Military observance holidays provide the most consistent reminders of the contributions of those who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces – a tradition you’ll see reinforced by the volume of Memorial Day headlines and social media posts honoring service personnel who made the ultimate sacrifice.

But for many U.S. companies, including Medline, military service – not to mention the skills and capabilities that come with it – remains front-of-mind the rest of the year as well. At Medline, that manifests especially through M-VET, one of the company’s seven employee resource groups (ERGs).

Ahead of Memorial Day, the Medline Newsroom connected with Chad Harris (right), director of business operations and analytics, to offer more insight on M-VET as the group’s employee relations co-chair. Harris is an M-VET member through and through: With support from company leaders, he commissioned in the Army in 2017 while working at Medline and has continued to serve as the commander of the 333rd Military Police Company in the Illinois Army National Guard.

Medline Newsroom: Chad, tell us a little about M-VET’s development so far – where the group has come from to now.

Chad Harris: It started small in 2021 and has enjoyed consistent growth in both membership and programming as we’ve evolved. We have about 1,000 self-identified veterans at Medline. More than 500 are members of M-VET, largely in our distribution and manufacturing centers or in our MedTrans community. M-VET isn’t exclusive to veterans. Anyone can join to work with us, support us and be part of our programming.

We perform community service, such as helping to build homes for veterans, and keep our veteran network connected across the country through a community channel and monthly newsletter. We’ve historically gone all-out with Veterans Day celebrations at Medline’s corporate headquarters in Northfield, Ill., to highlight the impact our veterans, active service members and allies have on our communities.

Newsroom: What’s M-VET’s driving purpose, in your view?

Harris: We want to champion a supportive network for our service members and advocates by sharing experiences, perspectives and resources, and to uniquely educate our peers inside and out of Medline about how they can best celebrate, honor and support the veteran population and their families. For veterans, the idea is to build connections in the workplace, so you’re encouraged to talk about your experiences. As a veteran myself, I think that’s what a lot of people are missing. They get out of the military, go into a civilian career and forget about their military past or don’t want to bring it up. For many, it was a pivotal time in our youth that shaped much of who we are in our adult life. M-VET gives us a chance to connect with others who have that shared experience, especially those who have been on combat deployments. It can be a difficult thing to talk about and connect with other people if they haven’t been in that environment, too.

Newsroom: What other resources are there for M-VET members?

Harris: Medline offers a wide range of benefits and resources to all employees, some of which we highlight specifically for our veteran population, such as the Employee Assistance Program, which offers employees and their household members free, confidential, 24/7 support for personal and work-life issues. We also recently started working with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and some veteran service organizations such as the Veterans Assistance Commission to build more robust programming around career planning and disability registration. Last year, M-VET also launched “Operation Outreach” to amplify mentoring and networking opportunities, panel discussions and chats on topics like suicide prevention and disabilities.

While it may seem that some of these resources are unique to service members, understanding the benefits available and how to best communicate, work and lead with our veteran population is an essential part of our mission. We want to enable our business leaders to unleash the potential of this incredible workforce.

Newsroom: Speaking of work, what skills do we see generally translating from the military to roles at Medline?

Harris: Medline is a proponent of veteran employment. We know the skills forged throughout a military career align well with the success factors of Medline. Both veterans and non-veterans here tend to share a unique work ethic – hard-working and adaptive to whatever situation you put them in. There’s a fierce desire to serve, whether it’s our country or our customers, and a relentless pursuit of mission accomplishment. Many veterans also find they can rely on skills and experiences they’ve had in communication, managing through conflict and change – things that are impactful for leadership. Bringing those experiences to Medline can really elevate your career.

When you raise your right hand and swear the oath of enlistment, you can’t make that commitment without first acknowledging your desire to be part of something greater than yourself and harnessing that fire within to serve patriotically. That flame doesn’t just extinguish when you leave the service, and I often find that many of our veterans, especially those who have recently left the service, are eagerly seeking that next avenue where they can contribute. Working at a healthcare company like Medline enables us to do that.

Newsroom: Overall, what effect do you think ERGs have on workplace culture?

Harris: They provide a platform for employees from diverse backgrounds to connect, share experiences and support each other. But Medline’s ERGs have grown into so much more than a social group sharing events. Medline’s leadership and employees invest time, energy and dollars into these groups building communities, serving as advocates, providing professional development and connection – all of it leading to greater business impacts because our teams know they have supportive, understanding peers at their back. It’s an energetic environment to be involved with.

Learn more here about Medline’s efforts around belonging and its other ERGs.