Helping those who served
As 2020 came to a close, Whirlpool Corporation took part in a White House summit on military spouse employment solutions in conjunction with American Corporate Partners (ACP), a national nonprofit organization focused on helping returning veterans and active duty spouses to find their next careers through one-on-one mentoring, networking and online career advice.
The virtual summit held in December included over 46 of America’s leading business and nonprofit leaders in addition to military spouses and representatives from the White House and ACP. Whirlpool Corporation’s Paul Dailey and Jon Pickelsimer of the Whirlpool Veteran’s Association (WVA) participated in the event.
U.S. Second Lady Karen Pence delivered virtual remarks about actively supporting military spouses and her own experience as one. Each company also briefly spoke about what they were doing to support military spouses.
Through our AIR program we have been able to offer dynamic work arrangements for dozens of veterans, military spouses, and family members. This specialty program provides the flexibility to customize their work life around an often unpredictable military schedule.
Whirlpool Corporation’s Pickelsimer spoke about the Whirlpool Corporation AIR CXC program, a virtual call center program started in 2016 as an experiment to engage with AirForce bases to bring jobs to military spouses. “I’m proud that we truly stood out as a company that was actively seeking out these individuals for employment while also providing flexible work arrangements,” said Pickelsimer.
“Whirlpool is a proud supporter of our military community,” Dailey said in his presentation to the group. “Through our AIR program we have been able to offer dynamic work arrangements for dozens of veterans, military spouses, and family members. This specialty program provides the flexibility to customize their work life around an often unpredictable military schedule. Participants are fully outfitted to work at home from anywhere in the nation. We recruit program participants from military job fairs and are always on the lookout for veterans and their families as jobs on the Customer Experience team become available.”
Pence praised all of the companies that virtually attended the event.
“Military spouses are well-educated, hardworking, flexible, reliable, and loyal, and are the kind of workers we want in the American workforce,” she said. “I applaud all of the participants today for making the commitment to help train, hire, and support our nation’s military spouses.”
Proud Army spouse and AIR program member Tamika Roberts summed up what it is like being a part of Whirlpool Corporation’s program.
“For me, working for Whirlpool as a military spouse means stability,” she said. “Being able to move from post to post and not have to worry about finding a job is the biggest blessing for me and my family. Also, being on the AIR CXC team and having that schedule flexibility as a military spouse is awesome. I am truly blessed to be a part of the Whirlpool military family and would not change a thing. Thanks Whirlpool for having our military family’s back.”