterans and saying hey hear about this and if you need to know where it's at go to our veteran we we're not sending them 30 different directions go to our veteran website everything you need is there and we're constantly updating as we go um is it going to solve all of our retention problems with their veterans no no but it's a great start and again and I appreciate that our company really takes emphasis on that that we consider that it's great to hire them but now let's work even harder to ensure that they they stay at nor of Grumman you know as long as they can that's awesome I I never would have thought about time cards I mean in the Navy we had a saying which the brass tried to drill out of us but the Navy had a saying on Fridays we would always say each other thank God there's only two working days until Monday you know that's every Friday that was the joke and the Navy tried to said don't say that anymore but that was the attitude was like you know you're you're here we're working but that's interesting Ty I would never have thought of that Jennifer do you have any thoughts on on the same subject um not not anything else that I would add to this one I think that was a really great example that was that brought the time really great do both of you have a success story you could share with us Jennifer we'll start with this with you for a success story sure so the the veteran that I'd love to feature is Aaron gban so he's relocated four times throughout his organ or throughout his career with Charter he's an AB veteran and reservist and he started as a comm's desk repair person he participated in our future leaders program with our field Ops Team and is now our senior director of ISP in in Kentucky so he went from St Louis to California to Wyoming and now is in Kentucky and so um he got his master's degree using the tuition reimbursement program and and more recently his son now works for us and is also taking advantage of some of those benefits so the thing that's Al always important to me is that it becomes generational right so you're not just impacting one person you're impacting several people um within a family structure and that's that's really really powerful that's excellent ish do you have a success story you can share with us you've given us many so far but you have one more I mean we have so many to talk about it nor of gr and and I'm going to sound very corny right now but I just want to share my story real quick I'm not very successful but I just want to I just want to just really draw in um you know the importance of the program that I now lead and and the above and Beyonds that nor Grumman does for our veterans so as I mentioned I served in the Army I was getting I was getting medically discharged in 2008 after intending on doing 20 years in the military and I was like what do I do now what exactly do I do now I have two kids a wife you know uh mortgage the whole works so my very first encounter with nor Grumman the recruiter looked at me in the eyes and she said what would you like to do and I tell you what that had such an impact on me because I said you mean I have a choice I was an infantry man again I was good at kicking doors going after bad guys I was very familiar with nor Grumman but I just couldn't understand how does that translate to a career at nor of gmet fast I did five years in security I was an executive protection for some of our VPS including our CEO uh I was managing classified spaces rubbing elbows with highle VPS within our companies Etc I'm not sharing the story with you to beat my chest and said I'm great I'm successful I'm sharing this story with you that if a person like me who I felt had very little to offer NR grman can make it at NR grman anyone can do it because our our company really goes above and beyond to ensure that we're educating our veterans on what it's like to work at ay company like nor of Gman and as I mentioned one once you're here we do everything that we can to keep you here as Jennifer mentioned we also offer you know a a career uh I'm sorry an education benefit within our company right where where an employee a veteran can can easily go back to school reinvent themselves many veterans do that right the statistics are there it's very high they go back to school you know they don't want to be an infantry anymore infantry men anymore they want to possibly go into cyber security Etc so we offer many many benefits um that anyone can be successful within our company especially our veterans who we know have a lot to offer to our company thank you for sharing that issue and I have to tell you you're a bigger success than you can even imagine because you help our brothers and sisters Achieve Personal success so man you're a real successful guy in my eyes Jennifer do you have any um uh oh wait go to next story next question can you share an example of lessons you have learned along the way you've provided us with a lot of lessons Jennifer is there one more sure sure so I think that the most important lesson to learn is even if you can't do everything start small like do one little thing and then let it continue to build because the thing the thing I always say in any of this work that any of us is doing you're never done so there's always a way to tweak what you're working on and go back and re ret retool things and things like that and so you know even like during the pandemic like we thought well what are we going to be able to do now and that's what we came up with so sometimes it's how do I think about this differently how do I change what it is that I'm I'm trying to solve for and that's that's what I would say start small that's excellent that's excellent lesson ish yeah you gave us a lot of lessons too you got one more for us a lot of lessons one thing that I I really want to emphasize is an opportunity especially those who are in a position like me um to really educate people on the misconceptions of veterans even within nrip I spoke I talked to m where they'll say hey I have a veteran who seems angry I think he has PTSD and I'm like whoa time out let's let's let's let's talk over this and it's my job to educate them to you know get rid of some of those misconceptions those unconscious bias that they may have on Veterans but it's also an opportunity to educate them on the value that a veteran brings to our company and some of those as I mentioned some of those uh you know great values and assets that veterans uh that we all know you know have within them so um you know I I think it's I spent a lot of time doing that educating people educating people on what we're all about what we bring to the table and more importantly how can we support our veterans because again that's a never- ending process it's a never ending it's never ending never ending yeah it's an everyday thing so I'm back Luke I so sorry to interrupt I want Tok can I thank everybody I want to thank Jennifer and is for everything today you guys really gave well and this is an excellent session I learned something I I truly enjoyed speaking with you both too thank you so much for spending your time this way thank you now we have a lot of questions from the audience that we have been trying to get through and Luke I'm sure that some of these are meant for you as well um so always love your insights uh this question though is for Jennifer that we're starting out with it says what has been the best source to recruit and hire Those Who self-identify as a disabled veteran for Charter and have there been accolades to highlight their your success in this effort so I wouldn't be able to see like we actually don't expose self-id information to the recruiters for lots of reasons so I wouldn't necessarily be able to answer that question as specifically as probably you would like the sources that we find most valuable is we actually established Partnerships uh between different organizations um and then we have six different bases where we have those military Outreach specialists that are military spouses um and so that's where I'd say that's how we create the top end of the funnel and then the next step is actually facilitating office hours with our military recruiting team um where they can schedule that on our career site the other thing we also have that self-service on the C site not specifically just for veterans but for any candidate is it's a a personality assessment tool called fitfinder and it allows the person to in indicate their preferences and it recommends five different jobs to them that they could consider and one of the things we didn't try and do as part of this was we actually improved our gender diversity on our field technicians and our our direct sales roles because simply we were suggesting to women you could be a field technician and so I think the other thing too is if you're still solving a problem you still find a different outcome on the back side of that if you're doing it in an inclusive way is what I would say that's a great story thanks absolutely thank you so much for that and I think one of the qu one of the questions that we did have was around the topic of men versus women uh veterans and if you see a difference in their self ID rates if you track it that way we don't track it that way ish do you have any insight there we do track it that way we do in fact um we could we break it down even by brand service reservice National Guardsmen Etc I I only know this because I've completed many many many surveys that ask those specific question what percentage of your uh veteran population is you know female and male Etc so definitely that's something that we do Trend fantastic thank you uh what's the main reason you know we we've heard that you know you have obviously have a fantastic self-id rate um but what are some of the reasons why people do not want to self-identify and I'd love to hear from all of you on this yes do you want to start us off okay sure um as I mentioned it's the one thing the common denominator is what's in it for me why do I have to do it what difference does it make and in some instances some employees some veterans I should say really feel like it's it could be used against them right if I self idea someone with a disability does that then limit my ability to to have upper mobility within the or is that limit my ability to obtain game point employment if I decide to go to a different position Etc and going back to some of my previous points it's it's an opportunity for us to educate them right as Jennifer mentioned this information is is tightly held like classified tssi you know what I mean this is very very very tightly held it's not accessible to many people within our company and again it's it's once we educate them on what it's used for they get that aha moment and they're like okay but again it's a personal choice I've talked to Veterans who say you know what is that's awesome I appreciate it but I rather just kind of keep it to myself that's okay no pressure again it's it's it's it's it's a personal choice absolutely Jennifer do you have anything to add I think the thing I was gonna add was I think there's a fear of what the data is going I mean now we're getting into the um realm of privacy right and I think that people more and more are very very concerned about how is this data going to be used why why are you asking me this data um because you know we've gotten into this world of digital marketing and targeting people and things like that and so I think that's the biggest fear in today's world I also think it has something to do with simply people scooting through paperwork quickly right when you're trying to do your onboarding paperwork sometimes you're just skipping through it and you might miss it and and not do it on purpose I can't tell you the number of times I've had conversations with veterans who when I tell them to go look up their status they're not coded and so sometimes that is like one of the most simple ways you can get your veteran you know self ID back up because if it's if it's in the system and but they have to look it up like I can't look it up for them so that's what I would add it's a great answer and Luke did you have anything you wanted to add there I just you know I think to me it's trust that if you don't have trust in who's asking you the question you're not going to provide an answer and I think that we sometimes think that we're more trustworthy than other people think that we are as employers and so there's a constant need to re-educate and a constant need to reinform and a constant need to be transparent and I think those things are often missing in the workplace absolutely and if I may you used an example um of this trust as far as our veterans are concerned when we did our run through Luke um with being a helicopter pilot would you mind sharing that again yeah I think I feel aot level of trust when I meet a fellow veteran because I know that there's a bond and a relationship and I was a helicopter pilot and I flew search and rescue and ish and I are many years apart in age we never would have served at the same time he's much younger than I am but if I had been there and he called and he was in trouble I'd have come and gotten him I don't care what I was doing what else was going on whatever I had to do and he knew that getting on that radio would likely bring help unless it was impossible that somebody would come and get him out I worked for a guy uh who had a Navy cross he was a young Lieutenant JG in Vietnam flying search and rescue off a barge and the rules were after dark you couldn't go over land well he got a you know emergency PRC 90 call from a guy was shot down A7 pilot was shot down he's in a in a rice Patty surrounded on three sides and he was going to be captured and so my my Co flew in over the rice Patty and picked them up got the helicopter shot full of you know full of holes but nobody was severely injured and those guys had dinner once a year every year from then on but the the the thing is he's flying he's there of course he's gonna go get him and whatever gonna get in trouble later gonna get in trouble later right now there's somebody who needs me to get get them out of trouble and so that's I think that bond with veterans is there in companies miss a miss a trick by not realizing that and leveraging it because when you feel you're in a trusted environment that Bond multiplies in value because we support each other and then you support the other people who are not necessarily veterans if you're in that kind of environment so employers need to understand there's such power in this and there's enough of us out there that this could really be leveraged for you know company's benefit and it helps the veterans everybody wins absolutely thank you so much much I really found that to be very impactful from a trust perspective right that's how we've come through the military is with that level of trust in each other so thank you so much for sharing that um one additional question I think we have a time for is people really are interested in understanding the centralized accommodation process uh what did it take to centralize that um as well as uh how is it funded so uh Jennifer did you want to start with that so we have a centralized core HR function that sits actually in the same building I am so it's it does all the onboarding the accommodations process and so it is a distinct and separate group of HR professionals that are specifically trained on on those different areas so whether it's um accommodations leave those different things and so that's that's the way it's been set up since our post merger um in 2016 so that's that's the way we we just operate and so that's part of our ch O's budget it's not I mean obviously it roles to the entire organization at some point but that that eliminates any questions in terms of uh support because then it's managed from a metrics perspective at the organization level not by business unit yes yeah you know when I joined the company in ' 08 and they did my ergonomic assessment I remember the lady said you're going to need a new you're going to need an ergo chair and among other things and she sent the information to my manager my manager came to me later that day and he said I understand you need this chair I understand you need all this equipment he's like and I'm telling you he's like I'm working on it he's like I just have to reallocate my budget a little bit he's like give me a few weeks and and I'll get you this this chair those days are long on again we we have a centralized program that's been launched since 2018 if I'm not mistaken its own budget every sector has a representative it has a director and again anything that's workplace accommodations um um uh related whether it's lgbtq Plus transition whether it's religious as well and of course anything with a disability or perhaps a um you know knee surgery like myself something that's you know more you know not not longterm more short short term everything gets centralized there's a form that takes like three minutes to complete a person's on the phone with you shortly after going through that form figuring out exactly what you're looking for and then we make those connections of a person needs an ergonomic evaluation we have those professionals within our company that do that everything's internal very seamless and more importantly once the the item or the accommodation is then identified it is quickly implemented again that's that's the whole point again leveling that that playing field and again no discussion on well this is going to cost the company or or your program x amount of money everything is within within um our program and again it's it's its own entity and it sits within HR as well that's fantastic ftic thank you so much um one person did ask to what resistance do you meet from within the organization and how do you overcome that we all didn't start at this uh you know at this level of Engagement and level of support so what are some of you know what is some of the resistance that you may have engaged with and had to overcome how about you Jennifer yes so I think that going back to the education piece is always critical in terms of um making sure hiring managers that were did not serve in the military understand how to conduct interviews how to interpret resumés um and so we've created some of those trainings along the way and so that is one of the resistances that we sometimes face um but to me like that's that's that's an easy one to overcome I also think that there's from time to time um you know you have competing priorities from a business and so the more you root yourself in data and facts the better you can defend whatever it is that you're doing so like that's that's the the way I tend to operate um and that I think has has boded well for us from a success perspective thank you for that Jennifer absolutely ish you know one thing I hear a lot is not a lot but I do hear from time to time is why do we need to hire more veterans we're doing so well like why do we keep insisting on hiring more veterans and and as Jennifer mentioned that's part that's an opportunity right for for us to educate whomever's asking question and more importantly educate them on where the job market where where where it's at right now right how competitive it is right right now everyone's fighting for the same talent I could tell you how many conferences I've been to and it's like you know everyone's fighting for you know that handful of of of of folks who are who are available to join the workforce so again it's an opportunity for me not only to speak of you know some of things I mentioned previously but even that talk about hey let's look at the job market right now we need to be Innovative and we want to maintain that Competitive Edge so this is why manager or HR Director whomever this is why this it is so important for us to still put some emphasis in hiring veterans not to mention we're a defense contractor right a lot of our contracts are are clear contracts guess what a lot of folks in the military have a clearance it's it's it's it's a marriage made in heaven it's like you know it's it's it's a no-brainer so again A lot of times it's just a simple opportunity to educate that manager or that employee and it really goes a long way that's fantastic well that is going to be our last word unless Luke you have anything that you would like to add before we uh close up and just uh provide some additional information about some other things that will be happening at no I want to just thank everybody who joins us today especially Jennifer and ish thank you so much for your participation and great comments it was really a great conversation I deeply appreciate we've helped our fellow veterans out with this with this webinar today this was amazing really thank you so much really was I also want to thank our sponsors Charter Communications and north of Grumman who made this possible and then Felicia you have other announcements to share uh we do we wanted to just uh let everyone know that in addition to the employment tracker that will be opening uh the first week of December and it closes um mid-march uh we will also have well we do have an engagement survey that companies can uh take advantage of it would be a really nice compliment to um after you complete the tracker to then launch an engagement survey for your employees to see both sides and really understand what's happening do our employees feel the same as we see with our implementation and with the strategy uh we also have some reports that are available here disability in the workplace insights report that is talking about the results and what we are seeing uh from the tracker and the data uh really looking at leaders and why leaders make such a difference in organizations as far as disability inclusion is concerned and then we have our disability in the workplace toolkit which we do every year with Fair 360 um it is a great tool for companies to use uh from a roadmap perspective and awareness uh so really want to uh make those uh tools available to everyone and they are available to everyone you can get them on our website as well as you can go ahead and contact us if you are interested in receiving more information uh want to again thank everyone for participating today this we had a huge response and I if I do say so I'm telling our webinars are just getting better and better this was an amazing just packed with information for companies and I'm so thankful and so grateful that we were able to do this and again thank you for leading this it was thank you ficia we did a great job n we did a great job and and thank you for your leadership appreciate it thank you thanks everyone have a great weekend

Channel: National Organization on Disability

Views: 60

Keywords:

Id: mq4BF5vrMlc

Length: 57min 9sec (3429 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 15 2023