Oleh Davydenko, Director of Metinvest Group's Corporate Communications Department, spoke about approaches to working with veterans, their retraining and skills acquired during their military service, which business may benefit from, during the Praktika forum dedicated to the return of veterans to the civilian labour market held in Kyiv at the end of April.
The forum was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine, the Ministry of Veterans Affairs of Ukraine, the National Agency of Ukraine on Civil Service, the State Employment Centre, businessmen from various sectors, police officers, representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and dozens of members of various veterans' organisations.
Oleh Davydenko, Director of Metinvest Group's Corporate Communications Department, shared the company's experience of employing veterans at its facilities.
About approaches to working with veterans
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the scale of work with veterans has become clear: every sixth Metinvest employee, or 15% of its workforce, has been mobilised to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Almost 1,500 employees have already returned from the war, and more than 500 people have returned to work. The company expects that 6-7,000 of the 8,000 mobilised employees will return to their jobs.
Metinvest also seeks to hire veterans on the labour market, as the company has 4,000 vacancies in mostly male-dominated mining and metals occupations.
That is why the company does not consider any one-off solutions, but is adapting all business processes for the return of veterans, applying a systematic approach to this work. In particular, the company is training teams how to work alongside ex-military, introducing additional medical examinations and psychological support, and many more.
About inclusive workplaces and retraining
Metinvest believes that veterans need the same treatment as other employees in order to unite rather than divide teams. The company fosters a culture of equal opportunities for all.
"If we work to unite, veterans will become part of the team. To this end, we are educating employees how to interact and communicate. We have created training courses and open lectures. The basic principles of interaction are very straight forward, they resolve 80% of acute issues related to PTSD or other disorders," said Oleh DAVYDENKO.
In addition, the company is creating veteran hubs in the cities and towns where its businesses operate. They are a place for veterans to be themselves and communicate with like-minded people.
The mining are metals industry is inherently associated with hazardous working conditions, it is hard work for women and people with disabilities. So the company offers such employees other vacancies or retraining for suitable occupations.
By the way, over the past year, an average of 13,000 people out of 50,000 have undergone retraining, not just veterans. And this retraining lasts at least 3 to 6 months. Metinvest is open to offering retaining to everyone. Retraining for scarce in-demand occupations may take 1-3 years - and the company is prepared for this.
Speaking about veterans, they are offered tuition-free education and preferential terms of admission to Metinvest Polytechnic University. To date, more than 10 veterans have already expressed their desire to apply. So not only does inclusiveness create equal opportunities, it also adds consistency, fairness, responsibility and priority. And Metinvest is ready to share its practices of working with veterans with the government.
About veterans' skills
Metinvest notes that the soft and hard skills that returning war veterans have exceed employers' expectations.
"First, it's soft skills, such as leadership, teamwork, and focus on results. Veterans cannot get this anywhere else. Second, it's hard skills. They have work experience, for example, as a tank driver or something else. This is an opportunity for the company", says Oleh Davydenko.
