This is an excerpt from an article in Columbus Business First, written by Nick Ramsey. To read the rest of the article, visit this link.
Merry Korn married a social mission with her business mission in 2004, and hasn’t looked back.
The founder of Pearl Interactive Network gives hiring priority to veterans, disabled veterans, military spouses, people with disabilities, and people who live in geographically challenged areas.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. veteran population is now over 21 million. The newest group of vets, who served after 9/11, has reached over 3 million. According to a study done last year by Monster.com and Military.com, the unemployment rate is 8 percent among veterans 18 to 24, compared with 5.4 percent for the nation as a whole in April. The study also estimated that an additional 250,000 veterans will be looking for jobs each year for the next five years.
The abundance of veteran workers has allowed Pearl to provide resourcing to both businesses and the federal government, but Korn thinks this niche work force is effective for other reasons.
“Veterans make a tremendous hire because of the discipline that they bring,” said Korn.
Korn said the average retention rate of their employees is 2.7 to 3.2 years, compared with the average in the resourcing industry of five months.
“The reason why retention is so valuable is because every time you lose an employee, there are costs associated with training and screening, which can become very expensive,” Korn said. “Retention has significant implications.”