IDENTIFY FRIENDLY FORCES

At Friendly Forces, we believe in action over corporate rhetoric. A company is not “military friendly” if it does not enact policies that support its military employees. We find, identity, and validate “Reservist-Friendly” companies using our decades of experience spanning civilian and military careers.
Based on extensive research and our cumulative experience, we have developed a rating scale that rates corporate military leave policies so that reservists can make informed decisions about where to work.

We strive to render unbiased, objective ratings reflecting what we perceive the company’s commitment to military reservists to be.

THE SCALE

Ratings are 1 through 5 STARS based on duration and type of military leave (fully paid, partially paid, unpaid). Companies are deducted a STAR if they enact qualifiers based on type of orders (training vs. deployment), consider military allowances part of military pay, or institute a minimum tenure before eligibility.

We consider a 3 STAR Rating to be the minimum acceptable score. For that reason, badges are awarded to companies that achieve a 3 STAR, 4 STAR, or 5 STAR rating.

Since one of the primary objectives of Friendly Forces is transparency around corporate military leave policies for our nation’s citizen service members, employers that do not make their military leave policies easily accessible online AND declined to provide it when requested by the Friendly Forces team default to a 1 STAR rating. More often than not, this is an indicator of a subpar military leave program, among other potential red flags.

This is a living list. We realize (and hope!) policies will evolve to reflect better support to reservists.