VA military spouse employees retain employment through flexibility

When a member of the military deploys, it leaves a lot for their spouses to manage at home: family, household finances, employment and more. It can be stressful to try to balance all the conflicting priorities.

To address military spouse employment challenges, VA is implementing key tenets across internal hiring and retention efforts as part of the historic 4+1 Commitment. These tenets position VA to attract, hire and retain military spouses.

Among those tenets is a pledge to offer flexible work hours, which can make a huge difference to securing a work/life balance for busy military spouses.

"When my spouse left for a 3-month temporary duty assignment to a different continent, leaving me with our 11-month-old twins, I was not sure how I could balance being a military spouse, a good mom, a single parent and a good employee all at the same time," said Megan Paone.

Through our Veteran and Military Spouse Talent Engagement Program (VMSTEP), and our participation in the 4+1 Commitment, we're taking actionable steps to reduce military spouse unemployment and underemployment rates, thus contributing to the stability of military families.

Visit VA Careers now to learn more about how we've embraced the 4+1 Commitment.