Businesses sign up to support ex-forces personnel

The FSB staged a celebration of its declaration as an ‘armed forces-friendly’ organisation in front of 60 guests on 19 March during its latest “Business in the Spotlight” network meeting held at the B & Q TradePoint at Cortonwood Retail Park, Wath upon Dearn.

By becoming a signatory to the Armed Forces Corporate Covenant, the FSB has made a commitment to support the employment of service veterans young and old and to encourage firms who employ members of the Reserve Forces to accommodate their training and deployment where necessary.

FSB Regional Chairman Gordon Millward commented:

“The Corporate Covenant formalizes the region’s support for the work of the Forces Employment charity RFEA in resettling personnel leaving the armed forces into careers in civilian life. We have been providing practical support to the RFEA for several years by encouraging our members to recruit ex-forces personnel.

“In these austere times when an increasing proportion of our armed forces are reservists, employers have a responsibility to make allowances for staff who offer their skills and talents to becoming reservists in the armed forces. We take our role very seriously and will do all we can to encourage our members to make every accommodation for reservist personnel.”

Steven Bentham-Bates of the Forces Employment charity RFEA commented:

“Support from the FSB is regularly given to the RFEA in its work around the region providing a free recruitment service to local employers. The calibre of people returning to civilian employment from the Armed Forces is exceptional and our working partnership with the FSB has helped us in the resettlement of many ex-armed forces personnel into rewarding civilian careers.”

Any employer wishing to offer employment opportunities to people approaching the end of their service careers can contact Steven Bentham-Bates on 0114 261 1312.