FirstEnergy Thanks Veterans 365 Days a Year
As Veterans Month approaches each November, grateful Americans often google “How do you thank a veteran”? While Google offers 26,700,000 results, FirstEnergy keeps it simple: maintain a military-friendly culture and comprehensive benefits that support and honor veterans, active military members and their families every day of the year.
Seargent First Class Luke Anderson is one of more than 950 past and present service members of the United States' armed forces employed by FirstEnergy. A member of the U.S. Army since 2007, Anderson joined FirstEnergy in 2012. He credits the skills and discipline he developed in the military for helping him advance to, and succeed in, his current role on FirstEnergy Utilities Emergency Preparedness team. In November 2022, Anderson was deployed to Kuwait.
“FirstEnergy empowers actively serving military personnel by allowing us to continue to serve without losing service time and benefits,” said Anderson. “The company also provides active military employees with differential pay so we don’t experience a loss of income on duty.”
FirstEnergy is proud to be recognized for its long-term, demonstrated commitment to military service members and their families. For eight years in a row, Military Friendly, a national organization supporting the U.S. military and its veterans, has recognized FirstEnergy as a Military Friendly® Company, citing FirstEnergy’s recruitment, hiring, training and development practices for veterans and their families.
"We believe military veterans are highly and uniquely qualified for roles throughout our company," said Christine L. Walker, FirstEnergy's senior vice president, chief human resources officer and Corporate Services. “When our employees are called to serve, we want them to know their jobs are secure and their families are taken care of. This helps our employees focus while serving, so they can keep themselves, their fellow soldiers and our country safe.”
When his deployment ended in August 2023, Anderson came home to his family and to FirstEnergy, where his team awaited his safe return. Transitioning back to civilian life can be difficult, so Anderson was grateful for the steps FirstEnergy takes to help ease military employees back into work. “My director didn’t put too much on my plate right away. He allowed me to take my time and ramp up my workload.”
Anderson was also grateful for the opportunity to reestablish relationships with other FirstEnergy employees, most of whom he hadn’t seen in person since 2021 due to the pandemic and his deployment. That long-awaited reunion took place on September 30, when he surprised his coworkers, friends and fellow FirstEnergy Young Professionals after completing the Akron Half Marathon.
Quietly approaching the water station where the Young Professional volunteers were cleaning up, Anderson flashed a bright smile when his friends recognized him. Greeted with handshakes, laughter and praise for his service, Anderson looked right at home.
For Anderson, all his roles seemed to come together at the marathon.
“Community involvement is important to the mission and success of the Army, FirstEnergy and the Young Professionals,” he said. “Participating in marathon festivities gives me a sense of belonging with the Akron community - and having colleagues there to cheer me on at the Power Zone gave me a boost and instilled pride of being a FirstEnergy employee.”
To learn more, visit:
FirstEnergy 2023 Akron Marathon, Half Marathon and Team Relay