Yesterday I had the pleasure of hosting a webcast presented by Teresa Duren, Vice President of Human Resources for Home Depot´s Southern Division, on leveraging partnerships to maximize talent acquisition. During the webcast Teresa and Kurt Ronn, President of HRworks (Home Depot´s recruitment process outsourcing provider) highlighted some of the successes associated with Home Depot´s relationship with the US Military.
In a follow up email to Kurt I asked him to elaborate on the military relationship because the overview provided during the webcast was nothing short of astounding in its scope. As I listened to Teresa describe the partnership with the military and read the subsequent email from Kurt I found my self thinking this is what being a good corporate citizen is all about. This is putting your money where your mouth is. This is walking the talk if you will.
I´m certain Home Depot had a plan to focus on the "business" return on investment when they developed a strategy for recruiting our veterans, after all, the leadership and teamwork training our military receives is a skill set any corporation would embrace. But what Home Depot may not have realized is that through their actions they may have realized an even greater "human compassion" return on investment.
I have always embraced brevity in blog postings however this posting will be an exception to the rule. What follows is the email from Kurt further explaining Home Depot's commitment to our military community.
In 2005, The Home Depot hired 17,000 former military personnel. The
Store Leadership Program is a two-year rotational training program.
There have been over 1,000 people hired into the Store Leadership
Program. Over 50 percent are junior military officers (JMO) and over 25
percent are from Military Academies.
Other examples of The Home Depot's commitment to the U.S. military
include the launch of Project Homefront in 2003, through which The Home
Depot donated $1 million and 1 million volunteer hours to help military
families with home repairs while their loved ones were deployed. In July
2004, a $1 million donation in tools and supplies was made to support
U.S. troops in the rebuilding effort in Iraq.
In September 2004, The Home Depot joined forces with the U.S.
departments of Defense, Labor and Veterans Affairs to launch Operation
Career Front(SM), an unprecedented program designed to provide career
opportunities for America's military personnel interested in
transferring their unique skills, knowledge and abilities into a
successful second career.
Since the beginning of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi
Freedom, The Home Depot has had as many as 1,800 of its associates
called to active duty. Beyond making sure these associates have a
meaningful job when they return home, The Home Depot equalizes pay
between associates' military salary and their potential salary at The
Home Depot. Health benefits are also extended to all deployed associates
and members of their families.
The National Hiring Partnerships have been widely regarded as successful
by external organizations. The magazine GI Jobs ranked The Home Depot as
the number one military friendly company in 2004. In 2005, The Home
Depot received several commendations for the Company's military
programs, including a Distinguished Service Award from the Military
Officers Association of America (MOAA); a USO Patriot Award from the
United Services Organization (USO) Council of Georgia; a Most
Distinguished American Award from the Marine Corps Law Enforcement
Foundation; a Most Supportive Employer Award for The Home Depot Canada
from the Canadian Forces Liaison Council; and a commendation for support
of active duty, national guard and reserve military personnel through
the Project Homefront initiative from The American Legion.
This week the company is offering all active duty personnel, reservists,
retired military, veterans and their families a 10 percent discount off
their purchases in honor of Independence Day.
Please let me know if you have any additional questions.
Regards,
Kurt
Kurt M. Ronn
President
HRworks
Precision. Talent. Recruitment.
770-818-0414, ext. 7050 Phone
770-818-0458 Fax
kronn@HRworks.com
www.HRworks.com
