Armed Forces Covenant
We have a long and proud history of supporting our armed forces - it lies at the very heart of what we do. We value the unique relationship we have with both serving members of the Armed Forces and veterans and recognise the contribution that serving personnel, reservists and military families bring to our businesses. In 2013, we were the first Defence Company to sign the UK Armed Forces Covenant. We were also one of the first six winners of the MoD Employer Recognition Scheme Gold Award, which recognises an organisation’s commitment to the Armed Forces Covenant. We are proud to have held this status continuously since the Scheme began in July 2014.
We have developed a framework to manage our support for the Armed Forces Covenant and this is delivered across BAE Systems in the UK. Over the next 10 years we will focus on recruiting more service leavers, supporting our Cadet Force Adult Volunteers and encouraging our suppliers to sign the Covenant.
A pledge that together we acknowledge and understand that those who serve or who have served in the armed forces, and their families, should be treated with fairness and respect in the communities, economy and society they serve with their lives. UK Ministry of Defence (MoD)
Our commitments
We have increased our number of commitments and enhanced some of our existing pledges. We will strive to:
- Promote BAE Systems as Armed Forces friendly
- Recognise the valuable skills and experience that Service Leavers and Veterans bring to our businesses
- Work with partners to offer mentoring and coaching opportunities for Service spouses and partners
- Advertise employment opportunities in our business on the Forces Families Jobs portal
- Support our Veteran and Reservist employees by offering membership of our Veterans Network employee resource group
- Enable employees who are active members of the Reserve Forces to maintain their training commitments
- Demonstrate our commitment to Reservist employees by highlighting appropriate case studies
- Commit to host Reserve recruiting teams at appropriate sites and venues
- Adopt a sympathetic and flexible approach to requests for leave from Service spouses and partners before, during and post operational deployments
- Sponsor Armed Forces Day events across the UK
- Promote Armed Forces Day and Reserves Day
- Commemorate Armistice and Remembrance Day
- Encourage employees to volunteer and raise funds for Armed Forces charities
- Seek opportunities to support the Cadet Forces
- Support employees who are Adult Cadet Force Volunteers
- Support the rehabilitation of wounded, injured and sick Service personnel through relationships with charitable organisations and initiatives dedicated to these causes
- Act as an advocate for the Armed Forces Covenant by encouraging and supporting our suppliers to adopt the principles of the Covenant
- Enhance employee support for the Covenant
- Regularly review progress against the commitments we have made
Here are some of the ways we are delivering on our commitments
Developing skills and employment opportunities
We work with the Careers Transition Partnership to promote our vacancies to service leavers looking to find a new civilian career. In addition, we partner with Recruit for Spouses and provide funding and mentoring to help bridge the gap between employers and military spouses. We also advertise vacancies on the Forces Families Jobs website to help family members of currently serving UK military personnel to find employment opportunities.
Special paid leave
We provide paid time off to employees who are reservists, military families and adult Cadet Force volunteers. For example, we offer 15 days per annum of Special Paid Leave and matched (one day for each one day of annual leave taken) after that to our employees who are reservists or adult cadet force volunteers to enable them to undertake training. We will also give a day of special paid leave to a family member of a reservist in the event of mobilisation.
Supporting Armed Forces Charities
We have long-standing partnerships with charities such as SSAFA, Combat Stress, ABF The Soldier’s Charity, the RAF Benevolent Fund and the Royal Naval and Royal Marines Charity. Many of our activities support the rehabilitation of wounded, injured and sick Service personnel, such as our sponsorship of the Open University’s Disabled Veterans’ Scholarship Fund.
Promoting Armed Forces Day and Reserves Day
Every year, we sponsor the National Armed Forces Day event and we run our internal “Proud to Support Week” campaign, which takes place in the run up to Armed Forces Day. During this week, we encourage our employees to volunteer and raise funds for Armed Forces charities. The week also features “Reserves Day” where we celebrate the contribution made by reservists to the armed forces and our employee reservists can wear their uniforms to work.