Northwell Health named a top 2020 Military Friendly organization

Northwell Health has been selected as a 2020 Military Friendly organization in four categories – top 10 employer, supplier diversity, brand and company – as one of the nation’s top organizations for military veterans.

As New York State’s largest health system and biggest private employer with more than 70,000 employees, Northwell also is one of the largest employers of veterans and offers a host of programs that support service members and their families, from jobs fairs and educational opportunities to behavioral health programs in concert with the US Department of Veterans Affairs.

“We’re proud to support our veterans and their families by providing resources and career opportunities throughout our health system,” said Michael J. Dowling, Northwell’s president and chief executive officer. “Over the past two years, we hired more than 500 veterans into the health system, a commitment to those who served and a smart business decision on our part. Hire a veteran and you’ll understand what I mean. Few people are better motivated or equipped to contribute to the workforce than veterans.”

Northwell supports veterans professionally, clinically

Among the veteran initiatives Northwell Health has enacted:

• By partnering with 160 organizations that work with veterans, Northwell hosts various recruitment, networking and interview days as well as its homegrown Barracks to Business Workshop to educate transitioning veterans regarding resume building.
• A veteran-focused business employee resource group, known as Veterans and Allies: Liaisons of Reintegration (VALOR), provides an increased sense of community to these heroes and a chance to gain insight from each other and share their experiences. VALOR helps veterans with employment and medical care.
• Employees returning from deployment receive checks representing the difference between their military pay and the regular salaries they would have received had they not taken military leave.
• A first-of-its-kind Unified Behavioral Health Center in Bay Shore – jointly operated by Northwell and the Northport VA Medical Center – helps military veterans and their families cope with the emotional burdens they face when they return home.
• Extending its commitment to service members beyond the organization, Northwell created “Side By Side: A Celebration of Service,” a day-long celebration of military service in Manhattan that coincided with Fleet Week in May 2019. Northwell plans to host the event again in 2020.

Organizations must meet Military Friendly’s rigorous criteria

“It’s our distinct honor and privilege to deploy our administrative and clinical capabilities to improve how our military access services, employment and support,” said Juan Serrano, assistant vice president of Northwell’s Office of Military and Veterans Liaison Services and himself a Marine veteran. “In 2019, we proudly provide the most health care to active duty members, veterans and their families in New York.”

Military Friendly weighed companies based on six criteria: Hiring and Onboarding, Opportunity and Advancement, Culture and Commitment, Support and Retention, Policies and Compliance, along with Recruiting and Sourcing. Northwell Health greatly exceeded the standard in each.

“We are proud to support transitioning veterans in finding their next mission,” said Cheryl Davidson, senior director of Workforce Readiness at Northwell. “Our programs were developed to ease their assimilation from military service to civilian careers.”