Business management consultancy SA Group will find out later this month if it has won a prestigious award for its support for ex-Armed Forces personnel.
The Trowbridge-based firm, which has been supporting veterans with their new careers since it was founded in 2009, has been shortlisted in the Employer of the Year category of the British Ex-Forces in Business Awards.
Celebrating the value that veterans add to businesses as well as the employers that support the transition of servicemen and women, the awards are the world’s largest celebration of ex-military in second careers.
The winners will be announced at a glittering ceremony in the Grosvenor House hotel on London’s Park Lane on 29 June. The Employer of the Year Award is one of 20 that will be presented on the night.
SA Group boasts a wide range of in-house skills, including systems engineers, agile project managers, technical architects and cyber security advisors, who help clients scope and deliver against critical challenges within increasingly complex digital environments.
It promotes an open and honest internal culture to support its ex-forces employees and has been awarded a Gold ERS Award from the Armed Forces Covenant in the past as recognition for their active support to veterans with their resettlement programme.
The firm, which is owned by its 60-plus employees through an Employee Ownership Trust, will line up against 11 other contenders for Employer of the Year title, including industrial giants such as amazon and Boeing as well as public sector organisations including Somerset NHS Foundation Trust.
The awards recognise the fact that servicemen and women spend years adapting to roles and gaining valuable skills. They develop qualities that are hugely adaptable to commercial environments and in demand in the business world, but communicating the transferability of those skills to employers can be challenging.
Increasing visibility of role models – military veterans who have carved out successful second careers – is crucial to not only empowering and inspiring current and future service leavers, but to educating employers on the value of supporting the transition of servicemen and women.
SA Group head of sales and marketing Lee Gale said: “We’re delighted to be a finalist in these prestigious awards, and to celebrate the skills and achievements of veterans in the wider workforce.
“At SA Group our people are central to what we do, and we’re proud that over 60% of our team has a military background. We recognise the value that this important community brings, and we will continue to support it.”
British Ex-Forces in Business Awards founder Ben Rossi said: “Six years ago we set out a vision for a grand showcase of veteran talent to promote to all UK employers the business case of hiring from the Armed Forces community, while also giving service leavers the confidence to dream bigger.
“Each year we are even more blown away than the last at the response to this programme.
“The extraordinary achievements displayed through the 800-plus nominations received for this year’s British Ex-Forces in Business Awards should leave no doubt in anybody’s mind that the veteran talent pool must never be overlooked.”
