One week's notice. That was the amount of time given to Alex Wynn, a Principal Compensation Associate in Human Resources, when he was deployed on active duty and had to relocate far from home to serve in the Texas Army National Guard.

“I remember it was a Monday afternoon when I got the call. My commander gave me a week to pack up my life,” says Wynn. “We didn’t know if we would be away for a month or three months. We didn't know where we were going, or what we would be doing.”

The only thing for certain was the uncertainty. That didn’t intimidate Alex, however. Initially, Alex was motivated to join the Texas Army National Guard during his self-described “quarter-life crisis.” Alex was craving a sense of purpose and adventure and he knew serving his country through the Army would satisfy both needs.

“Four years ago, I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do with my life. I joined the consulting world immediately after college…I kept coming back to the idea of pursuing the military route and serving my country. In my mid-20s was when I came to the realization I wanted to lead people and have a positive impact on people’s lives.”

Alex’s call of duty to join the Reserves led to another major life moment – two years into his time with the Texas Army National Guard, Alex joined Capital One. Capital One proudly supports associates in fulfilling their military obligations including granting paid leave for military training and active duty. For full-time exempt and non-exempt U.S. associates ordered to Active Duty, Capital One will pay up to eight weeks of leave at 100% of pay for leave related to Active Duty. Each fiscal year (between 10/1 and 9/30), Capital One also pays for eight weeks of training leave paid at 100%. Roughly 3.3 percent of U.S. associates report service as active military or veterans. 

Capital One recognizes that commitments to training and active duty take precedence, so the company actively provides thoughtful benefits to associates and their families who continue to serve in the military. Since Alex’s active duty was longer than eight weeks, Capital One also provided a pay differential between his military salary and his Capital One salary upon his return to Capital One for the remaining time he was on leave. 

Alex is proud of how he has grown in the last four years. Both of Alex’s military and career life milestones have helped him grow personally and professionally. Specifically, Alex’s military skills have directly translated to his role at Capital One. Alex was able to develop his presentation skills, influencing ability, decision-making, resource prioritization – just to name a few.

“Our military service members essentially live in two worlds between being associates and being real-life superheroes,” says Mike Long, Managing Vice President of Product Management at Capital One. Mike is also the Accountable Executive of Capital One’s Military Business Resource Group, Salute. “The best way we can honor them is by ensuring the transition between civilian and military life is easy and that we are giving as much a positive impact in their lives, and their families’ lives, as they are on our country.” 

Supporting Customers Serving In the Military

Beyond supporting current military associates, Capital One has long honored veterans, active military personnel and their families as associates, community members and customers. For example, through the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA), the company provides financial relief and protections to customers who are eligible military personnel serving on active duty. We are committed to both the letter and spirit of the SCRA, including the provision of benefits and protections above and beyond what is required under the SCRA in certain situations. Capital One also understands that active duty service members who are deployed often have unique communication challenges, so we offer multiple channels of communication. 

Together with Capital One’s Business Resource Group (BRG) Salute, the company enables military, military spouses and veteran associates to thrive through associate engagement, active duty transition, recruiting, community engagement and reserve support. That includes engaging with military organizations like the nonprofit World T.E.A.M. Sport, which Capital One has sponsored since 2013 where associates either take part in the three-day Face of America cycling event or help to staff water stations along the route. More recently, Capital One associates also donated more than 4,000 volunteer hours to read stories out loud to children alongside United Through Reading.