Compass Group UK & Ireland Reaffirms Support To Armed Forces Community At Armed Forces Covenant Re-Signing
Robin Mills, Managing Director, Compass Group UK & Ireland and the First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Ben Key KCB CBE, Royal Navy co-signed the Armed Forces Covenant at a celebratory event held at The Oval, to mark the company’s ongoing support to the Armed Forces community.
Compass has already held the Gold Employer Recognition Scheme award for 5 years for its work in this area, having signed the covenant as the 1000th signatory in 2016 and being awarded gold in 2018. The business has expanded their pledges over this time to widen support to military spouses and partners (with the introduction of a specific policy) and Compass military dependants (introducing a series of dependants’ days for military families).
Attendees at the re-signing event included the Defence Relationship Management Team, as well as senior members of Compass leadership team, alongside some of the company’s veterans, reservists, spouses and cadet force adult volunteers from across the business.
It is estimated that over 1000 of Compass’ employees are part of the Armed Forces community and this number continues to grow. Additionally, the business also directly supports members of the Armed Forces community through its work in its defence business, ESS, at over 250 sites across the country.
As a signatory of the Armed Forces Covenant, the updated pledges the company has made include:
- Spouses – enhanced support through the commitment to endeavour to redeploy military spouses to an alternative role internally on notification of posting; providing an additional day leave to support with pre-post deployments
- Military Families – introduction of military dependant’s days – working in partnership with clients providing families with days out at high profile venues
- Recruitment of veterans – enhancing support for those leaving the military, through access to webinars, guidance and work placements
- Ongoing support to its Reservists through the provision of 10 days leave to support with the training
- Widening partnerships with key military charities and recruitment partners – Forces Families Jobs, Career Transition Partnership, Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity, Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund, ABF The Soldiers’ Charity, Naval Families Federation, The White Ensign and SSAFA
Commenting on the re-signing Robin Mills, Managing Director, Compass Group UK & Ireland said: “Supporting our employees who are part of the Armed Forces community is a real honour and we are proud to have so many veterans, reservists, cadets and spouses in our business. I am delighted that we have re-signed the Armed Forces Covenant today, which sees us strengthen our commitments to the Armed Forces community both within and outside of our business.”
Admiral Sir Ben Key KCB CBE, Royal Navy added: “Thank you to Compass for all that you do for the serving community. It has been a real privilege to be here today and I am delighted to see that Compass is not only continuing to support the Armed Forces Covenant but increasing its commitment even further.”
