Each year more than 200,000 post 9/11 veterans join the workforce, after having returned from Iraq or Afghanistan. The government offers incentives to employers who hire these veterans, but few programs support them once they are hired. Our institute researchers have developed a new online training program that educates supervisors and teaches them supportive behaviors to help them retain their veteran workers.

“Veterans are often told they need to adapt when they join the civilian working world, and their new employers don’t always fully take advantage of the unique skills they gained while serving in the military,” said Dr. Leslie Hammer, the lead investigator for the study at the institute and associate director of the Oregon Healthy Workforce Center.

The Veteran Supportive Supervisor Training (VSST) is now available for free and takes 1.5 hours to complete, in addition to a 14-min training video created in partnership with PsychArmor.  The training includes demographic and cultural information about how the military has changed in the last 20 years, explains federal laws that protect veterans and includes additional resources. SERVe can be added to employers’ Learning Management Systems, along with behavior tracking exercises that help supervisors practice what is learned.

The training was developed with funding from the Department of Defense as part of the Study for Employment Retention of Veterans. (Grant: W81XWH-13-2-0020). For questions about the training please contact the SERVe study team for more information or visit the SERVe website. See our press release on OHSU news and our coverage on KATU news.