USAA CEO is on mission to get veterans better job market opportunities
When Juan Andrade stepped into the role of USAA’s CEO, the veteran insurance industry executive said one of his main priorities was to expand the company’s efforts to help military families achieve financial security.
By focusing on serving the military, veterans and their eligible family members through insurance, banking and retirement products, USAA has positioned itself as an advocate for these groups since its founding by military officers in 1922.
But Andrade said he saw an opportunity to take it a step further, feeling it was the association’s collective duty to “use our voice and brand for the benefit of the military community,” particularly around efforts aimed at helping military families thrive.
“You can buy an auto insurance policy anywhere, you can open a bank account almost anywhere, but these 14 million members come to us because we have common values, because we know their lived experience and we care about them,” he said.
Each year, Veterans Day provides an opportunity to celebrate, support and advocate for veterans and their families. Andrade said USAA wants to build on this to make sure the support is felt year-round and positions them for success in every aspect of their lives, whether personally, professionally or financially.
This led USAA to launch a new initiative: “Dignity Through Action” a $500 million commitment over the next five years focused on helping military families find meaningful careers, financial security and prosperity through a variety of partnerships across the public, private and nonprofit sectors.
These are the three areas Andrade says are critical to a successful transition for veterans.
“One of the things that happens when you leave the military is you lose your tribe,” Andrade said. “We understand that, and it’s about helping them find a new tribe.”
About 250,000 active-duty military members transition to veteran status each year in the United States, and at this point, Andrade said, “the record of their successful employment is very mixed.”
According to the Ministry of DefenseLess than a fifth of transitioning soldiers feel fully prepared to secure civilian employment, and once hired, the average job tenure is less than a year. On top of that, the unemployment rate among military spouses is four times higher than the average civilian. Blue Star FamiliesWhich publishes an annual survey of the challenges facing military families.
All of this leads to additional economic pressure and contributes to the emotional and physical health issues many veterans deal with when transitioning from the military, Andrade said. He added that having a meaningful career is critical in the process of “helping them find where they belong, helping them find a new identity through a successful transition into the private sector.”
“This starts to create that sense of belonging, which I think is so important from a mental health perspective, and it’s also very relevant to the financial aspect,” she said. “If you don’t feel like you belong somewhere and your finances aren’t in a good place, you’re going to experience incredible stress, and we want to focus on solving some of those issues before they become real problems.”
Andrade said one of the main focuses of this new effort is to further develop the pipeline of companies looking to hire veterans, as well as supporting veterans and military spouses through career navigation, employer engagement, skills development and community support.
“Sometimes companies overlook this label because they don’t know how [veterans’ skills] “They can transfer to their own companies,” he said. “This workforce pool is incredibly talented; “They are already well-trained and bring a level of discipline and leadership that makes an impact to the workplace,” he said.
