Saying thank you to our Armed Forces and the community that supports them

We are looking forward to celebrating Armed Forces Week across our organisation this year. While, many events and activities remain scaled back, the week still presents a great opportunity to recognise and reflect on the great work not that those in our armed forces do, but those that make up the wider armed forces community – veterans, Reservists, cadets and families. As a signatory of the Armed Forces Covenant we are really proud to have many colleagues who are within the armed forces community in our business.

This year we have asked colleagues who have military spouses in their teams to take time out to come together (virtually or on site!), for a cup of tea and find out more about their experiences. Military families play such an essential role in providing support to those serving. It can often require a lot of personal sacrifice as personnel are required to move with their jobs and of course are often on deployment. We are encouraging military spouses in our business to come forward if a redeployment is imminent, so we can support with looking for alternative work elsewhere in our business.

Reservists Day on Wednesday is another great opportunity to shine a spotlight on the fantastic work reservists do and today I am very pleased to announce that we have a new Reservist Ambassador Deborah Crampton. Deborah, who this week started in a new role with ESS in Lincoln, is a Lance Corporal in the British Army Reserve, and has recently finished a period of full time service having been mobilised last year as part of Operation Rescript in support of the national effort in tackling Covid. Deborah was previously in our B&I business based at Leonardo Helicopters in Yeovil and, following her husband’s posting to RAF Waddington, we supported Deborah to find suitable alternative employment and we are delighted that she is now the Catering Manager at RAF Waddington.  

Commenting on her appointment, Deborah said: “I am delighted to take on the role of Reservist Ambassador for Compass Group UK&I.  I was so pleased to be able to fulfil my commitments to the Army Reserve last year. Being supported with redeployment recently has been a huge help. I am looking forward to starting my new job and also joining the AFC committee. Helping to support our Armed Forces community and shining a spotlight on the work of our reservists is really important to me.”  

At Compass our Reservist colleagues receive an extra 10 days annual leave to support with their training.

I am looking forward to seeing our teams come together to celebrate and show their support of the armed force community.

Mick