Veterans make great employees after their deployment ends, according to a Walmart senior executive.
"Veterans are great employees because of the qualities they learn in training," Simon said in a keynote address at the National Retail Federation convention. "Leadership, courage, sacrifice, and commitment are all qualities they take on and continue to have after deployment."
Servicemen and women are harder workers and follow directions better than the average employee, he said.
Simon, a Navy veteran, believes so strongly in hiring former service members that he started a new initiative for Walmart.
Beginning Memorial Day, Walmart will hire any honorably-charged veteran who has been deployed in the past 12 months. The company estimates that it will hire 100,000 veterans through the program in the next five years.
The Walmart initiative will help ease the transition for soldiers returning from deployment, he said.
"These veterans will have jobs in our stores, clubs, distribution centers," Simon said. "Maybe they're not sure what the next move will be and they need something to tide them over, but maybe they want a career in retail and that is fantastic."
Simon cited a former veteran who started as an entry-level associate and now runs the entire Logistics department at Walmart.
He has met with the White House and Department of Veteran's Affairs on the hiring initiative, and urged other retailers to do the same
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