The Armed Forces Covenant: All Mouth and No Trousers?
By Andrew Jackson
Hats off to Deloitte, The Forces In Mind Trust and The Forces Employment Charity on the publication of their ‘Veterans Work: Then and Now’ report into veterans’ employment. The Veterans Work series, along with the Office for Veterans’ Affairs ‘Public Perceptions’ and Forces in Mind Trust’s ‘Decade of the Covenant’ reports, provide valuable insights into the attitudes of both employers and ex-military jobseekers. Importantly, they also tell us precisely where we need to focus our collective effort.
Alastair Halliday, Chief Executive of the Forces Employment Charity, highlights some ‘heartening’ progress identified in the report, especially changing employers’ perceptions of veterans. It is indeed encouraging that the number of Armed Forces Covenant signatories has grown from 1,600 in 2016 to over 12,500 today, and that over 70% of employers say they understand the business case for hiring veterans, and would recommend others to do likewise.
However, in my view, the evidence is more nuanced - and far from heartening. If the report is representative, then around half of working age veterans - that’s around 500,000 people:
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Fail to secure a job before leaving the Armed Forces;
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Struggle to find fitting roles (rising to 63% of female veterans);
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Accepted lower salaries in civilian roles;.
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Failed to progress in seniority.
The report also identifies a significant gap between intentions and outcomes; for example, between signing the Armed Forces Covenant and delivering on the pledges organisations make. It also begs some questions:
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If employers really do understand the business case for hiring veterans, why is it that only 35% of (Forces-friendly) employers say veterans have the skills they need, and only 21% believe veterans can fill their skills gaps?
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What of the 3 million+ UK businesses that haven’t signed the Covenant?
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And, perhaps most fundamentally, what impact have 12,500 signatories actually had after nearly 15 years of the Armed Forces Covenant?
So, while there has been progress since, it is too little and too slow. I fear we talk a good war but are at risk of failing to act on the intel these reports contain to tackle the 3 key issues they expose:
1. Delivery. The Forces in Mind Trust’s 2022 ‘Decade of the Covenant’ [1] report concluded it was unable to assess the impact of the Covenant due to the lack of usable data. Organisations, especially in the private sector, need encouragement, guidance (especially sharing of good practice), support and to hold themselves (or be held) accountable for the commitments they make. Measurement and tracking of impact, individually and collectively, is the key to helping organisations realise the return of their investment and holding themselves to account.
2. Visibility and access to support and opportunities. The Office for Veterans Affairs ‘Public Perceptions’ [2] report exposed a serious issue over the visibility and accessibility of available support and opportunities, compounded by a complex and crowded landscape. As AirBNB transformed the rental market, so technology [3] offers a golden opportunity to transform the lived experiences of members of the Armed Forces community by providing one place for them to find ‘Forces Friendly’ organisations, discover more about their work and programmes and access their opportunities.
3. Perceptions, especially the lingering - or endemic - and negative public perception that veterans are physically, psychologically or emotionally damaged by their military service. [4] As we see every year at the British Ex-Forces in Business, Soldiering On and Veterans Awards, there is plenty to support a more positive narrative. It is time to redress the balance with positive case studies that demonstrate the value that veterans and others in the military community add to businesses and society
We’re having a go at the problem behind Issue 1: data, or lack thereof. A group of like-minded organisations [5] have come together on a pilot “Measuring our Social Value” project to agree a set of KPIs and metrics to measure the impact of our work , individually and collectively, against the 7 Covenant themes. As this work gathers pace, we welcome other organisations who are as keen as we are to make sure we are delivering on our promises to better meet the employment, housing, financial, health and wellbeing and other needs of the community we’ve committed to support.
Recently, at a seminar in Glasgow for employers and military jobseekers, a senior NCO from the Royal Regiment Scotland engaged in the resettlement process said he had never heard of the Armed Forces Covenant and didn’t understand what it meant. Every day, we see evidence of the difficulty Service leavers, veterans and their families face, despite the increased number of organisations committed to supporting them. These reports tell us exactly what we need to do; the time for talk is over, it’s time to act.
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1. ‘Decade of the Covenant’, Forces in Mind Trust, Dec 2022
2. ‘Public Perceptions of UK Armed Forces ex-Service personnel’, Office for Veterans Affairs, Nov 2022
3. Such as the Troopr digital marketplace
4. Veterans Transition Survey, Ashcroft, Feb 2014
5. IBM, AtkinsRealis, OCS Group, NHS Scotland, D3A Defence, Turner & Townsend, Wincanton, Expleo Group, Troopr, Chief Disruptor, DXC Technology, Veolia, SMJ Consulting and University of Winchester
6. To find out more or join the pilot, contact andrew@salutemyjob.com