VETS Indexes Employer Awards
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
ANNUAL VETS INDEXES EMPLOYER AWARDS
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How and why to participate
The VETS Indexes Employer Awards tell highly skilled veteran talent around the country that your organization stands out from the crowd and could be a great place to start or continue their post-military careers. This can make a big difference for your recruiting efforts.
Organizations that prove to be the best veteran employers will be recognized with an award, news release, and logo they can use, for free, for advertising, marketing, and recruiting. This seal tells veteran talent that you’re the best.
All types: Publicly traded and private companies, large and small, nonprofit organizations, as well as government departments and agencies are all welcome to participate.
To participate, just CLICK HERE OR SCROLL DOWN, provide the information requested in the yellow box, and hit the submit button. Shortly thereafter, you will receive an email with a survey invitation, unique link to the online survey form, and additional information.
The survey invitation you receive will include a unique link to our online survey form. Please do not forward this link outside of your organization — it is your organization’s own, distinct survey link. You must provide responses through the online form at this link; we are unable to accept responses submitted as Word or PDF documents.
Survey Sections and Question Types
The survey has 8 sections. This includes sections focusing on (1) recruiting & hiring, (2) development & retention, (3) veteran-inclusive policies & culture, (4) Guard & Reserve policies, and (5) military spouse & family support. Additionally, a few short sections at the beginning and end of the survey collect additional basic information that is largely not factored into the evaluation.
The survey includes the following question types:
- Data: Provide data, in numeral form, in answer blanks or grids — no text accepted.
- Pick one: Select a single answer from multiple choices, marked by circles.
- Check all: Select as many answers as apply from multiple choices, marked by squares.
- Drop-down menu: Select a single answer from options in a drop-down menu.
- Select and rank: Select multiple answers from an array of choices; drag and drop to select and rank.
- Text entry: Fill in answer blanks or grids, with text responses
Evaluation and award process
We recognize the best veteran employers with the following designations, starting with the most prestigious:
- VETS Indexes 5 Star Employer
- VETS Indexes 4 Star Employer
- VETS Indexes 3 Star Employer
- VETS Indexes Recognized Employer
No, this is a competitive awards program, designed to recognize veteran employers that distinguish themselves, so not all organizations responding to the survey will be recognized. We will only publish the names of organizations receiving awards — those that fill out a survey but fall short of VETS Indexes Employer Awards recognition are kept confidential.
This program was developed by the team of veteran employment experts responsible for the Employing U.S. Vets Conference and the VETS Indexes family of investment indexes, which includes a managing director with about a decade’s worth of experience surveying and polling veterans, as well as the organizations that employ and support them. Additionally, we received input and consultation from the foremost veteran employment experts across government agencies, veteran nonprofits and corporate America.
Results are announced in the spring, a few months after the survey deadline.
Essential Information
We respect your time. Our survey is significantly shorter and more dynamic than comparable surveys — less than 70 questions, it can be completed in a few hours. The survey is reduced to the most important veteran employment metrics, and is evaluated with an objective, standardized methodology that judges employers fairly and consistently.
Some employers are unable to participate in comparable evaluation programs because those programs would publish their private data. We respect proprietary information and will never publish anything about your organization without getting your permission. Additionally, we do not publish a list of employers that pursue VETS Indexes Employer Awards recognition but fail to qualify. We can sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) if needed.
There is no cost for any employers to participate in any part of the process, from responding to the survey, to being evaluated, to receiving an award and earning a copy of the logo to use in advertising and marketing.
Organizations must submit only one response, from an authorized representative, as we are not able to consider more than one response per organization. Please coordinate with other members of your organization to avoid submitting multiple responses.
Survey responses must be received by Feb. 15, 2023, for organizations to be considered for the VETS Indexes Employer Awards.
Completing The Survey
This only happens rarely, but if it occurs, it is a serious problem. Please email survey@vetsindexes.com immediately, and do not enter or change any answers in the survey.
Yes, your answers are saved every time you press the red arrow button, at the bottom of each page of the online survey.
Yes, you can fill out the survey over multiple sessions, and you’ll be returned to the last part of the survey you filled out each time you click your unique link to access the survey. However, please do not submit the survey until you are sure that it is complete and accurate. Submitting the survey is done by pressing the right arrow button on the final page of the survey, below a summary of all of your responses. Please only submit the survey after you’ve had a chance to review your response summary and double-check that everything is accurate. You may not be able to edit the survey after officially submitting it.
Yes, you can skip almost all of the questions in the survey, except for a few at the beginning that are identified as mandatory. You will be able to answer them later by navigating through the survey using the red arrows at the bottom of the screen.
If you will be able to provide data for the current year by waiting until the new calendar year to answer related questions, we encourage you to do so. You will have more than a month in the new calendar year to complete your survey before the response deadline, and you will be able to skip — and answer later — all questions asking for current year data. If you would not be able provide the data by this deadline, you may instead provide data from the previous two years, without any penalty.
We are only able to evaluate organizations based on the information they provide. The more data you provide, the better we can gauge your organization’s veteran-related efforts, which can help improve your organization’s evaluation and award level. For nearly every survey question, an organization that provides a response — even a response that compares poorly to other employers — will have an advantage over an organization that provides no response.
Please provide whatever data you are able to and leave the rest blank. The more data you can provide, the more thoroughly we can evaluate your organization, and the better you can do in our evaluation.
This survey has logic rules that dynamically customize your survey to fit your organization, based on the information you provide. For example, if you indicate that your organization has received Work Opportunity Tax Credits, the survey will display a follow-up question asking for the number received — if not, you will not see this follow-up question. Similarly, a different survey question asking for employee population data has answer options that appear (or don’t appear) based on whether you indicated you can provide data for particular groups of employees in the previous question.
The primary contact, identified in the first survey question, is the person we will contact if we have questions. The contact’s email address will receive notifications related to this survey, as well as your organization’s primary invitation for the following year’s survey.
Yes, to make the survey faster and easier to fill out, your responses to data and text-entry questions from last year’s survey are automatically entered into this year’s survey. These responses will appear only in the primary invitation your organization receives, which is sent to the primary contact identified in last year’s survey. If the data provided in last year’s response has changed due to new information or reporting systems, please update and correct it in this year’s response — it is OK if this year’s responses are different from last year’s. Please note that we are currently only able to carry over your answers to data and text entry questions, not multiple choice questions.
To ensure accuracy, this survey automatically checks whether entered responses make sense in the context of the larger survey. For example, if a question asks for numeric data and you enter text, an error message will ask you to enter numerals instead. Additionally, the survey will check your responses against previous responses. For example, if you indicate having more veteran employees than overall employees (a mathematical impossibility), you will see an error message. In such cases, please read the error messages carefully and update your response accordingly. If you need help, email us at survey@vetsindexes.com.
If you skip a question that has logic rules, which control whether you see a subsequent question, then you will not see that subsequent question. If you return later and answer the initial question, then the subsequent question may appear. It is essential that you answer every survey question that you can, accurately.
Please include data covering veterans in your responses to such questions, as veterans are part of your overall organization. For example, if your employee population consists of 75 nonveterans and 25 veterans, you should enter 100 as your overall employee population — not 75.
Yes, and we very strongly encourage you to do so, to ensure that the survey has been filled out accurately and completely. When you answer the survey’s last question and press the red forward arrow at the bottom of the screen, the next and final screen will show all of the responses you entered and include a link at the top for you to download a PDF of your responses. Please review this material very carefully. If you find responses to change, click the red back arrow at the bottom of the screen to navigate back to the corresponding questions. If after reviewing your responses, you are 100% sure that your survey is accurate and complete, click the red forward arrow below your response summary on the last page, and your survey will be officially submitted.
Unfortunately, that section is read-only, and the survey system does not allow edits on that final review page. Again, if you find items that need changing, use the red back arrow at the bottom of the screen to navigate through the survey to the questions you want to revise.
Adding or changing responses after officially submitting your survey requires a difficult process that may not be possible in many cases. For this reason, it is essential that you review your answers very carefully before submitting your survey.
Quick links
You can find a guide to the data you’ll be asked to provide at this link.
You can find a blank PDF of the survey at this link. Again, please note that we are unable to accept responses submitted as Word or PDF documents; you must fill out the survey through the online form. CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE BLANK SURVEY.
Please email us at survey@vetsindexes.com.
Glossary of terms
Guard/Reserve Members: People currently enrolled in any National Guard or Reserve branch.
Military connected: People directly connected to the military community, as either current service members (including Guard/Reserve), veterans, or spouses of service members or veterans.
Military spouses: Spouses of current service members or veterans.
Protected veterans: Former service members who served active duty during a period of war, were discharged within the last three years, have a service-connected disability, received an Armed Forces Service Medal, or meet other qualifications, as defined by the U.S. Department of Labor HERE.
Veterans: Former service members, including former members of the Guard/Reserve