Adaptation of Veterans to Peaceful Life. Experience of Kernel
As of July 1, 2022, there were 438,834 combatants in Ukraine. According to the statement of the Minister of Veterans Affairs, the number of veterans, their family members and family members of fallen military personnel may increase to 4-5 million people. This is an extraordinary number of people who will return and start working in different areas of business. Adapting to a peaceful way of life and work, in particular, can be a difficult task, but with the right HR support and resources, it can become possible.
The For HR channel invited Nataliia Teriakhina, HRD of the Kernel company, to an interview, where she told, using the example of agribusiness, how they work with veterans, what programs they are implementing and why it is important to do adaptation projects now.
“We believe in victory, no matter what. People will return and we need to understand how to continue to work with them, how to continue to live with them and in civil society as well. If we are talking about employees who have returned from the front, I would call it not challenges, but primarily the responsibility of business. It is also the responsibility of the team to know the characteristics of veterans and be able to cooperate with them. We are not used to implementing such projects in Ukraine at all, we are not used to dealing with the inner world of employees and their psychological state. On the one hand, this is true because it is everyone’s business, but if we are talking about veterans, it is a different story,” – says Nataliia Teriakhina, HRD of the Kernel company.
Provision of psychological support, development of professional skills, family harmony and involvement in public life are key aspects contributing to successful adaptation. However, as Nataliia notes, our society is not always ready to communicate with full-time psychologists, especially male veterans.
“There are certain characteristics of people who fear psychological support for psychological health. It is believed that if you go to a psychologist, then something is wrong with you. If we talk about the adaptation of veterans, then psychological support is only one part of the adaptation program, which includes the organizational component of adapting to the workplace, taking into account the received injuries or health damage. We decided that in any case, we find jobs that will be suitable for them given their condition and at this moment it can be difficult. For example, it may require additional full-time units or conversion of the workplace and so on,” – Nataliia states.
About the importance of automating all HR processes, new opportunities for veterans and business responsibility in a new interview on the For HR channel, watch here.
