When it comes to the search for new employees, more and more companies are looking to the veteran community. Take Hilton Hotels, for example, their "Operation Opportunity" program initially aimed to hire 10,000 vets by 2018. They reached that goal two years early and, based on the results, now plan to hire 20,000 veterans by 2020.
So veterans are clearly benefiting the companies that hire them which begs the question: does hiring vets translate to a payoff for investors? Marine Corps vet Karl Snyder, Managing Director of Vets Indexes says the answer is a clear and resounding yes.
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Vets Indexes is a suite of indexes, with their premier flagship index being based on the annual Military Times (who are a partner in the index) best employers survey. Snyder says when his team began researching the companies they found that hiring vets was working out, and not just for publicity.
"We found that ultimately tapping into this talent pool would essentially give better returns for companies over the long term," Snyder says. "...we have gone back, tested the data, looked at the data and said 'wow, we're on to something here!' We see that these companies from a fundamental aspect just perform better. Fiscally they do better, they do better with their sales, et cetera."
When compared to their peer group, Snyder says the vet-friendly companies outperform them. But he says it's about more than just hiring vets, it's the companies that are hiring the right vets and putting them in position to succeed that reap the biggest reward.
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"Companies that have really gone above and beyond hiring veterans," Snyder says. "Implementing more than just employing veterans but mentoring them, seeing how best they can transition them. Seeing how best they can put them in the right places at their corporations. They have really tapped into a pool that is doing great work for them."
While profit is the name of the game in investing, for the Vets Indexes team, Snyder says it's about more than making money. To that point, the company plans to give 5-20% of their profits to military and veteran charities.
You can hear the full interview with Karl Snyder of Vets indexes below.