Churchill’s Support for Veterans in FM

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24 October 2022 | Updated 26 October 2022

Ahead of TWinFM’s Ex-Military Employment & Networking event in Leeds, Louisa Clarke discusses the progress that Churchill has made in its support for veterans since the last event in March 2022.

Louisa Clarke, Managing Director of Operations at Churchill, has a background in the Royal Air Force, which led her to the world of facilities management in 2006, before joining Churchill in 2011. Louisa was the first female Operational Director in Churchill’s history, and is now recognised as an industry-leading figure, advocating for women in leadership, as well as supporting veterans during their transition to civilian life.

 

 

Churchill Supporting Veterans Into New Careers

 

We’re delighted to be a sponsor of TWin FM’s ex-military employment and networking event, just as we were back in March. Though it’s not that long ago, at Churchill we have made fantastic progress in how we support veterans into employment and civilian life. I wanted to share some of our successes as a way to inspire others in the FM industry to offer the same type of support to veterans looking to enter the workforce.

 

Veterans Advisory Board

 

I’m proud to have been appointed to the Veterans Advisory Board, a body that provides advice, insight and diversity of thought to the government on veterans’ issues such as employment, health and wellbeing, and transition to civilian life. My appointment is for 18 months, and a core remit of my role will be to provide counsel around the delivery of the Veterans’ Strategy Action Plan.

The two-year plan was launched in January 2022 and key goals include improving support for veterans and their families, maximising veteran employability and improving access to social housing.

Achievements so far include more than 100 NHS England Trusts gaining "Veteran Aware" status, and investing £1 million in funding for a new digital service for veterans to easily verify their veteran status.

It’s an invaluable opportunity to provide insight at the highest level and I look forward to advocating for veterans within FM and across the UK.

 

Employer Recognition Scheme Gold Award

 

We signed up to the Armed Forces Covenant in 2019 and have been working towards a gold award since then, which we received this summer, having won a silver award in 2020. The Employer Recognition Scheme Gold Award is designed to recognise employers who are an exemplar within their sector.

Criteria for companies to receive a gold award include:

 

• Proactively demonstrating forces-friendly credentials as part of their recruiting and selection processes.
• Actively ensuring that their workforce is aware of their positive policies towards defence people issues.
• And the employer must be an exemplar within their market sector, advocating support to defence people issues to partner organisations, suppliers and customers with tangible positive results.

It was a great honour to receive the gold award, and we intend to retain it for many years ahead.

 

Partnership with JobOppO

 

We have just launched an employer partner profile with JobOppO, the online recruitment service built by veterans, for veterans. Our employer partner profile will allow us to share job opportunities and communicate directly with an exclusive closed community where members are vetted before they join.

Churchill is also a sector sponsor for FM sector on JobOppO which allows us to reach and communicate directly with JobOppO community members who have indicated an interest in a career in FM. The JobOppO app is the key channel for this; Churchill is the first sector sponsor to have an individual account on the app to directly communicate and share FM sector and career insights with the JobOppO community.

 

Success at the British Ex-Forces Business Awards

 

In September I won the award for Best Business Leader at the 2022 British Ex-Forces Business Awards. It was a very special moment and the result of years of speaking up for veteran’s issues. Though it was an individual award, I couldn’t have done it without the support of Churchill and the freedom to pursue the programmes and processes that I believed best suited veteran support.

It’s certainly been a busy six months and we’ve made fantastic progress in our support for veterans. Events like those held by TWin FM are another great way to raise the profile of veteran support and we’ve thrilled to be part of it.

Register To Attend

Picture: a photograph of Louisa Clarke. Image Credit: Churchill Group

Article written by Louisa Clarke | Published 24 October 2022

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