Veterans and Military Spouses
Efforts at Walmart, Inc.
By Gloria Romano-Barrera
“Veterans and military spouses bring a great deal of value to their
teams and to our company overall,” shares Brynt Parmeter, Senior
Director, Walmart Military Programs. “The challenges of 2020 have
highlighted the importance of several characteristics that are
essential to succeed during difficult times. These include leadership,
cultural competency, agility, and resilience.”
With a rich history of supporting veterans over the years, starting with
its first veteran, Walmart’s founder Sam Walton, earlier this year Walmart
announced achieving the Veteran’s Welcome Home Commitment of
250,000 veterans hired since 2013. To date, Walmart has hired over
320,000 veterans and military spouses since the beginning of that
commitment, and their focus on supporting and hiring veterans only
continues.
According to Parmeter, military spouses, like veterans, have a wide
range of unique experiences and perspectives that contribute to making
Walmart’s team stronger and more capable.
“Our company has had to adapt and evolve very rapidly this year and
our veterans and military spouses have been instrumental in helping to
meet these requirements and continue to support our customers,” he
shares. “There aren’t many populations or demographics that are as used
to change and ambiguity as military spouses and these traits are very
important as we work our way through the challenges of our time.”
Supporting Veterans and military spouses for generations, Walmart is
proud to continue its efforts in many ways. With it’s four strategic pillars,
including Employment, Entrepreneurship, Learning, and Health & Wellness,
Parmeter believes these will drive Walmart’s programmatic work in line with
business needs across the enterprise.
“In line with our broader business and people strategies, we will pivot
from a primarily quantitative approach to a broader qualitative one that
enables people to optimize economic opportunity and improve overall
well-being,” he shares. “This approach will help grow and attract talent for
the future and move the dial on diversity.”
The foundational activity in this strategy is the Find-a-Future platform.
This platform will help military-related prospects audit their current skills,
experience, and education and curate a wide range of information about
future possibilities and aspirations as well as understanding how to build a
road map to achieve those future aspirations.
22 www.latinastyle.com LATINAStyle V ol. 26, No. 6, 2020
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