You hire a veteran. Sharp, disciplined, hits the ground running. Six months later, they are gone. No drama. They just did not feel like the place was built for them.

This happens a lot. The veteran who joins your team carries a culture most of your staff has never seen. When nobody else in the building speaks that language, the new hire can feel alone fast. And a veteran who feels alone tends to leave faster than other employees.

A veteran employee resource group fixes that. It gives your veteran hires a place to land. It turns a lone new face into part of a group. And it quietly does work your HR team cannot do on its own. It boosts retention, builds a referral pipeline, and makes onboarding stick.

This guide shows you how to start one. Step by step. No fluff. By the end you will know what a veteran ERG is, why it pays off, how to charter it, and how to prove it works.

What Is a Veteran Employee Resource Group?

A veteran employee resource group is a voluntary, employee-led group inside your company. The members are veterans, current Guard and Reserve members, and the people who support them. They meet, share what they know, and help each other.

You may hear it called an affinity group or a veteran network. Same idea. The U.S. Department of Labor points to veteran affinity and resource groups as a smart practice for employers who want to keep their veteran hires. The group is not a club for venting. It has a job.

A strong veteran ERG does a few things at once. It welcomes new veteran hires. It connects them to mentors. It feeds ideas back to leadership. And it helps the company find and keep more veteran talent.

The group is run by employees, but it works best with real backing from the top. A name on a flyer is not enough. The group needs a sponsor, a mission, a small budget, and a few people willing to lead. We will walk through each one.

Why Does a Veteran ERG Matter for Your Business?

An ERG is not a feel-good extra. It pays for itself in three ways. Each one hits a number you already track.

It keeps your veteran hires longer

Turnover is expensive. You pay to recruit, train, and ramp every new hire. When they leave early, that money walks out the door. The Department of Labor is blunt about this. If the work environment does not meet a veteran's needs, they tend to leave faster than other staff.

A veteran ERG meets that need. It gives the new hire people who get the transition. That sense of belonging is what makes someone stay. Keep a few extra veterans each year and the ERG has already paid for itself.

It builds a referral pipeline

Veterans know other veterans. The person you just hired served with dozens of people who are now in the civilian job market or about to be. A veteran ERG turns your current hires into a sourcing channel.

Referred hires tend to stick around and perform well. They come in with a warm intro and a realistic picture of the job. Your ERG members become your best recruiters, and they do it because they want the group to grow.

It makes onboarding actually work

Most onboarding is a stack of forms and a benefits video. For a veteran leaving a structured military world, that is a rough landing. A veteran ERG adds a buddy system. A current veteran employee shows the new hire the ropes.

The Department of Labor calls this out directly. A mentor on arrival, ideally a fellow veteran, helps the new hire adjust to your culture. That mentor answers the small questions that nobody puts in a handbook. The new hire ramps faster and feels seen.

How Do You Charter a Veteran ERG?

A charter is the foundation. Skip it and the group fades after the first few meetings. The charter answers the basic questions before you launch. Who runs it. What it does. Who pays. How you know it works.

You need four pieces in place. Get these right and the rest follows.

Get an executive sponsor

This is the most important piece. An ERG without a leader at the top dies young. The sponsor is a senior person who backs the group, opens doors, and makes sure it gets heard.

Pick someone with real pull. A VP or a department head works well. They do not run the day-to-day. They protect the group's budget, clear roadblocks, and bring the group's ideas to the leadership table. If you can find a sponsor who is a veteran, even better. But it is not required. What matters is that they care and they have weight.

Write a mission statement

The mission tells everyone what the group is for. Keep it short. One or two sentences. It should name who the group serves and what it aims to do.

A good mission gives the group focus. It stops the group from drifting into a social club with no purpose. It also helps you say no to work that does not fit. When a request comes in, you check it against the mission.

Set a budget

The group needs money to do real work. Not a lot, but some. A budget shows the company means it. It covers meeting space, a few events, training, and small things like a guest speaker.

Start small and grow it as the group proves its worth. Even a few thousand dollars a year lets the group run events and welcome new hires the right way. The sponsor fights for this number. Tie it to the wins you plan to track.

Pick your leadership

You need a few people to run the group. A chair or two co-chairs. Maybe a lead for events and a lead for recruiting. Keep it lean at the start. Two or three committed people beat a long roster of names who never show.

Give them time to do the work. ERG leadership takes hours. If you expect people to lead on top of a full workload with zero slack, they burn out. Let managers know this work counts. Some companies even fold it into a performance review.

How Do You Launch the Group?

Charter done. Now you launch. The first few months set the tone. A weak launch tells everyone the group does not matter. A strong one pulls people in. Follow these four steps.

You do not need a big roster to start. A handful of committed people is plenty. The group grows on its own once members see it does real work. A buddy program is the best first win. It helps new hires right away and proves the group's value to leadership.

One note for midsize companies. You do not need a Fortune 500 program with ten committees. Start with one sponsor, one chair, and one buddy program. That alone moves the needle. Add structure as the group grows.

What Mistakes Should You Avoid?

Most ERGs that fail make the same few mistakes. Know them ahead of time and you skip the pain.

Launching with no executive sponsor

This is the top killer. A group with no senior backing has no budget and no voice. It meets a few times, gets ignored, and fades. Lock in a sponsor before you launch. Not after.

Dumping the work on volunteers with no time

ERG leaders have day jobs. If you pile this on with zero slack, they burn out and quit. Give them real time. Make managers aware. Treat the work as work, not a hobby.

Letting it become a social club

Coffee chats are fine. But a group with no goals drifts. Tie the group to outcomes. Retention. Referrals. Onboarding. The mission keeps it on track. The metrics keep it honest.

Forgetting Guard and Reserve members

Your veteran ERG should include current Guard and Reserve members too. They serve and they work for you at the same time. They face deployment and drill weekends. Federal law protects their jobs while they serve, and the group is a good place to talk through it. For a full breakdown of those duties, see our guide on USERRA employer obligations for Guard and Reserve members.

How Do You Measure a Veteran ERG?

If you cannot measure it, you cannot defend the budget. Track a few simple numbers from day one. They prove the group works and they help you grow it.

You do not need a fancy dashboard. Pick three or four numbers and check them each quarter. Tie them straight to the business case.

The retention number is your headline. Compare how long veterans stay against your overall average. When veterans with an ERG outlast the company average, you have your proof. A short survey twice a year fills in the why behind the number.

Bring these numbers to your sponsor each quarter. Real data is how the ERG keeps its budget and earns a bigger one. It also shows leadership the group is a business tool, not a cost.

How Does the ERG Tie Into Your Hiring Pipeline?

An ERG keeps and grows the veterans you already have. But it works best when fresh veteran talent keeps coming in. The two feed each other. The ERG makes the company a place veterans want to stay. A steady pipeline keeps the group growing.

That is where the sourcing piece comes in. You need a place to find qualified veterans who are ready to work. The talent pool is already out there. The trick is reaching it.

At Best Military Resume, more than 1,000 new veteran profiles get added every month. The platform has built over 60,000 resumes for the military community. These are veterans actively building their next career. They have already done the work of translating their service into civilian skills.

Smart employers do not wait until separation day. They build the relationship early. Our guide on how to hire transitioning service members before they separate walks through the timing. A SkillBridge program is another strong path. You can test-drive a hire before you commit, as our guide on becoming a SkillBridge host company lays out.

Your ERG members can plug into all of this. They make great interviewers and mentors for new hires. They speak the language a transitioning veteran trusts. Pair the group with a real pipeline and you build a system that keeps paying off.

It also helps to know what you are getting. Veterans bring skills few other candidates can match. Our piece on the leadership skills veterans bring to employers shows what to look for and how to spot it in an interview.

Where Do You Go From Here?

A veteran ERG is one of the cheapest, highest-return moves a midsize company can make. It keeps your veteran hires. It brings in more. And it makes onboarding work the way it should. The Department of Labor backs it as a smart practice for a reason.

Start small. Lock in a sponsor. Write a tight mission. Fund a buddy program. Track your retention number. Then grow from there. You do not need a giant program to see results. You need a foundation and a few people who care.

The other half of the equation is supply. An ERG keeps the talent you have. A steady pipeline brings you more. If you still need to win leadership over, here is how to make the internal business case for veteran hiring. If you want to reach veterans who are ready to work, partner with us to reach veteran talent. The pool is already here. We can help you tap it.