Civilian employers remain generally supportive of their reservist employees, but friction points remain, according to a recent report from the Rand Corp.

“The success of the Reserve Component relies on a cadre of service members to balance military and civilian careers and their civilian employers to support them in that balancing act,” the report says. “Though employers acknowledge that military obligations can pose challenges, a solid majority of employers in 2022 agreed or strongly agreed that the advantages of employing Reserve Component members outweigh the disadvantages.”

Across the nation, there are over 770,000 selected reserve members, and those serving in an Army reserve component make up nearly one-quarter of them, according to the DoD’s 2022 demographics profile report.

To reach its findings, the Rand report reviewed DoD policies, conducted at least 120 interviews with stakeholders, subject-matter experts and reserve component members and incorporated data from several DoD surveys and personnel data.

Reserve troops are protected against employment discrimination and provided with reemployment rights following a duty-related absence under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act. However, “the requirements and limitations of USERRA protections are complicated and can be opaque to employers,” the report found.

Civilian employers are generally supportive of their reservist employees, according to data and interviews cited in the report.

“Once a civilian employer understands what it entails, they’re supportive,” a soldier said during an interview in the report. “They’re just glad to have a leader, good worker. Guardsmen take on leadership, and employers just have to deal with that [military-related absences].”

Some employers noted positive changes in their reservist employee’s performance after returning from their military duties, including increased maturity, interpersonal skills and positive interactions with coworkers, the report found.

Some difficulties stemming from deployment absences remain, including “costs of continuing to pay for health care, effects of lengthy absences and time off from work, but employers widely agreed that the advantages of their reservist employee outweighed any negatives,” the report found.

Though reservists reported mostly positive employer experiences, some interviewees reported missing promotion opportunities, employer tension and burnout.

“If I give 100% to one side, [the other] side suffers. During workup for deployment, with all these different training dates and lots of planning, I find myself doing most of this during the workday [civilian job], when I should be focusing on the workday. [I] can’t give 100 percent to my civilian job,” an Army National Guard officer said during their interview.

The report recommends improved communication between DoD and reserve component employers, among others. 

“DoD could … [establish] an information navigator program or portal. This resource could include not only general information related to Reserve Component member employment … but also information about a specific RC member’s military duty,” the report found. “DoD should reevaluate what information can be provided to employers about military duty after operational security and privacy considerations are considered.”

Read the full report here.