Employed Military Spouses Strengthen Our Nation’s All-Volunteer Force

For more than a year, Hiring Our Heroes has been working to identify specific challenges military spouses face launching entrepreneurial endeavors; growing small businesses; participating in remote work; and reskilling or upskilling to growth industries. Today, Hiring Our Heroes and Burning Glass Technologies, in collaboration with Google.org and Grow with Google, released a white paper based on the data from a survey of more than 1,500 military spouses.  

In “Military Spouse Career Journeys: Examining Entrepreneurship, Remote Work, and Upskilling as Drivers of Economic Success for Military Spouses,” we outlined actionable findings that can inform future initiatives launched by stakeholders to empower military spouses and ultimately strengthen the economic stability of our military families and an all-volunteer force. 

Increase Opportunities for Remote and Flexible Work 

When Hiring Our Heroes and Grow with Google conducted this research a year ago, we had no idea how our workplaces would be turned upside down in the coming months. Due to the COVID-19 crisis, remote work is no longer a perk for a select few. It’s an imperative solution to keeping our organizations open for business. Many have been pleasantly surprised at the levels of productivity maintained from our unusual workstations and I think it is safe to say that remote work will remain a long-term option.  

The shift to remote work will certainly benefit military spouses, a population that is no stranger to balancing home and work responsibilities amid challenging situations. But remote work is equally beneficial to employers. By increasing remote work opportunities, employers can retain military spouses facing relocation. Remote work increases employee retention rates and decreases hiring and on-boarding costs.   

Streamline Employment Resources Available to Military Spouses 

Approximately 70% of military spouses reported that they found themselves overwhelmed on how to get started when looking for work or training opportunities. Our findings suggested that many of the resources currently available are not always the easiest to navigate and didn’t necessarily meet their needs.  

This is one reason why Hiring Our Heroes launched the MilSpouse Roadmap, a free digital tool designed for military spouse career exploration. Based on the research gathered for the “Military Spouse Career Journeys” white paper, military spouses can use this tool to explore career journeys related to upskilling, entrepreneurship, and remote work. 

I encourage stakeholders to create or expand existing affinity groups that provide military spouses access to a wider and more accessible set of coaching and mentoring relationships. The U.S. Department of Defense and military-serving organizations may want to consider streamlining employment resources and focusing on remote work opportunities at professional as well as entry-level jobs.  

Target Training and Education to Help Military Find Sustainable Employment 

 Military spouses in our research were both highly educated and highly likely to pursue additional training or education. Three out of every four respondents had at least a four-year degree and approximately 80% had already pursued additional training or education during their time as a military spouse.  

Again, our findings have implications for stakeholders. First, more work needs to be done to help connect military spouses with in-demand STEM positions. Oftentimes, STEM positions offer the flexibility and competitive wages that military spouses are seeking. In addition, tech companies have difficulty identifying qualified talent for STEM roles. Through accelerated training programs, military spouses are a natural pipeline of talent to fill these in-demand jobs.   

This is just a brief introduction of what we found. You can read the entire white paper here. I encourage stakeholders to take a hard look at the white paper and consider how military spouse employment can be an opportunity for their organizations.