Tax Credits for Hiring Veterans

The temporary addition of Unemployed Veterans to the Work Opportunity Tax Credit Program under the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009 has ended, but employers can still earn a tax credit of up to $4800 for hiring eligible veterans under the Tax Relief Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act of 2010, which extended the WOTC program through December 31, 2011.

Who is an eligible veteran?

- A veteran who is a member of a family that is receiving or recently received SNAP benefits for at least a three-month period during the past 15 months;

- Disabled veterans who are entitled to compensation for a service-connected disability and who, during the one-year ending on the hiring date, were:

• Discharged or released from active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces, or
• Have aggregate periods of unemployment that equal or exceed six months.

Veterans must have begun to work for an employer after December 31, 2006, and before January 1, 2012.The credit is 25% of qualified first-year wages for those employed at least 120 hours but fewer than 400 hours and 40% for those employed 400 hours or more. The first-year wages taken into account for these “disabled veterans” are capped at $12,000. Your organization can claim a one year tax credit of 40% of up to the first $12,000 in wages, or $4800.

For more information, you can contact the WOTC Coordinator within your State Workforce Agency. For the name and contact information of the WOTC Coordinator for your state, click here.

PLEASE NOTE: Hire a Hero, Hire a Vet, its affiliates and its employees are not in the business of providing tax or legal advice to any taxpayer. This content is for general information purposes only, and is not intended or written to be used without the advice of the taxpayer’s independent tax advisor.

Onboarding that Welcomes and Inspires

When people look back on experiences, they rarely remember what was said or who said it. Instead, they remember how they felt. The same principle can be used when onboading new employees. Think about the process that is currently in place at your company. Ask yourself “What is the emotional takeaway for new employees during the process?” “Are these the emotions we want to leave them with?” If your answer is no, it may be time to revise your process. Creating an emotionally positive onboarding experience for new employees not only increases retention rates, but in a chain reaction, increases customer satisfaction as well.

Ideal emotions you want to elicit in your orientation process include feelings of being welcomed, comfortable and secure, proud, excited, inspired and confident. The Ritz Carlton inspires their new employees by conveying two important messages: “you’re lucky to work here” and “we’re lucky to have you.” Their orientation video explains what it would mean to be the top 1% in various fields while showing images of Bill Gates and Tiger Woods on screen. The video then goes on to emphasize that being employed with the Ritz Carlton means they are among the top 1% in the hospitality industry. It gives the employees a sense of pride to work for the company, while also making them feel wanted and important.

In their orientation videos, Texas Roadhouse conveys the “lovefest” that is their company. They include clips of humanitarian projects, memorable quotes from employees and excerpts from a Managing Partner Conference. The running theme for their process is “If you love your people, they’ll love your customers.” Their videos and orientation program communicate that this company loves their employees and that it is not the average place to work.

Southwest Airlines is another company that understands the importance of designing its employee orientation and onboarding process with the goal of creating positive emotional experiences. Cheryl Hughey, Southwest’s director of onboarding, explains their mindset, “ If you want them to stay, if you want them to become engaged, you need to make sure you do the ‘feeling’ part of the process, and you do that by showing them how they will make a difference, giving them examples of how their fellow employees make a difference, making them feel welcome.”

Orientation and onboarding processes that include an emotional approach lead new employees to feel, respected, valued and inspired, and directly improves employee motivation, productivity and customer service. To accomplish this during your process, remember these four items: Everything matters, think experience, what’s the emotional take away and what’s the perpetual take away?

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TIME Magazine Names Veterans the New Greatest Generation

In the August 29 issue of TIME Magazine, author Joe Klein names veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan the new 'Greatest Generation.' And while Klein focuses mainly on veterans in public service, the examples he provides also speak volumes about how this generation of veterans can and will affect change in corporate America.

Klein points out that many returning veterans choose to continue to serve their country by serving other veterans. Other veterans choose public service in the form of political office and often return to school for graduate degrees. Dr. Elaine Kamarck of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government teaches some of these veterans and says of them, “Two things set them apart: they’re very disciplined, and they’re really, really serious about their work.”

Kamarck illustrates exactly what it is about veterans that makes them so appealing to corporate America. Specifically, Klein mentions Siemens and their initiative to make 10% of all new hires veterans. Klein continues on this point by writing that “returning veterans are bringing skills that seem to be on the wane in American society, qualities we really need now: crisp decision-making, rigor, optimism, entrepreneurial creativity, a larger sense of purpose, and real patriotism…Indeed, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan required a new military skill set, far more sophisticated than for previous conflicts.”

And while the military community is lamenting the loss of some of its best young leaders to civilian transition, Klein points out that their loss is civilian America’s gain. General David Petraeus explains, “[These soldiers] have had to show incredible flexibility, never knowing whether they’re going to be greeted with a handshake or a grenade…I believe they are our next greatest generation of leaders.”

Klein gives the example of Seth Moulton. When given only a short time to come up with a business plan for an iPhone application that he had developed for doctors in Haiti after the earthquake, Moulton utilized an important skill he could have only learned in the military, the SMESC. Klein explains that the acronym stands for Situation, Mission, Execution, Support, and Command. Using an SMESC, Moulton was able to come up with an impressive plan to present to the United Nations. When asked if he credited this skill to his Harvard education, Moulton replied, “Harvard Business School! I learned how to do that in the United States Marines.”

Klein’s article highlights veterans and the skills that set them apart from their civilian counterparts. These skills are being applied to non-profits, public service, and civilian careers with zeal by veterans eager to make a difference. Hire a Hero believes deeply in these values and skills and hopes to serve as a resource to companies looking to hire America’s New Greatest Generation.

Click here to read the article.

Have you hired a Veteran today?

A CareerBuilder.com survey asked employers who have hired veterans to indicate which attributes these veterans contributed to their organization. Here are some of the survey results:

• Disciplined approach to work (cited by 68 percent of employers surveyed)
• Ability to work as part of a team (63 percent)
• Respect and integrity (57 percent)
• Leadership (50 percent)
• Problem-solving skills (46 percent)
• Ability to perform under pressure (44 percent)
• Communication skills (37 percent)

In addition to the valuable traits listed above, military members with an honorable discharge are basically certified drug free. Plus, many veterans come with some level of security clearance which indicates trustworthiness. With all the intangible qualities veterans have to offer, you can see why employers who choose to hire from this unique candidate pool benefit greatly.

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