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September 2, 2024
WESTON – According to the U.S. Department of Labor, every year, approximately 200,000 men and women leave U.S. military service and return to life as civilians.
It’s no secret that transitioning from active duty to veteran status – which includes re-entering the workforce – can be challenging.
The U.S. Army and its Partnership for Your Success (PaYS) Program is designed to help soldiers prepare for a career after the Army by connecting them with employers who understand the skills, discipline and work ethic that military service members bring to a business.
To accomplish this, the Army strategically partners with a cross-section of private industry, academia and state and local public institutes.
Sutton Transport Inc. – an LTL (less-than-truckload) carrier located at 5707 Schofield Ave. in the Village of Weston – recently signed a partnership agreement with the U.S. Army to be part of the PaYS Program, a move Director of Human Resources Cheryl Phillips said was a no-brainer.
“We want to provide soldiers a meaningful career, an opportunity here with us,” she said.
The U.S. Army PaYS Program guarantees soldiers five job interviews and possible employment after their service in the Army.
“The PaYS Program is a win-win partnership for everyone involved,” Lt. Col. Oliver Karp, Battalion Commander of the U.S. Army Recruiting Battalion-Milwaukee, said. “PaYS offers new employment opportunities for soldiers as they complete their Army careers and gives companies access to a unique pool of successful potential employees.”
More on PaYS
The PaYS Program began in 2000 as an enlistment incentive for regular Army enlisted soldiers. In October 2002, the program expanded to include Army Reserve soldiers.
The program later expanded to include Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC), Reserve Component Cadets, ROTC Cadets who incur an active duty commitment, Officer Candidate School, Warrant Officer Flight Training and the Army National Guard.
In April 2011, the U.S. Army Marketing and Research Group (AMRG) – a field operating agency of the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Manpower and Reserve Affairs – assumed the responsibility for administering and managing the PaYS Program.
Upon AMRG’s dissolution in 2019, TRADOC – the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command – began spearheading the program.
Since PaYS began, more than 1,336 employers have partnered with the program.
Employer qualifications for the PaYS Program, include:
- Have ideally 500 employees, though smaller companies or agencies are considered.
- Be an established company and public sector agency with secure reputations.
- All positions identified must be for full-time, permanent employment. Positions reflecting a 40-hour work week with a classification of temporary hire do not qualify. This includes temp agencies and/or placement agencies.
- The PaYS Program does not charge a fee to become a partner. In turn, companies that charge a fee for employment or placement do not meet qualifications.
PaYS partners are required to enter into an MOA (memorandum of agreement) with the Army.
The program’s interview database enables PaYS partners to plan future hiring needs up to two years out.
“We have a dashboard set up with the US Army and have our jobs posted on there,” Phillips said. “Primarily it would be the commercial motor vehicle position set operating the director trailer with the Class A CDL. And then we have what we call dock workers – that’s our forklift operator – and they load and unload the trailers.”
Phillips said Sutton visits the dashboard every week to see if they have any applicants for posted positions.
“(We would then) reach out to applicants and discuss what their qualifications are,” she said. “Then we would set up a first interview with them and go through that process. If we felt they were qualified and had the skills needed, then we would move them along through our process and set up a second interview locally.”
Untapped pool
Wisconsin – according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs – is currently home to more than 350,000 veterans.
Phillips said Sutton already has members of its team who served in the military.
“We value the commitment that they made years ago to serve our country and appreciate the contributions they are making to Sutton today,” she said.
Phillips said though she was aware of and worked with local or regional veterans organizations in the past, she wasn’t aware of the national-scale effort of the PaYS Program.
“I found out about the program through a colleague of mine from one of Sutton’s partner companies,” she said. “He brought the idea to us and said, ‘hey, you should check this program out. It would be a good opportunity for Sutton and a good opportunity for soldiers to find employment once they hit the private sector.’”
Conversations with the Army about the PaYS Program, Phillips said, began this past spring.
“They approved us and we recently had a signing ceremony – it’s really exciting,” she said. “It’s an important partnership.”
Phillips said she knows from personal experience the sacrifices servicemen and women make and the challenges that sometimes accompany them.
“My father and my brother served – so, for me, it’s pretty darn important,” she said. “I liken it to my brother – he served during Desert Storm and when he came back he had some issues trying to acclimate back into (the workforce).”
Phillips said members of the military are disciplined and “know what it means to do hard work.”
“Being a truck driver in the LTL industry is a very physical position that requires a lot of focus,” she said. “We want to give service members seeking employment an opportunity to join a successful organization and make it their career – whether it’s driving a truck, operating a forklift, turning a wrench or whatever the opportunity brings.”
With most service members contacting Sutton Transport before the end of their military service, Phillips said “we can employ them quickly as they come out of the service.”
“So, when that day comes, if they want to, they can step from serving the country to working for us,” she said.
With the current job market, Karp said it’s no secret that Wisconsin employers are struggling to fill crucial roles.
“Many employers don’t realize that we have soldiers who have world-class training and industry certifications in logistics, maintenance and skilled trades,” he said. “Not to mention, they have the discipline and soft skills they gained during their time in service. The PaYS program offers companies access to these highly trained soldiers.”
Karp said he’s seen firsthand how patriotic the people of Wisconsin are.
“Employers tell us they want to show their support for our military and veterans – now, you can partner directly with the Army to hire our soldiers and veterans,” he said.
The Army, Karp said, is one big family.
“As a family owned and operated company, Sutton Transport shares those same values,” he said. “I know our veterans and soldiers will find a great home working with Sutton.”
For more on the U.S. Army’s Partnership for Your Success Program, visit armypays.com.
More on Sutton Transport
Phillips said Sutton Transport is in a segment of the transportation industry called LTL.
“There’s over-the-road, there’s regional, there’s truckload (segments),” she said. “LTL is unique in a sense that we operate five days a week, Monday through Friday, and we pick up and deliver freight for business customers – and that’s what we’ve been doing for 44 years.”
Phillips said LTL shipping is for small freight, typically weighing 150 to 20,000 pounds.
Instead of hiring an entire truck to ship the load, shippers with less freight share the trailer with others shipping smaller loads to nearby destinations – this, she said, is where Sutton comes in.
Sutton Transport has 13 terminals located throughout Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri and Minnesota – delivering LTL freight throughout the Midwest.
For more on Sutton Transport, visit suttontrans.com.
