SHOWING OUR SUPPORT FOR THE FORCES COMMUNITY THIS ARMED FORCES DAY
Our Armed Forces have given their all to the country – and today gives us the chance to show our support and recognise the contributions of the Forces community to M&S.
We want to play our part by being a Forces friendly employer. This week, we celebrated signing the new military covenant, reaffirming our commitment to support the Forces community since signing in 2005, and we’re proud to say – have been awarded silver status.
We were joined at the signing ceremony in Castle Donington by Air Cdre Gavin Hellard from the Ministry of Defence, as well as representatives from the Royal British Legion, our Veterans Network, with a special message from Army veteran and Paralympian Stuart Robinson MBE and performance from The Voices of Armed Forces Children Choir.
Our commitment at M&S to the Armed Forces is a longstanding one.
In World War One, Simon Marks, our then Chairman, was conscripted into military service, and in 1938, helped to found the Air Defence Cadets Corps. During the Second World War, M&S colleagues knitted hundreds of garments for evacuees and the Armed Forces, as well as raising £5,000 to help build the ‘Marksman’ Spitfire.
More than 1,500 M&S colleagues served in the Armed Forces in the conflict – with 97 colleagues sadly losing their lives. We commemorate them on our Roll of Honour, kept at our Waterside Support Centre.
Since 2009, we have been working with the Royal British Legion (RBL), who provide lifelong support to serving and ex-serving personnel and their families, helping to raise £9.3 million. The RBL is one of our Sparks chosen charities, meaning if a customer selects them we donate every time they shop with us. We were also privileged to sponsor the celebrations of the RAF’s Centenary in 2018.
Fast forward to today and we’re proud to have over 1,000 M&S colleagues from the Forces community. As co-sponsors of our active Veterans colleague network, both of us work closely with the network’s co-chairs to create a safe space for members, alongside awareness raising and fundraising.
We also have a number of policies and partnerships in place to provide additional support, including offering ten days extra leave for reservists to attend training, providing tailored and confidential wellbeing guidance, spanning mental and physical health to financial support.
We recognise that transitioning to civilian life can be a challenging time so work with the Careers Transition Partnership and Forces Family Jobs to drive recruitment. Veterans, reservists and serving personnel have unique qualities and skills and we want to make joining the M&S family as smooth a transition as possible.
To help mark Armed Forces Day, we wanted to share the stories and experiences of three of our fantastic colleagues from the Forces community: