Veterans Day is coming up this Saturday, Nov. 11. As the one day set aside each year to honor those who have served and continue to serve our nation, the holiday offers a great opportunity to teach civilians about the sacrifices that service members and their families make year-round.
Vanderbilt University Human Resources encourages your department or division to recognize those who have provided service to our nation and to Vanderbilt. The university is fortunate to include many veterans among its staff and students. Consider an office-wide coffee break featuring remembrance poppy cookies or a yellow-ribbon cake. Create a simple “thank you for your service” card, and ask office employees to sign it. Or visit our local Veterans Affairs Hospital, located here on campus.
There is no right or wrong way to honor our veterans, as long as goodwill and support are the message. In recognizing veterans’ contributions both inside and outside the workplace, you can go far in making your office and department more inviting to them, thus creating a more inclusive environment.
Human Resources, for example, has created an “HR Veterans Wall of Honor” to recognize the veterans among its own staff, and scheduled a departmental event to honor them and other HR employees whose family members have served. What might your department do?
