The return of female and male veterans to civilian life will necessarily determine a number of adaptation tasks during their reintegration into civilian life and when they return to work.
Regardless of whether a veteran returns to his or her old workplace or is hired at a new workplace, on average, it takes three to six months to adapt to the old “new” place and about 10-12, sometimes 18 months to feel comfortable in a completely new work environment.
How can employers help veterans transition to a new career?
- Maintain an unobtrusive atmosphere of respect for our female and male veterans. A sense of gratitude and hospitality contributes to productivity and success. Just keep in mind that people who have returned from war have their own cultural backgrounds, invisible injuries and disabilities. Veterans may face culture shock and general difficulties of transition.
- Do not cross personal boundaries. Some veterans do not want to disclose their service history and details of their personal life after returning. Maintain business-like working relationships within the team. This is possible when planning the optimal scope and complexity of work tasks for each member of a professional team. Veterans’ adaptation to the workplace is not only their individual and personal matter. Each member of the workforce matters and influences the group processes of the workforce.
- Put aside your preconceptions about veterans that they may have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), provided that it may limit corporate productivity. This stigma exists and is actually a form of discrimination. It is better to focus on the attitude that former military personnel are professionally trained and capable of problem solving in extreme conditions, teamwork and taking responsibility.
- Provide a sense of purpose or mission. Support the value of serving something greater than the mechanical and unimaginative performance of work tasks. The need for mission support does not end when a person takes off their uniform. Give your veterans a new mission or goal and fulfill that human need. Make sure that every employee can feel their role in fulfilling the noble goal of your company. Create conditions so that those who return from war and no longer perform their duties can avoid feeling lost and abandoned, questioning who they are, and experiencing grief or split identity.
- Provide frequent and systematic feedback. Former combatants do not wait for an annual performance review. These people have become accustomed to regular unofficial check-ins or “azimuth checks” over the past two years of war. Make sure that your veteran employees also regularly provide informal feedback on their new work environment.
- Take care of healthy relationships and communication among employees outside the workplace. Organized cultural, sporting, educational or other healthy activities are a good way to promote informal communication between team members. For example, going to the theater together, going on a weekend hike, team building, ropes courses, free workouts in the corporate gym will be appropriate for veterans to adapt to the workplace faster.
- Build a corporate culture that is equal for everyone. There is no need to nurture unconstructive condescension and pity for veterans. First of all, it degrades human dignity. And, secondly, it will create psychological discomfort not only for the veteran himself, but also for other team members. Distortion of the psychological atmosphere directly interferes with the proper performance of work tasks and the main goal of the institution or corporation.
- Organize mentoring. It would be appropriate to “attach” a mentor-consultant on adaptation to a new workplace to a newly arrived veteran employee. This is an effective and efficient practice given the breadth and complexity of a veteran’s transition to civilian employment. The partnership between a mentor and a newcomer is able to overcome obstacles, set and realize goals, and prove themselves in their professional life to the best of their ability.
The Molfa Hub project, created by the Association of Resource Psychology and Psychotherapy, has developed a large number of tools and methods for veterans’ adaptation in the workplace and integration into the team after returning to civilian life.
If your organization or company is really interested in its veterans, we are ready to share our experience or join the reintegration process.