The mission of hiring Veterans is a top priority, but what happens after the job offer is signed? If you’re like many organizations, you’ve invested heavily in sourcing, recruiting, and onboarding a service member, only to see that valuable talent leave within the first two years. Losing Veteran employees doesn’t just mean posting a few job openings. It means the loss of unique, high-value leadership, logistics expertise, and mission focus. It’s a heavy price to pay for a broken internal system.
The truth is, hiring is just the first step. Retention is the true measure of your commitment. It’s the engine that transforms your investment into a sustained, positive impact on your bottom line and company culture.
As the trusted standard for Connecting the Military Community with Civilian Opportunity, Military Friendly® has spent over two decades identifying the programs and policies that drive Veteran loyalty. We know exactly what works, and why.
Why the Veteran Revolving Door is So Expensive
If Veteran retention rates lag behind those of your non-military employees, your high hiring costs are compounding into lost ROI. It’s not about finding better people; it’s about fixing the environment.
Veteran employees often leave for reasons that are unique to the transition experience: a lack of cultural belonging, a feeling that their skills are misunderstood, or incompatible Guard/Reserve policies. When a highly trained leader walks out, your business loses more than just a person; it loses mission readiness.
To solve this, your focus needs to shift from a recruiting mandate to a retention strategy built on proven systems that create an authentic sense of belonging. The companies that earn the highest Military Friendly® designations are the ones that have mastered this shift.
Building the Support Systems That Drive Loyalty
What differentiates a company that simply hires Veteran employees from one that retains them for decades? It’s the structured support systems that ensure a smooth transition and continuous professional growth.
Effective Mentorship Programs: Our data consistently shows that Veterans thrive when paired with a formal mentor, ideally another Veteran. This isn’t just a friendly introduction; it’s a dedicated pipeline for translating military skills into corporate language, navigating the political landscape, and accelerating career mobility.
Authentic ERGs: An Employee Resource Group (ERG) must be empowered to influence policy, not just host picnics. The most successful MFE companies use their Veteran ERGs to advise executive leadership on everything from skills-based hiring to supportive military leave policies. This makes Veteran employees feel heard and valued.
Visible Recognition: Top MFE performers create highly visible ways to recognize military service and skills. Whether through company-wide events, leadership spotlights, or internal communications, this recognition reinforces their value and builds internal pride, boosting overall employee satisfaction and strengthening your culture.
By understanding how others build out mentorship, transition assistance, and recognition systems, you can cultivate environments where Veterans and military spouses thrive long-term.
The Standard Behind the Signal: 20 Years of Proven Insight
In the complex world of military recruitment, guessing is too expensive. You can’t afford to spend capital on programs that look good on paper but fail to deliver lasting retention.
This is where the power of the Military Friendly® designation comes into play. For 20 years, we have been leveraging a legacy of insight, impact, and measurable success to identify and validate the policies that truly work across hundreds of companies and industries. Our proprietary methodology sets the standard, providing you with data-driven assurance that your programs are aligned with best practices.
When you partner with Military Friendly®, you are not just getting a designation; you are gaining access to the gold standard of validated Veteran retention and engagement data. This allows you to stop experimenting and start investing in proven solutions that guarantee:
- Lower long-term hiring costs by minimizing turnover.
- A strong, disciplined company culture built on military principles.
- Measurable success that reinforces your credibility with every Veteran job seeker.
It’s Time to Move from Commitment to Conversion
Your company has already made the commitment by pursuing and achieving a Military Friendly® designation. Now is the time to leverage that success to secure your most valuable asset: your people. Don’t let your investment in recruiting be undone by a failure to retain.
Ready to see how our two decades of legacy knowledge can optimize your retention programs?
Military Friendly® | Service Redefined
