Employers Forum June 2016: Summary Of Output

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Employers Forum

June 2016

mailto:[email protected]


Contents 1. Background ................................................................................................................................. 3

2. Developing the Business Case .............................................................................................. 3

3. Breakout Sessions ..................................................................................................................... 5

4. Live Data Capture ....................................................................................................................... 7

4.1. Employer Overview ........................................................................................................... 7

4.1.1. Approximate annual revenue:................................................................................. 8

4.1.2. Number of employees in organisation: ................................................................ 8

4.1.3. Number of veterans employed in the organisation: ......................................... 8

4.2. Military Programme Overview ........................................................................................ 9

4.2.1. Dedicated military recruitment programme: ....................................................... 9

4.2.2. Business case: ........................................................................................................... 9

4.2.3. Understanding of benefits: .................................................................................... 10

4.2.4. Resourcing the military programme: .................................................................. 10

4.3. Attract, Recruit, Transition and Development .......................................................... 11

4.3.1. Attracting and recruiting military: ....................................................................... 11

4.3.2. Skills ............................................................................................................................ 11

4.3.3. Transition and development: ................................................................................ 12

4.4. Future Plans ...................................................................................................................... 12

5. Moving Forward ........................................................................................................................ 13



1. Background

The inaugural Employers Forum was held on the 14th of June 2016. The aim of the forum

was to provide an arena for employers interested and engaged in military recruitment

programmes to come together to:

Gain an understanding of how to develop and communicate a business case, with

special emphasis on costs, benefits, challenges and other considerations involved in

the process.

Share best practice

Gain real time insights and practical tips

Make connections with other employers

This document outlines the key aspects of the Forum with a view to sharing knowledge and

insight amongst employers.

2. Developing the Business Case

The overarching premise underlying the Forum was that the narrative of employing military

personnel needs to move on from simply being the ‘right thing to do’ to “military is good for

business”. Although the former is important, in order to achieve sustainability, fully

understanding the commercial benefits of military recruitment is fundamental. To support

this development of a business case is essential. The OA see this journey of moving the

narrative forward as reflected in the Sustainability Model below:



Every activity undertaken by employers, including military employment activities, will have

associated costs, benefits, challenges and considerations. It is important to understand

these costs and challenges from the outset as well as the benefits. This would make the

business case more viable and sustainable. The graph below reflects OA’s approach to

developing a viable business case.

As the model above shows, there are various activities that relate to four stages of military

employment:

Attract - Disseminating knowledge; raising profile of organisation and promoting

opportunities; attracting best talent; transparency of opportunities; creating

sustainable pipelines

Select - Optimise selection process; skills translation and interpreting CVs; review

of HR frameworks; adapting assessment process; advice to HR professionals and

line managers



Transition - Support throughout transition; managing expectations; developing

network; training to fill skills gap; integration with business (champions, mentors,

buddies)

Develop - Integration of military agenda into existing business practices and work

streams; identifying how military can support wider business objectives; leveraging

benefits of ex-military workforce; benefits realisation; and cost optimisation

These four stages and their associated activities bring benefits to and have an impact on the

organisation at various levels:

Individual - Skills, behaviours, knowledge, experience linked to veterans and

brought into the organisation.

Organisation - Financial savings arising from reduced recruitment costs; higher

retention; diversity; culture; breaking down “silos” within organisation; meeting CSR

agendas; creating value

Stakeholder community - External stakeholders (customers, supply chain, regional

or international community); creating shareholder value

External environment - Growing UK Plc skills pool; investing in future talent;

providing experience and training for wider industry or sector; retaining expertise

within UK

Although the above mentioned benefits and impacts are inherent across the four stages of

military recruitment (Attract, Select, Transition and Develop), in order to develop a valid

business case, a more detailed understanding of benefits, costs and challenges associated

with the four stages of recruitment is needed. To help gain this understanding, Breakout

sessions were used at the Employers Forum.

3. Breakout Sessions

Two sets of four parallel breakout sessions were organised where employers could discuss

specific issues related to one of the four stages of military recruitment. Each breakout

session consisted of presentations of case studies by employers. The case studies used in

each of these sessions were as follows:

Attract – Nationwide

Select – Network Rail and NHS England

Transition – GE and BT

Develop – Barclays and Deloitte

These case studies were used to learn lessons from and to stimulate discussion on each

stage. The participants were asked to consider some key activities they will undertake within

the area of Attract, Select, Transition and Develop respectively. Out of the various activities

identified at each stage, participants were asked to choose 3 that were more relevant or



significant. For these chosen activities, participants were then asked to identify potential

costs, benefits and challenges involved in implementing and maintaining these activities.

The feedback obtained from each of these four breakout sessions helped identify the top 10

key activities across the four stages of military recruitment. These activities are as follows:

1. Insight events

2. Internships/work experience

3. Line and HR manager briefing

4. Communication to Service Leavers

5. Career pathways

6. Employers network

7. Expectation management

8. Skills gap training

9. Benefits realisation planning

10. Develop plan and approach

These activities were then ranked by all employers at the Forum based on benefits to the

organisation, the cost to implement and run the activities, and challenges involved in

implementing and running the activities. The results of the ranking are shown below from

highest to lowest:

Cost Benefits Challenges

Internships/Work experience

Skills gap training

Insight Events

Develop plan and approach

Benefits realisation planning

Career pathways

Line and HR manager briefing

Employers network

Communication to Service Leavers

Expectation management


Skills gap training

Insight events



Communication to Service Leavers


Employers network

Career pathways


Skills gap training



Insight events


Career pathways


Communications to Service Leavers

Employers network




The activities ranked based on Costs and Benefits are compared in the graph below. The

activities are indicated by the corresponding number in the Top 10 Activities list above.

4. Live Data Capture

In order to obtain a better understanding of the employers represented at the forum, live data

was captured during the day. The specific aims of this data capture were:

Understand the nature of employers attending the forum

Understand the nature military engagement by employers attending the forum

The results of this live data capture are presented below.

4.1. Employer Overview

The following questions aimed gain an understanding of the nature of employers.

1

2

3

4

5 6

7

8

9 10

0

50

100

150

200

250

0 50 100 150 200 250

Costs

B

e

n

ef

its



4.1.1. Approximate annual revenue:

4.1.2. Number of employees in organisation:

4.1.3. Number of veterans employed in the organisation:

9% 7% 3%

66%

16%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Upto £2million

Upto £10million

Upto £50million

Over £50million

Not sure

3% 5% 3%

31%

57%

0 0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Upto 10 Upto 50 Upto250

Upto5000

Over5000

Not Sure

22%

13%

5%

13%

5%

25%

17%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

Upto 10 Upto 25 Upto 50 Upto 100 Upto 250 Over 250 Not sure



4.2. Military Programme Overview

The following questions provide an overview of the level of military engagement of the

employers.

4.2.1. Dedicated military recruitment programme:

4.2.2. Business case:

Two statements were used to ascertain the extent to which the employers have

developed a business case for employing ex-military personnel.

41%

59%

Yes No

23%

28%

13%

30%

18%

20%

36%

18%

10%

3%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%

We have a fully developed business case todemonstrate benefits of recruiting military

We understand how an effective military recruitmentprogramme will help us reach our business objectives

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neither Agree/Disagree Agree Stronlgy agree



4.2.3. Understanding of benefits:

Three options were used to ascertain the level of understanding of the benefits of

employing military personnel within organisations.

4.2.4. Resourcing the military programme:

Three statements were used to understand how the military programmes are resourced

within organisations.

36%

36%

27%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%

Our senior management understand the benefits ofrecruiting ex-military personnel

Our human resource team and managers/supervisorsunderstand the benefits of recruiting ex-military

personnel

Our internal and external stakeholders understandthe benefits of recruiting exmilitary personnel

35%

15%

50%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

We have a dedicated forces champion or equivalentin our organisation

We have a dedicated budget for our militaryprogramme

We do not have any dedicated resources for ourmilitary programme



4.3. Attract, Recruit, Transition and Development

The following questions gathered insights relating to attracting, recruiting, transitioning

and development of military personnel.

4.3.1. Attracting and recruiting military:

4.3.2. Skills

Participants were asked to choose the 5 most important skills that they are looking for

when recruiting military personnel.

25%

28%

42%

36%

12%

17%

18%

17%

3%

2%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45%

We are confident in being able to reach and attractmilitary personnel into our organisation

We understand how military skills fit in with ourorganisation's needs

Strongly disagree Disagree Neither agree/disagree Agree Strongly agree

4%

12% 12%

9% 8%

12%

10% 9%

10%

14%

0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

14%

16%



4.3.3. Transition and development:

Employers were asked to identify the type of military initiatives currently employed in

their organisations to support military transition and development.

4.4. Future Plans

Employers were asked about their plans to progress with the military programmes in the next

6-12 months.

40%

23% 23%

7% 8%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

Informal buddyingsystem

Formal mentoringsystem

Veterans/militarynetwork

Military personnelspecific

commercialisationprogramme

Military personnelspecific induction

programme

23%

25%

17%

20%

25%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

We plan to start up amilitary recruitment

programme

We plan to continuewith our military

programme

We plan to expandour military

programme in termsof numbers

We plan to expandour military

programme in termsof activities

We plan to develop abusiness case for

employing militarypersonnel



5. Moving Forward

Following on from this successful inaugural Forum, there are several initiatives being

planned.

Firstly, further research on making the business case from the employers’ perspective. This

will enable a better understanding of military engagement by employers as well as

highlighting issues currently faced by employers.

Secondly, employers led special interest groups. Employers interested in various aspects of

military engagement such as skills translation and developing key performance indicators

can set up special interest groups to take these specific areas forward by working

collaboratively, sharing best practice and developing specific tools.

Finally, the Forum is planned to be held at regular intervals to move the agenda forward and

provide a space for continued discussions.


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Employers Forum June 2016: Summary Of Output

Recruiting & HR