Following is the summary of a recent report of a council created to increase hiring of veterans by federal agencies.
On November 9, 2009, President Barack Obama launched the Veterans Employment Initiative (VEI) with Executive Order 13518. The order established the Council on Veterans Employment (hereafter called the Council) to advise and assist the President and the Director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) in coordinating a Government-wide effort to increase the number of Veterans employed by the Federal Government. Additionally, the Council would serve as a national forum to promote Veterans’ employment opportunities in the executive branch. The Council is Co-Chaired by the Secretaries of the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Labor with the Director of OPM serving as the Vice Chair. Twenty-four agencies are represented on the Council.
Over four years ago, the Council published the first Government-wide Veterans Recruitment and Employment Strategic Plan. This Plan, which covered the period FY 2010 through FY 2012, provided a comprehensive approach to tackle barriers affecting Veteran employment by focusing on four key areas: leadership commitment, skills development and employment, marketing; and information dissemination on Federal employment for Veterans.
Through the implementation of this Plan, the Council:
* Adopted a Hiring Percentage Model for Veteran hiring among Federal agencies. This tiered model helped an agency set a future hiring goal based on the current percentage of Veterans hired;
* Created the Vets to Feds (V2F) Career Development Program for student Veteran trainees in mission critical occupations such as Contracting and IT;
* Developed and launched the Feds Hire Vets Website and associated social media sites to serve as the principal portal on Federal employment information for Veterans, transitioning service members and their families, hiring managers, and HR practitioners;
* Devised a Government-wide marketing campaign on the value of our Veterans and provided marketing toolkits to Federal agencies;
* Provided web-based training modules on Veteran Employment for agencies to train their HR professionals and hiring managers.
Since the inception of the VEI, the Federal Government has seen a steady increase in the percentage of Veterans hired.
In Fiscal Year (FY) 2012, we were extremely pleased to announce that the Executive Branch of Government hired the highest percentage of veterans in over 20 years, surpassing the previous high set in FY 2011.
The Government hired approximately 195,000 new employees in FY 2012 as compared to approximately 230,000 new employees in FY 2011 — a reduction of over 34,000 total hires. Of those 195,000 FY 2012 hires, approximately 56,000 were veterans, equaling 28.9 percent of total hires. This is a 4.9 percentage point increase over the FY 2009 baseline of 24.0 percent and approximately 0.6 percentage points higher than the 28.3 percent realized in FY 2011.
The FY 2014 – FY 2017 Government-wide Veterans Recruitment and Employment Strategic Plan continues to build upon the foundation established by the first Plan. Besides advancing actions to improve employment opportunities for Veterans, this Plan introduces an emphasis on the retention of Veterans which is reflected in the modified mission statement. The Council will also focus on the reintegration of our Federal colleagues who are deployable Reservists or National Guardsmen. To help shape this document and its thrust, valuable input was incorporated from senior Federal leadership from across Government, Veterans, transitioning service members, Veteran Service Organizations, and other activities.
Key actions highlight the need to:
* Increase the collaborative effort between agencies to better leverage tools, processes, and activities to recruit, hire, and retain Veterans in order to optimally use their leadership, skills, training, and experience;
* Improve the awareness of the VEI, its goals, and associated activities among Federal agencies and their components outside the Washington DC area;
* Better align the VEI with other efforts such as diversity and inclusion, the Disabled Veterans Affirmative Action Program (DVAAP), and Joining Forces to leverage limited resources while benefitting from an integrated approach to assist Veterans and their family members seeking employment;
* Perform better workforce data analysis to strengthen Federal agency workforce planning in support of agency efforts to hire and retain Veterans;
* Oversee the creation and implementation of a Reintegration Framework for agency use to provide smooth and seamless support to Federal employees who are reservists and National Guardsmen before, during, and post deployment; and
* Expand Council governance structure to create standing, task oriented sub-committees to review and assess current and emerging issues such as strategic alliances, Veteran hiring models, Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) guidance, retention strategies, and Transition Assistance Program (TAP) connectivity.
In the original plan, there were four focus areas: Leadership Commitment, Skills Development and Employment, Marketing Veterans Employment, and Information Gateway. Based on a new emphasis associated with the retention and reintegration of Veterans, the new Strategic Plan emphasizes five focus areas by separating Skills Development and Employment into two separate entities. Therefore, the five focus areas are: 1) Leadership Commitment; 2) Skills Development; 3) Employment; 4) Marketing, and 5) Information Gateway.
The Council on Veterans Employment reaffirms its commitment to the employment of our Nation’s Veterans through this strategic plan. Council members will continue to ensure Federal agencies honor the intent of EO 13518, the VOW To Hire Heroes ACT, and the Presidential Memorandum on USERRA Protections.
