Expleo has achieved gold status in the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) after completing a two-year journey to build a forces-friendly environment for its employees.
The ERS encourages employers to support defence and inspire others to do the same. The scheme encompasses bronze, silver and gold awards for employer organisations that pledge, demonstrate or advocate support to defence and the armed forces community, and align their values with the Armed Forces Covenant.

In 2022, Expleo signed the Armed Forces Covenant and joined the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme, pledging to become a forces-friendly employer. The company quickly achieved Bronze level status in 2022 and followed this with Silver status in 2023 with the launch of its Reservist Policy. Now it has been awarded gold, in recognition of its cumulative efforts over two years and its recent recruitment campaign designed to attract more veterans to join the business, which will run throughout 2024.
Jonathan Taylor, VP Marine at Expleo, said: “Since signing the Armed Forces Covenant in 2022 we have worked at pace to progress through the levels and achieve the highest level of recognition. Gold signifies that Expleo has successfully embedded a new culture that embraces the benefits of including former members of forces in our teams and values the skills and experience they bring. We’re proud to call ourselves a forces-friendly employer and to see our community of ex-forces employees growing year-on-year.”
Since 2013, thousands of companies have pledged their support to the armed forces community in the UK by signing the covenant and pledging to eliminate disadvantages in the workplace for veterans and service people.
Jonathan added: “We’ve learnt so much through taking part in the ERS, it’s been a great way for us to grow as an organisation. When it comes to veterans we learned that many have valuable experience and years of on-the-job training under their belts, but many don’t have formal qualifications, so we’ve worked with our recruitment team to ensure that their skill sets are recognised in our recruitment process.”
“We’ve also learnt that Reservists and Cadets need reassurance that their employer will support their on-going commitment to the forces, so we developed and launched an employee-facing Reservist Policy, that gives additional leave to those who need to attend training.”
Building a forces-friendly community
Developing the Reservist Policy and improving its recruitment practices are core part of becoming an ‘forces friendly’ employer and one of the key actions the company signed up to under the Covenant, which included a commitment to:
- Recognising the value service leavers and veterans bring to the business
- Supporting reservists, military spouses/partners, cadets and cadet leaders through a flexible leave policy that enables training, deployment or support
- Recognising candidates’ military skills and qualifications in its recruitment and selection process
- Working with the Career Transition Partnership (CTP) to support the employment of service leavers
- Promote Armed Forces Day, Reserves Day, the Poppy Appeal and remembrance activities