Find a reserve-friendly employer p1 - Military Transition - Military Times EDGE

Many employers go the extra mile to support Guard and reserve members. Since 1996, the secretary of defense has recognized the 15 companies that go the furthest each year with the annual Employer Support Freedom Award.

While the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act guarantees service members at any civilian job re-employment rights and health insurance protection while on duty, many Freedom Award winners also offer:

• Continuing financial/health benefits: Nearly all companies honored in 2009 offer differential or full pay during deployment, continued profit sharing, sick pay, back pay, raises, promotion opportunities, and medical and life insurance benefits for those enrolled.

• Care/financial assistance for families: Employees of Houston’s FMC Technologies organized care packages to send to their deployed co-worker, weekly visits and babysitting services for his wife, and holiday gifts for his family. AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals assigns a family support coordinator to the families of deployed employees.

• Personal support and contact: Companies such as Mooresville, N.C.’s AeroDyn Wind Tunnel LLC facilitate regular phone calls, video and e-mail contact between the deployed employee and his or her family. Several award-winning companies also encourage employees to contact their deployed co-worker regularly for support and encouragement.

• Assistance in departure and return: Honored companies endeavor to make Guard and reserve members’ transitions between civilian and military life seamless with farewell parties and guidance programs for reintegrating after returning from duty. The Santa Ana Police Department, which employs more than two dozen Guard and reserve members, has policies to guide both employees and supervisors through the reintegration process.

Do your homework

Many of the companies recognized by the Defense Department actively recruit Guard and reserve members, but there’s plenty a job searcher can do to find an employer who will support his military duties.

Maj. Melissa Phillips, strategic communications officer for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, recommends the following strategies:

• Search online for a Statement of Support: ESGR has a Statement of Support program in which employers can publicly acknowledge their willingness to work with Guard and reserve members. The office’s Web site, www.esgr.org, features a list of signees by state.

• Work with local ESGR field committees: Local field committees can assist in finding employers with signed Statements of Support and are likely to be familiar with military-friendly companies.

• Search online for employee handbooks: Many businesses post their employee handbooks online, which often contain information about their policies for Guard and reserve members. Most organizations with policies already in place are military-friendly and have worked with service members in the past, Phillips said.

• Search vetjobs.com: In addition to job postings, the Web site offers spouse resources, career advisers and other resources.

Whatever your employer’s policies, open communication is the key to balancing civilian and military duties in any workplace, Phillips said.

“Often, problems are created when there’s not communication — when the employer’s not sure of the service requirements,” she said. “But if there’s open dialogue about it up front, employers are aware of it — and they know the service member’s going to work hard in that organization — it goes a long way toward setting up and establishing a relationship where there might not have been Guard or reserve members in the past.”

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2009 Employer Support Freedom Award winners

AeroDyn Wind Tunnel LLC, Mooresville, N.C.

AstraZeneca International, Wilmington, Del.

Cambridge, Mass., Fire Department, Cambridge, Mass.

Consolidated Electrical Distributors, Inc., North Charleston, S.C.

First Data Corp., Greenwood Village, Colo.

FMC Technologies, Houston, Texas

Jackson Parish Sheriff’s Department, Jonesboro, La.

Marks, O’Neill, O’Brien & Courtney P.C., Wilmington, Del.

Microsoft Corp., Redmond, Wash.

Mid America Kidney Stone Association, Kansas City, Mo.

NetJets, Woodbridge, N.J.

Ohio Department of Public Safety, Columbus, Ohio

Perpetual Technologies Inc., Indianapolis, Ind.

Santa Ana Police Department, Santa Ana, Calif.

TriWest Healthcare Alliance, Phoenix, Ariz.

Past winners can be found at www.freedomaward.mil.