Recognizing employers that support veterans

VETS Indexes Employer Awards

METHODOLOGY

Methodology:
VETS Indexes Employer Awards

Recipients of the VETS Indexes Employer Awards are selected based on their responses to VETS Indexes’ groundbreaking survey, which examines the most important veteran employment metrics via a granular, objective, and data-focused questionnaire.

This state-of-the-art survey has set a new standard for evaluating organizations employing veterans. The survey provides more precision, through a design focused on metrics and key performance indicators, instead of written responses to general essay questions. This enables us to ground our evaluations in real numbers, rather than subjective interpretations.

A total of 344 organizations submitted surveys to be considered for the 2024 VETS Indexes Employer Awards. Responding organizations included companies large and small, government agencies and departments, nonprofit groups, colleges, and universities. They range in size from fewer than 100 employees to more than 200,000 employees and represent a wide variety of industries.

For the VETS Indexes Employer Awards, we carefully analyze the data provided by responding organizations, putting it in context of each organization’s size/type and examining the data from multiple perspectives. Broadly speaking, employers are evaluated across 5 categories, weighted as follows:

  • 28.4% Veteran employee development & retention, including

    • Employee retention rates for all employees, veterans, and military-connected personnel
    • Seniority levels of veteran employees within an organization
    • Proportion of internal promotions going to veteran employees
  • 21.2% Veteran-inclusive policies & culture, including

    • Veteran Employee Resource Groups, activity levels and sizes
    • Proportion of vendor/supplier budget spent at veteran-owned businesses
    • Contributions to veteran employment efforts beyond your own organization
  • 20.7% Veteran recruiting & hiring, including

    • Proportion of new hire and overall employee populations who are veterans
    • Proportion of recruiting budget earmarked for veterans
    • Relative size of veteran-focused recruiting staff
  • 19.0% Guard/Reserve support, including

    • Compliance with employment rules for Guard/Reserve employees
    • Pay policies for serving Guard/Reserve employees
    • Employer Support of the Guard & Reserve (ESGR) award received
  • 10.6% Military spouse & family support, including

    • Proportion of new hire and overall employee populations who are military spouses
    • Flexible work locations, scheduling for military spouse employees
    • Military spouse recruiting and job application policies

Feedback

Do you have thoughts on what we should consider in this evaluation? What should be the most important metrics? The least important? We’d love to get your feedback, and we will use it to help us develop the program.

Please email survey@vetsindexes.com to give us suggestions.