SA Group nominated for Employer of the Year at Ex-Forces in Business Awards

Published by

Peter Davison

Trowbridge-based business management consultancy SA Group has been nominated for Employer of the Year at 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, it is the world’s largest celebration of ex-military in second careers, and the winners will be announced later this month at a glittering awards ceremony held at the Grosvenor House hotel’s prestigious Great Room on Park Lane.

TV presenter and broadcaster Jacqui Oatley MBE returns as the host to welcome over 1,100 business and military leaders to the landmark event.

SA Group has been supporting veterans with their new careers in since it was founded in 2009, and recognises the challenges that arise from returning to civilian life.

The company promotes an open and honest internal culture to support this process, 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.

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.

Lee Gale, head of sales and marketing at SA Group 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 per cent of our team has a military background. We recognise the value that this important community brings, and we will continue to support it.”

Lt. Gen. Sir Andrew Gregory, CEO at SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity, said: “As a former Chief of Defence People, I know just how important it is to have strong visibility of forces friendly employers and of veterans who have transitioned into meaningful second careers.

"These awards lead the way in amplifying that visibility, which makes us very proud to once again be the official charity partner of this important awards programme.

“Our warmest congratulations and sincere thanks go to all those who have been shortlisted for this year’s British Ex-Forces in Business Awards. They set such a tremendous example for how military-gained skills and values can be successfully applied across all sectors.”

Ben Rossi, founder of the British Ex-Forces in Business Awards, 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.”

Peter Davison

Peter Davison is deputy editor of The Business Magazine. He has spent his life in journalism – doing work experience in newsrooms in and around Bristol while still at school, and landing his first job on a local newspaper aged 19. By 28 he was the youngest newspaper editor in the country. An early advocate of online news, he spent the first years of the 2000s telling his bosses that the internet posed both the biggest opportunity and greatest threat to the newspaper industry and the art of journalism. He was right on both counts. Since 2006 he has enjoyed a career as a freelance journalist. He lives in rural Wiltshire with one wife, two children, and three cats.