(Ed.s note:
This is the first of a two-part column.)
One of the
strategic political decisions the United States has made is to shape
its military power by depending on a relatively small volunteer
force backed up by reserves. The outcome of such a decision is that
employers around the country are now enlisted, if not drafted, as
part of the military response following decisions made by the
president. Employers have special responsibilities when orders for
military activation arrive in the mailbox of an employee.
Military
activation is more acute in its impact on local government than on
other employers because of a natural affinity between military
service and other forms of public service, especially law
enforcement. Counties and cities have found that the military
services may be an especially productive recruitment source for
sheriffs, deputies, police officers, and others. Often, the
employees we recruit from the military maintain a connection through
service in the National Guard or Reserves. The other side of
discovering a fertile recruitment source is the need to support the
soldier/employee when ordered to go over there.
When the orders
to activate arrive, the choice between law enforcement blue and Navy
blue, Air Force blue or some camouflage-pattern uniform is easy to
make. The law enforcement blue must be put in a closet until
deployment is over.
In the last few
months, thousands of employees across the country have come to work
and immediately visited their supervisors to show them the military
orders they just received. This is clear evidence that public
employees and public agencies serve local as well as national and
international policy purposes. The national war on terrorism is
fought at least as much at the local level by city and county
employees as it is by agents of the FBI, CIA, homeland security or
airport screeners.
Just as is the
case of unfunded, caseload-driven mandates dumped on local
governments, such as indigent health care, jail bed space, and
various social service programs, so it is that counties and cities
also have human resource burdens, as well as opportunities, to do
the right thing when it comes to supporting
employees/soldiers.
What is the
right thing? The HR Doctor points out that the right thing is
divided between mandated right things, and additional
above-and-beyond policies, which may be, but do not have to be,
implemented.
The legal ones
include a requirement that the job or comparable job of the soldier
away from work must be preserved and made available for the employee
upon return from military service. However, this doesnt necessarily
mean that a specific position must be kept open and the employer has
to pay time and one half for overtime to replace the missing
firefighter or police officer.
An agency can
use a temporary position or it can add an extra position to be
deleted by subsequent attrition. In organizations with constant
staffing patterns such as those in health care areas, fire rescue
organizations, and police departments, this technique of adding an
additional position to be deleted subsequently involves no layoffs.
It also reduces what would otherwise become yet another source of
overtime expenses.
Another mandate
requires the agency to maintain an employees salary for
short-duration military activation, such as routine National Guard
or Military Reserve training, usually 17 or 30 days per year. That
mandate does not apply to longer activation such as one year or
extensions to two years.
On to some
right things which are optional. The HR Doctor suggests considering
steps to ease what has to be a major burden on the employees and the
families of employees who are called off to some desert oasis for
prolonged periods. It is in the employers best interest to be a
shining and positive example in the workforce by its conduct when a
few employees are called to service.
Many agencies
adopt a salary continuation philosophy, under which the difference
between employees salaries and military salaries are made up by a
supplement from the employer. The result is that the salary of the
police officer continues at the same level during the corporals
military service. The organization supplements the military pay.
Unfortunately,
if this is not the approach selected by an organization, then the
employee faces continuing, if not increasing, family expenses, since
the pay may go down significantly. This depends, of course, on the
military rank of the employee compared to the particular job
classification in the public agency.
A police
officer who is a military reserve colonel may earn more money when
ordered to active duty than she does as a police officer. In this
case no supplement is necessary. The opposite will be true when the
police officer is a newly enlisted member of the military.
Another very
appropriate and valuable step an employer can take is to designate a
colleague or friend of the employee, or staff member from human
resources, to be the soldiers and the soldiers familys link for
getting questions quickly answered and calls for help dealt with
quickly. A military service liaison for each soldier costs the
organization very little and can be very much appreciated. If a
family member of a soldier has questions about county health
insurance benefits, for example, HR and the liaison staff member
must make it a very high priority to respond promptly and
accurately.
Once orders are
received by an employee, the HR Doctor recommends a conference with
the employee, the department head and HR to ensure and reassure the
soldier/employee about the status of pay, benefits, available
liaison help, and anything else the organization or the soldier can
think of that might ease the burden of a rather sudden departure for
a long period of time. A letter designed to be read by the family as
well as the employee/soldier should be the result of such a meeting.
In fact, invite the employees spouse, or significant other, if any,
to attend the briefing.
No employee
should leave for military service without a clear signal of thanks
and appreciation from the local government for the service they are
rendering and the sacrifices they may be called upon to make. Dont
let an employee go softly into that dark night. Have a party. Let
the employee know clearly that their service is recognized and
appreciated. Do the same thing when the service activation is over
and the employee returns. Its not business as usual for a person to
return after a year or two of service. Its an occasion worth
commemorating.
Finally, the
difficult part. Should the soldier/employee be disabled as a result
of military service or killed, the organization should absolutely do
the right thing and be a source of support, sympathy and strong and
positive intervention to help the family. For some additional
insight into this very difficult situation, see the HR Doctors
article, When a Colleague Dies, at http://www.hrdr.net/.
