Assessing Workplace Perceptions of Military Veteran Compared to Nonveteran Employees

Abstract

Qualitative methods were used to examine differences in workplace perceptions between military veteran and nonveteran employees at the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). Prior research using employee satisfaction survey data found veteran employees reported a stronger connection to the organizational mission yet were overall less satisfied than nonveteran employees. The authors examined the open-text comments from that same survey to determine whether veteran employees identified the reasons for their discontent and whether these were similar to nonveterans' concerns. They found that in cases when veteran employees indicated dissatisfaction or concerns, favoritism/unfairness was an overarching theme in their comments, more so than for nonveterans. Pragmatically, given these findings, enhanced vocational strategies for veterans transitioning into civilian employment is one way to socialize them into the new requirements and thus improve veterans' workplace perceptions. Another approach is to develop organizational leaders' understanding of military skills and culture to enable a better use of veteran employees' strengths at civilian jobs.

The Challenges of Military Veterans in Their Transition to the Workplace: A Call for Integrating Basic and Applied Psychological Science

“…One large study (N > 175,000) found that veterans score lower than matched nonveterans on 47 out of 49 indices of work satisfaction (Teclaw, Osatuke, & Ramsel, 2016). Veterans also frequently cite concerns about unfairness and favoritism (Yanchus, Osatuke, Carameli, Barnes, & Ramsel, 2018), possibly because of the aforementioned differences between the military and civilian organizations regarding transparency in promotion and hierarchy. Veterans are also aware of and internalize mental-health stigma (Dickstein et al, 2010).…”

Modeling Education Deserts for Veterans and Military Families in the Southern United States

“…A similar paucity of studies exists for workforce opportunities. What little analysis is available does not amount to much more than coarse hotspot analysis (Myers 2018) or a treatment of multivariate but nonspatial elements of interest (Elliott, Gonzalez, and Larsen 2011;Carter-Boyd 2012;Barry, Whiteman, and Wadsworth 2014;Ford 2017;Yanchus et al 2018). Our research seeks to address this gap by drawing on how the technique has been widely used in other applications.…”

Military veterans are morally typecast as agentic but unfeeling: Implications for veteran employment

“…These anticipated difficulties have been partly attributed to the heroic pedestal that veterans are put on (Dillon, 2017). It is not surprising then that veterans often experience a lack of fit and belongingness in civilian organizations (Elliott, Gonzalez, & Larsen, 2011;Teclaw, Osatuke, & Ramsel, 2016;Yanchus et al, 2018).…”