Even in a good economy, when jobs are plentiful and enough qualified applicants are hard to find, one segment of society often is ignored or discriminated against — military dependents.
Traditionally, many businesses have felt dependents would quit as soon as their spouse or parent was transferred, so employers didn’t want to hire them. Businesses believed training and promoting them for such short employment didn’t make sense. Since September 2001, increased global deployments of military personnel and family movements because of the war against terrorism have only reinforced that myth.
“It’s a common problem more prevalent around older bases across America,” said Caldie Rogers, a Vietnam-era military veteran and president and chief executive of the Greater Marysville Tulalip Chamber of Commerce.
Surveys have shown that 77 percent of military spouses want or need to work, yet they have an unemployment rate three times that of people without a spouse in the armed forces, Rogers said.
In a September summit, the chamber launched its Snohomish County Military Family Friendly Employment Partnership initiative to county leaders. Its goal is to meet the county’s growing work-force needs by tapping into the talented work force of military family members. The initiative’s approach combines governmental resolutions and employer agreements, declaring each to be willing to hire people from military families.
“It’s gotten tremendous support locally, and it’s already getting national attention, including from the Pentagon,” Rogers said. “They’re watching it and considering making our program a model for the rest of the country. We have the added advantage of great support from the leaders of Naval Station Everett, the Navy’s newest base.”
While federal laws prohibit discrimination against military personnel in employment practices, even keeping jobs open for reservists called to active duty, there are no laws protecting spouses in military families, she said. To create a welcoming hiring environment in Snohomish County, the chamber is asking businesses to register annually as a Military Family Friendly Employer.
When Best Buy’s Dave Walters heard about the chamber’s new program, he was more than ready to step up and promote it. The retailer already had a similar policy in place and has hired eight or nine military dependents.
“There’s a lot of turnover in this business,” Walters said. “If dependents stay even three years, that’s an improvement over many employees who are not connected to the military.”
Tanya Weaver is a mother of four and the wife of Petty Officer 1st Class Jim Weaver, a military police officer at Naval Station Everett. She joined Best Buy six months ago as a part-time employee. Today, she is supervisor of the store’s home essentials department, marketing washers, dryers, stoves and refrigerators.
“I give Best Buy a lot of credit,” Weaver said. “I found good pay and benefits and opportunities to move up quickly in my job and responsibility.”
Participating employers are registered as such in all of the Washington State Employment Security Department’s databases and search engines. They’re given a guide directing them to both the Military Family Employment Resources Web site and one military site that allows them to link to the Monster.com job page without paying the usual $550 fee.
Military-friendly employers benefit, too. Naval Station Everett’s “Order of the Day” directive encourages military personnel and their families to shop at these businesses. There are 6,500 military and civil service employees at Naval Station Everett, with about 10,000 family members.
Support for the military-friendly hiring initiative has spread following the September summit meeting, Rogers said. Since the initiative began, Cmdr. Donald Leingang, executive officer for Naval Station Everett, has been in touch with military leaders at McChord Air Force Base and the Army’s Fort Lewis, both in Tacoma.
“I don’t think anyone’s ever identified a work force like this before,” Leingang said. “I think a program like this could catch fire and spread throughout the state to other areas with military installations.”
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