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Best Buy finds value in military hiring policy

When Dave Walters heard about the Greater Marysville Tulalip Chamber of Commerce’s new program to encourage businesses to hire military dependents, he was more than ready to step up and promote it. “When I first talked to Melissa West (at the chamber) about what they were doing, I told them Best Buy already has that policy in place. We’ve hired eight or nine dependents because their values coincide with my goals, such as bringing a sense of teamwork and family to my store. They are some of the hardest-working and team-oriented people I employ, and they are an integral part of making Best Buy a fun place to work,” Walters said. Tanya Weaver, a Washington resident for seven years, is a mother of four and wife of Petty Officer 1st Class Jim Weaver, a military policeman at Naval Station Everett. She was hired six months ago for a part-time position at Best Buy. Today, she is supervisor of the store’s home essentials department, marketing washers, dryers, stoves and refrigerators. “I give Best Buy a lot of credit. I found good pay and benefits and opportunities to move up quickly in my job and responsibility,” she said. Walters joked that he has to be “prepared for the time off that employees want off when a ship comes in” but said the benefits of hiring military dependents far outweigh that concession. “There’s a lot of turnover in this business. If dependents stay even three years, that’s an improvement over many employees who are not connected to the military,” he said. Best Buy offers flexible schedules that work with people’s personal schedules; military leave for enlistees, inductees or reservists to meet their military responsibilities; and a national job-opening network that allows associates to search online and apply for positions in other stores when their spouse or family is transferred. — John Wolcott, SCBJ Editor Advantages to hiring military spouses Many employers seeking workers in a high employment market are struggling to find qualified people. Yet many of them are overlooking the potential work force found in hiring military spouses. That’s the message from speakers at the Greater Marysville Tulalip Chamber of Commerce’s September summit on its initiative to create a friendly environment for employing the thousands of military family members in Snohomish County. Most military spouses are well educated, with more than half having at least some college education and one in five earning a four-year degree. Beyond that, many have completed advanced graduate degrees. Also, spouses often are certified in various skills and trades, and many of them take advantage of free or low-cost career development and training resources offered by the government. Military spouses also have diverse experience within their career fields that can offer employers new ideas, skills and perspectives. Living in a variety of national and global locations helps spouses to develop flexibility and coping skills that transfer well into job roles. The trend in today’s military services is to extend deployment at their home bases beyond the traditional three years, reducing government costs for more frequent relocations. That means a more stable military work force for areas like Puget Sound with its array of military installations. Hiring military dependents not only helps employers, the summit speakers pointed out, it also means they spend their income locally, helping the economy by increasing retail sales, buying or renting housing, purchasing cars and supporting the county’s entertainment facilities.

CONTACT SCBJ John Wolcott, Editor jwolcott@scbj.com Dave Clark, Assistant Editor dclark@scbj.com

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By John Wolcott
SCBJ Editor

Even in a good economy, when jobs are plentiful and enough qualified applicants are hard to find, one segment of society often is ignored or discriminated against — military dependents.

Traditionally, many businesses have felt dependents would quit as soon as their spouse or parent was transferred so they didn’t want to hire them. Training and promoting them for such short employment didn’t make sense. Since September 2001, increased global deployments of military personnel and family movements because of the war against terrorism have only reinforced that myth.

Today, top military leaders in America rank the bias and barriers against hiring military dependents as the second greatest concerns facing the armed forces. At a time when many civilian couples need two incomes to manage in a high-cost economy, military families, too, often need a working spouse. Yet, the value of military dependents continues to be overlooked by many employers. The Pentagon is concerned because more married military personnel are leaving the service because they can’t live only on their military pay.

“It’s a common problem more prevalent around older bases across America,” said Caldie Rogers, a Vietnam-era military veteran and president and chief executive of the Greater Marysville Tulalip Chamber of Commerce. “Even if that myth was true at one time, times have changed dramatically. Today, studies have shown that civilian employees will hold at least 32 different jobs in at least seven career fields over their lifetime. Also, military dependents are as skilled and educated as civilians, yet the myth continues that military dependents are lacking by comparison.”

Surveys have shown that 77 percent of military spouses want or need to work, yet they have an unemployment rate three times that of their civilian counterparts, Rogers said.

In a September summit, the chamber launched its spirited new Snohomish County Military Family Friendly Employment Partnership initiative to county leaders. Its goal is to meet the county’s growing work-force needs by tapping into the talented work force of military family members.

The initiative’s approach combines governmental resolutions and employer agreements, declaring each to be military family friendly in their hiring practices. Also, the initiative provides a major public awareness campaign to inform Snohomish County businesses of the problems faced by many military dependents in seasoned military installations, as well as showing them how to break down those employment barriers.

“It’s taken us a year to put the program together,” Rogers said. “It’s gotten tremendous support locally, and it’s already getting national attention, including from the Pentagon. They’re watching it and considering making our program a model for the rest of the country. We have the added advantage of great support from the leaders of Naval Station Everett, the Navy’s newest base.”

While federal laws prohibit discriminating against military personnel in employment practices, even keeping jobs open for reservists called to active duty, there are no laws protecting spouses in military families, she said.

Military friendly employment encouraged
To create a welcoming hiring environment in Snohomish County, the chamber is asking employers to pledge to welcome military family members’ job applications without discrimination by registering annually as a Military Family Friendly Employer.

Employers who sign up will be registered in all of the Washington state Employment Security Department’s databases and search engines as an employer friendly to military families. Registered employers will receive the trademarked “2008 Military Family Friendly Employer” window decals as well as an electronic version to be added to a business’ Web site or used in advertising.

They also will receive a guide directing them to the official Military Family Employment Resources Web sites where they will be able to post job openings, including one military Internet site that allows them to link to the Monster.com job site without paying the usual $550 fee.

They’ll benefit, too, from Naval Station Everett’s “Order of the Day” directive that encourages military personnel and their families to patronize businesses that display the “Military Family Friendly Employer” emblems. There are 6,500 military and civil service employees at Naval Station Everett, with about 10,000 family members.

Sponsors of the employer program launch included Costco, Best Buy, American Family Insurance, Beresford Booth PLLC, Concentric Color Press, Lasting Impressions, Snohomish County Workforce Development Council and the Snohomish County Business Journal, as well as Affiliated Associations of America in Redmond.

A leading supporter and chair of the chamber’s military affairs committee, Melissa West, president of Carlson Wagonlit Travel in Marysville, told the people gathered at the Military Family Friendly Initiative Summit that she suffered discrimination often during her husband’s 22-year Air Force flying career.

Although she thought her degrees in marketing and psychology would make it easy to find work, she repeatedly was turned down by potential employers because they feared she would leave when he was transferred. Instead, she was hired for digging ditches and installing sprinkler systems. At one base, she was able to find a position as a retail store manager; at another base, she could only land a part-time teaching job.

“Today I still hear the same concerns from military spouses and family members. Employers don’t want to hire them because they feel they’ll leave if their husband or wife is transferred or the base closes,” she said. “And, the families often don’t want to talk about it to avoid hurting the serviceman’s military career.”

She has known an Air Force wife with a master’s degree in international business who couldn’t get a response to her resumes until she changed her mailing address from the air base to a post office box, a Navy wife with advanced degrees who waited a year to find a job and a Navy spouse with a college degree and 11 years of government experience who couldn’t get promoted because of her husband’s duty rotation time.

Advantages of hiring military spouses often are not recognized, she said, including the fact that military life has taught them to be goal oriented, to understand the importance of the drug-free lifestyle promoted by the military and to be the kind of team players businesses want most.

Former Air Force wife Marge Edwards told September’s summit audience that she and three other spouses at McChord AFB carpooled for months to earn their Washington teaching credentials at a local college, finished their practice teaching at four local schools and then were asked by the schools to teach full time.

“You can imagine our shock when we were told … that the district had decided to hire only local teachers. They said we were the most qualified but they wanted teachers who could remain in the area long-term,” she said.

One of the most stressful situations she recalled was a military spouse who was hired at the same time as a local woman. The employer spent considerable money training the local person but none on the military spouse. When she left four years later, she reminded her employer that the local woman had quit after 60 days and 10 other people had been hired for that position by the time the military spouse left.

“I don’t doubt that it’s an issue,” said John Patterson of Snohomish, a Department of Defense volunteer ombudsman for the Washington Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve. He helps military personnel and employers understand federal laws governing employment. Now he’s helping the chamber to connect with other military branches and organizations that support military families.

“Several Washington employers have been recognized by the Department of Defense for providing more than the law requires to deployed employees, such as continuing salaries and family medical insurance coverage, including Intermec, Pacific Garages and the Snohomish County government.”

Other speakers also supported the program, including Rear Adm. Robert Passmore, deputy commander for the Navy Region Northwest office in Bangor.

“For military spouses, being able to find a job helps them feel more a part of the community,” Passmore said. “It’s good for the community as well. The more they’re plugged into the community, the more likely they are to give to the community. Also, if sailors don’t have to worry about their families’ finances, it makes better sailors. This is a military readiness issue.”

Cmdr. Donald Leingang, executive officer for Naval Station Everett, told the summit he is “sadly aware of difficulties in finding jobs. I think it’s currently more of an issue outside of the county because the leaders who worked hard to bring the naval station to Everett are still around, but in communities with older bases, those founding leaders are absent.”

Leingang said the program has an added benefit locally because it “might identify a whole group of (employable) people that employers didn’t know was out there.”

Costco, Roy Robinson support military employment
One of the leaders in supporting military family employment is Costco, which has several policies that help families, said John Dominguez, merchandise manager for the Lakewood Crossing store and an Army reservist.

“At Costco, we do not differentiate between military and nonmilitary families when we’re interviewing and hiring employees. Military personnel and their families are a valued asset to our community and our work force. Our wholesale manager is a former Navy captain; our foods manager and center manager are both former Air Force veterans; and we employ several others with military service in their backgrounds,” he said.

During his 10 years as a reservist he has been called to active duty twice and Costco provided support each time, he said, noting that all employees are entitled to military leave beginning with the first day of employment. When they return, Costco provides a job at a rate of pay equal to what they would have been receiving if they had not been away, plus accrued vacation and other standard employee benefits.

“Also, Costco will make up the difference between military pay and what they would have made at Costco. We also send out military care packages three to five times a year to some 200 employees serving overseas, with things such as video games, food, movies, clean socks and towels, phone cards and much more,” he said. “Christmas cards are one of about 15 cards a year sent to employees on active duty, and we even personalize them with their nicknames.”

Gordon Bjorg, president of Roy Robinson Chevrolet, Subaru and Motorhome Center, said his business has become an early affiliate of the chamber’s new program, noting that he will work toward “increased employment and career opportunities for military family members. … They represent a vast array of education and experience. … Our Military Family Friendly Employer logo is already appearing in our classified and commercial advertising.”

He also praised the chamber for taking the initiative on promoting hiring of military dependents. “Caldie Rogers and Melissa West are to be commended for launching this exciting and very proactive program,” Bjorg said. “As a former sailor, I have great empathy for those who serve in the military, and I am honored to participate in such a well-intended and well-designed program.”

Support for hiring initiative spreads
Support for the military friendly hiring initiative has continued to spread following the September summit meeting, Rogers said.

Marysville’s City Council was the first to pass a resolution encouraging area businesses to become partners in the military family friendly employment program, followed by the Tulalip Tribes and Snohomish County. Rogers said she expects that every city in the county will be on board by the end of the year. The Marysville Tulalip chamber also featured a presentation on the Military Family Friendly Employment Partnership program at its Nov. 30 morning membership meeting.

School districts, too, are showing interest, including Arlington, where Superintendent Linda Byrnes plans to take the initiative to a gathering of other superintendents for consideration, Rogers said.

Mark San Souci, regional liaison for military families in the Northwest Region, told Rogers he has been keeping Pentagon officials informed and sending local news releases about the chamber’s military family hiring program to a contact who is posting them on armed forces Web sites.

“I am so impressed with the initiative. I think it’s a best practice and have already spoken with a Pierce County council member and an economic development contact, plus a city councilman in Tacoma and my Navy Region Northwest friends in Silverdale to talk about what to do in Kitsap County,” he wrote to Rogers.

Tulalip Tribal Chairman Mel Sheldon, a Vietnam veteran, said the tribes know the value of people. “We are going to destroy the myth (about hiring military dependents). We are myth busting.”

Naval Station Everett leaders are deeply involved in supporting and promoting the chamber’s initiative, and the base’s executive officer already is spreading the word.

“I don’t think anyone’s ever identified a work force like this before,” said Leingang, who has been in touch with military leaders at McChord Air Force Base and the Army’s Fort Lewis, both in Tacoma. “I think a program like this could catch fire and spread throughout the state to other areas with military installations.”

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