We’re exceptionally proud to announce that we’ve been awarded the Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) Gold award.    

Encompassing bronze, silver, and gold awards, the scheme recognises employers who support the defence and Armed Forces community, aligning their values with the Armed Forces Covenant. 

To secure the award, we had to demonstrate a proactive approach to supporting members of the community and their families – creating an accessible and engaging environment within the business itself and becoming committed advocates wherever possible. 

As a part of our commitment to the Armed Forces Covenant, we guarantee interviews to Forces personnel if they can demonstrate appropriate behaviours and competencies via their CVs. Through this method, we’ve successfully hired a veteran into a leadership Business Partner role. In addition, we’ve also interviewed another veteran for an Insights Commercial Analyst opportunity. This approach helps to support personnel readapt to civilian life when they leave the Armed Forces, ensuring opportunities for a comfortable transition and working environment.

Our team also attended a CTP employment fare in Newcastle, where they provided guidance and coaching for forces personnel – showing them how to produce a compelling CV, how to look for work outside of the Forces, and how to prioritise their employment needs appropriately.

We were delighted to host a North East Armed Forces Business Forum at our office in Gateshead. This was a fantastic event, bringing local organisations together in order collaborate on implementing best practices and sharing ideas of how we can be better advocates for Armed Forces personnel. In addition, we also held an AFC signup event invite online. This was promoted to 2,167 of our accredited suppliers. We plan to hold these events bi-monthly moving forward.

Other areas of support included…

• Providing 17 laptops to our local Durham Army Cadet Force. These laptops were distributed to those who have limited access to IT at home and are at GCSE level, therefore creating the means for these students to prioritise their education.
• Running a CV and Interview Skills workshop in February, aimed at cadets and reservists.
• Pledging to provide flexibility for Armed Forces partners, so that annual leave coincides with their partners’ own annual leave dates when they are deployed.
• Carrying out fundraising and volunteering for the local branch of the Veterans at Ease charity.
• Initiating a relationship with Spouse Force, offering the services of our internal talent acquisition partner’s services, for when the partners of service individuals need assistance with their CVs and careers.

It’s a great honour to have secured the Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) Gold award. It’s also a testament to the hard work carried out by our people in creating a positive environment for former armed services personnel; one that enables them to thrive and utilise the many transferrable skills they develop as a part of their service.

We’ll continue to support the Armed Forces community, creating compelling opportunities for former personnel and advocating for them and their families.