Pledge 1%’s #WomenWhoLead series celebrates female leaders who are paving the way for the next generation. While our featured leaders come from a variety of backgrounds and industries, they are united in their efforts to promote equality for all women in the workplace. We’ve asked them to share a bit about their journey to success, as well as lessons they’ve learned along the way.
Sarah Lacy
CEO, ChairmanMe
San Francisco, CA
What is your current role? Briefly describe in 1-2 sentences.
I help underrepresented folks gain equality at work and in life through a results based online learning community
This year’s International Women’s Day theme is “Embrace Equity.” What does this mean to you? How can we build workplaces that are more equitable and inclusive?
You need to solve the problem where it starts: At the first manager promotion level. We’ve developed a dozen+ courses that give everyone real actionable tools to level the playing field at an unfair game. It’s also about intersectionality. There’s too much white women benefitting from equity.
Do you have any mentors or role models who have helped you on your personal journey?
So many!! Marc Andreessen to Ann Lai. I’ve been very fortunate to have a huge number of diverse people help me out!
What’s the best piece of advice you ever received?
Don’t make decisions based on money.
The past few years have brought many new and unprecedented challenges. What keeps you motivated or inspires you to stay optimistic?
I’m changing thousands of underrepresented people’s lives everyday. That’s pretty inspiring!!
Pledge 1% helps companies of all sizes and stages leverage their assets for social good. Why do you think it’s important that companies prioritize social impact? Do you have any specific stories or examples from your work or colleagues you can share?
Everyone with privilege has a duty to pay that forward. For example, we built our new media mastery course to deliver what I spent $50k+ on for just $2k. Our whole mission is using technology to give ANSWERS for folks who aren’t being treated fairly.
If you could describe yourself in one word what would that be and why?
Badass. I break down walls for myself and others fearlessly.
Do you have any unique or useful life hacks to help get through your day?
Not falling for the stories your survival based brain serves you!! Examine if they are true!!
What are you looking forward to this year? Are there any goals (personal or professional), activities, or experiences you are excited about?
I’d love to get my company profitable.
By Amanda Lenaghan, Director of Social Impact, Cruise
Read more: https://getcruise.com/cruiseforgood/
Food insecurity and food waste are connected, worsening –– and impacting the planet
Over 30 million people in the US and ten times as many globally are facing food insecurity. At the same time, food waste in the U.S. is worsening — there were 91 million tons of surplus food in 2021 — contributing significantly to greenhouse gas emissions. In other words, our hunger crisis sits at the intersection of a major sustainability crisis.
Three years ago, Cruise began dedicating a portion of our all-electric, driverless fleet to deliver meals to San Francisco residents in need. Now, as our driverless service expands to new cities across the country, so too will our work to fight food insecurity, and now food waste –– together with Replate.
I’m proud to share that Cruise for Good is teaming up with food rescue platform Replate to tackle these competing challenges head on, through something that’s never been done before: a first-of-its kind, driverless, all-electric food rescue initiative that we aim to scale nationally.
Bringing a sustainable cycle of food rescue to communities nationwide
Replate is a nonprofit that blends innovation and impact, implementing a food recovery model to mitigate food waste in cities across the country. By connecting organizations that have surplus food to communities facing hunger, Replate helps to increase food access, reduce waste, decrease carbon emissions, and save water.
Our all-electric fleet will integrate with Replate’s existing national network of food recovery partnerships –– picking up extra food from local businesses and name brand restaurants and delivering to local organizations in need –– creating a sustainable cycle of food rescue to fight hunger and waste in the communities we serve.
We’ll start our partnership in San Francisco, and quickly scale our operations as Cruise enters new cities, in line with our pledge to dedicate a portion of our fleet to meet community needs everywhere we drive.
Food insecurity and the unequal impacts of climate change are massive challenges that no one effort can solve. But through this partnership, we aim to support Replate’s capacity to serve communities across the country, and explore how new solutions can address complex problems.
The value of collaborative partnership
The most innovative, authentic and effective social impact programs are forged with organizations who know their communities best. In our experience, nonprofits like Replate, San Francisco-Marin Food Bank, and SF New Deal have the expertise to best understand how we can support our neighbors in need — and push us to truly think outside the box in terms of how we generate impact.
When we started Cruise for Good three years ago we began by delivering meals to home-bound individuals experiencing food insecurity in partnership with San Francisco-Marin Food Bank and SF New Deal. While we’re proud of the 2.4 million meals and 105 tons of CO2 emissions we’ve offset since that time, we’re eager to expand our commitment to serve communities, everywhere we go. This partnership with Replate is that next step. As Replate CEO and Founder, Maen Mahfoud, puts it, our collective goal is to “make a big impact with an even smaller footprint.”
Pledge 1%’s #WomenWhoLead series celebrates female leaders who are paving the way for the next generation. While our featured leaders come from a variety of backgrounds and industries, they are united in their efforts to promote equality for all women in the workplace. We’ve asked them to share a bit about their journey to success, as well as lessons they’ve learned along the way.
Neeti Mehta Shukla
Co-founder & Social Impact Officer, Automation Anywhere
San Jose, CA, USA
What is your current role? Briefly describe in 1-2 sentences.
I am a co-founder at Automation Anywhere and a category creator for the robotic process automation industry. I currently lead our Tech for Good efforts in a dedicated Social Impact Office in three focused areas: empowering non-profits with the advantages of automation for better productivity, technology upskilling and reskilling for marginalized socio-economic groups with little opportunity to learn a “future of work” technology; community investment through volunteer hours and funding. I head uplift efforts for the women in our company.
This year’s International Women’s Day theme is “Embrace Equity.” What does this mean to you? How can we build workplaces that are more equitable and inclusive?
Much of what we do as a company, whether it’s our business side or our social impact side, is making RPA, a key AI-based business automation tool, and associated training and certification, equally accessible to everyone, regardless of where they are in the world or their socio-economic circumstances. The power of the kind of intelligent automation that people with no or little coding experience can use is that it levels the playing field for future job search.
95% of people will work with a bot in the not-so-distant future, so why not upskill now? Our efforts focus on those NGOs in economically challenged global regions who offer uplift to groups often excluded from opportunities to learn fast-developing technologies and skills essential for future income security.
Organizations and leaders should integrate key performance indicators to include strides made to become more inclusive, more equitable and more empathetic in all they do. The leadership team is also tasked with seeing how better to use this moment in time, where AI-based automation has developed, to work towards a more equitable society. We can help bridge the skills and individual wealth gaps that will be created by future technology jobs.
Our Women’s Empowerment Circle aims to support women in a very competitive, innovative and hypergrowth culture by providing support, exposure, development and learning to foster leadership and career growth, and unconscious bias awareness training to help our company embrace equity.
Do you have any mentors or role models who have helped you on your personal journey?
On the one hand, I certainly had mentors who supported and empowered me and stretched my abilities to take on challenges, which was so important. On the other hand, I wish I had additional role models who were more like me as I progressed into executive levels. Both circumstances definitely guided my personal journey.
Growing up in an entrepreneurial household in Chennai, India, I was surrounded by people who believed in me. My parents brought me up to believe I could do anything.
My husband Mihir—with whom I co-founded Automation Anywhere and work together with every day—is both my mentor and my hardest taskmaster. He can often spot the potential in me before I can. Let me share an anecdote. As both a tech-lover and a consumer-behavior expert, I enjoy creating unusual and compelling experiences for our customers. At a tech event once, Mihir looked at me and asked, “Wouldn’t it be great if we could have customers understand automation on the floor of an event within 20 minutes?” He knew I would accept the challenge and thrive at it. I created a curated use-case experience and a platform of delivery for prospects from any industry or any department–even for those with no degree or experience in coding—to get a taste of automation and its easy accessibility in 20 minutes. To date, it is one of the most unique and talked about in-person, digital experiences in our industry.
Earlier in my career, and even now, women leaders in executive positions or in the C-suite are uncommon. Men have a large selection of C-level executives to model themselves after or learn from, whether from a management, leadership, family or industry perspective. As a woman entrepreneur in the tech space, an immigrant and brown, and who wanted or had multiple children, it was hard to find a woman mentor in a similar position. There weren’t many I could look at and say, “I want to be just like her, because she’s just like me.”
I aspire to change this by empowering women professionals and colleagues and being a mentor myself. The more of us there are, the greater the chances a young girl somewhere will find inspiration and courage to be like one of us—and hopefully much more, to find a mentor she feels connected with, and knows she is not alone. Having said that, I have so many women, too many to name, who have helped me over the years—mentored, advised and motivated me—but most importantly gave me so much of their time and wisdom.
What’s the best piece of advice you ever received?
“Well-behaved women rarely make history.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
The past few years have brought many new and unprecedented challenges. What keeps you motivated or inspires you to stay optimistic?
What inspires me is we were able to help both our customers and social impact partners create extraordinary and innovative responses to the unexpected chaos in the last few years. What has emerged on the other side of these efforts is a re-imagined future that is much better for their businesses, their industry and the world than what they had several years ago. Some examples follow.
Automation Anywhere became the pandemic-era ally of the UK’s NHS with a breakthrough technology, the Oxygen Bot, that monitored oxygen flow to ventilators. Overburdened workers and hospitals of the NHS welcomed this technology as a frontline partner that not only helped them work faster and smarter during the pandemic but saved hundreds of lives and returned thousands of hours for higher level work. This first bot gave the NHS the courage to trial other automations across dozens of NHS entities the following year. By 2023, automations will repurpose 1 million hours to allow staff more time with patients, much less time on administration, and deliver even better care.
More recently, the nonprofit Center for Humanitarian Technology and Automation Anywhere built a bot that gives overburdened volunteers at Ukrainian agency Step with Hope more time for their highest priority—face-to-face human relief efforts with hundreds of people who have been forced to flee their homes due to violent conflict. Ensuring the completion, accuracy and speed of online relief request processing, the bot processed 17,500 requests for relief aid from 14,000+ Ukrainians in its first 10 weeks. The bot saved staff 400 hours of processing time in the first six weeks of its operation, allowing them that much more time to spend addressing the complex challenges of the displaced that only another human can help resolve.
What motivates me is knowing that there is so much more we can do and seeing the impact our technology can make for non-profits and society as a whole.
Pledge 1% helps companies of all sizes and stages leverage their assets for social good. Why do you think it’s important that companies prioritize social impact? Do you have any specific stories or examples from your work or colleagues you can share?
We have always believed that social impact is core to our mission, strategy and creates external and internal value for our company. Most importantly it is the right thing to do.
It has always been a part of our sense of purpose and speaks to our external stakeholders (our customers and our governments for example) about how Automation Anywhere acts as a world citizen. Our Social Impact Office is only a year old (granted our social impact efforts extend back to our Day 1) but when I consider the communities and social impact partners we’ve touched and list what we’ve done beyond making money, it is powerful: Save lives; raise people’s standard of living (thereby boosting local economies); preserve community culture and family structure; find meaningful and gainful employment; break generational cycles of poverty and help others survive displacement in war zones. That list goes beyond showing good intentions and demonstrates that we have the vision and capabilities to face challenges both business and social impact-related and maintain strong performance in both.
Internally, we noticed an immediate uptick in positive employee feedback literally minutes after we announced our Volunteer Time Off program at the Company All Hands and since then, any time after we produce giveback events. Don’t we all want our employees to feel “satisfied” “humbled” “honored” and “blessed” after they volunteer?
Pledge 1% has been instrumental in driving both the intent and the blueprints to affect this change in organizations. When companies integrate social impact into their culture and way of doing business it is a win-win for all.
Shareable stories: Our impact work is intentional and focused on reskilling endeavors and increasing NGO productivity.
Here is an example of how we impact individuals. We launched an RPA curriculum at a PeopleShores Center of Excellence (COE) in Clarksdale, Mississippi, where more than one-third of the citizens live in poverty. PeopleShores is a Public Benefit Corporation (PBC) that brings tech reskilling and jobs to economically challenged U.S. communities. Clarksdale resident Sharlett Keaton says her life changed after she became certified in Automation Anywhere and was named the lead of the PeopleShores RPA team, overseeing bot development for local and national businesses clients. One of Sharlett’s bots helped the state of Mississippi file over 20,000 unemployment claims daily, keeping payments flowing to needy families during the pandemic. Our training “paid it forward” to Sharlett, who continues to advance her career in this field. Sharlett, in turn, has already made a huge impact, by helping thousands of people in her own community stay economically afloat during COVID.
And stories of our impact on a larger scale.
Take leriba.ai, an Intelligent Automation solutions and service provider with a skills development arm. With an aspirational goal to train a million African women in RPA skills, leriba.ai remotely trained 700 women from across South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria in Automation Anywhere RPA. Post-training, more than 400 women quickly found new or better work, many as RPA developers at major banks or private companies.
Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) organization RuralShores hires and trains educated youth from impoverished farming backgrounds in rural Indian states. “40-45% of rural Indian youth migrate to large cities and spend all their earnings on living expenses while becoming disconnected from their families,” says Colonel Ravi Gupta, CEO, RuralShores. “So far, we have skilled more than 26,000 and employed 16,000 at their doorsteps in rural India, preserving the village ecosystem and prompting greater family savings. Automation technology is saving us from becoming obsolete.”
We and the NHS continue to share a deep commitment to care that the pandemic first inspired. Our Social Impact Office has recently spearheaded a joint whitepaper series with the Northampton General Hospital (NGH) NHS Trust Automation Accelerator Programme (the NHS hub for automation information and knowledge) to openly share the NHS’ automation journey with the world. The series is a blueprint for healthcare systems and public sectors planetwide, including those of less affluent nations, on how they can enter the 21st century in days rather than years, with intelligent automation. We focus specifically on the kinds of operations that will help hospitals and staff adapt to challenges faster and save more lives post-COVID.
If you could describe yourself in one word what would that be and why?
“Woman,” because I wear many hats: founder, impact officer, mom, sister, wife, leader, citizen, mentor and friend. I love all of them.
Do you have any unique or useful life hacks to help get through your day?
“Women can, must and will” and “Do it well and do it right.”
Do you have any go-to apps or tools use love to use?
I love Excel!!! Chocolate and Excel are some of the greatest inventions of human-kind!
What are you looking forward to this year? Are there any goals (personal or professional), activities, or experiences you are excited about?
Our work on big challenges has yielded notable impact in 2022. We are already working on our engagement with the World Economic Forum and scalability challenges for 2023. I’m excited about upcoming upskilling/reskilling programs for Ukrainian refugees and also one closer to home, for youth from East Palo Alto. We are working on many such partnerships, and I also hope to impact other large scale health systems like the NHS.
On a personal note, I missed traveling during the Pandemic and so hope to see more of the world in 2023. I hope to visit Tanzania for the first time this year.
Pledge 1%’s #WomenWhoLead series celebrates female leaders who are paving the way for the next generation. While our featured leaders come from a variety of backgrounds and industries, they are united in their efforts to promote equality for all women in the workplace. We’ve asked them to share a bit about their journey to success, as well as lessons they’ve learned along the way.
Molly Trerotola
VP of Social Impact, ShoppingGives
Brooklyn, NY, USA
What is your current role? Briefly describe in 1-2 sentences.
In my leadership role at ShoppingGives, I work with dozens of retail brands and nonprofits of all sizes to launch Social Impact partnerships collaborations in fundraising cause marketing campaigns. ShoppingGives is a tech-for-good ecomm platform that facilitates impactful fundraising campaigns, helping brands give to nonprofits.
This year’s International Women’s Day theme is “Embrace Equity.” What does this mean to you? How can we build workplaces that are more equitable and inclusive?
To me, “Embracing Equity” means actively working to ensure that everyone, regardless of their background or identity, has fair and equal access to opportunities, resources, and power. This involves challenging systems and structures that perpetuate inequality and advocating for policies and practices that promote equity and inclusion. Embracing equity means striving for a world where everyone has the opportunity to thrive and reach their full potential, and recognizing that we all have a role to play in making that vision a reality.
Building equitable and inclusive workplaces requires a deliberate and ongoing effort to create an environment that values diversity, promotes inclusion, and addresses systemic biases and barriers. We can make progress towards more equitable and inclusive workplaces by: Educating ourselves on the impact of unconscious biases and how they can manifest in the workplace; establishing policies and practices that promote fairness and equal opportunity; fostering an environment of belonging; regularly measuring progress towards equity and inclusion goals; and holding ourselves accountable for advancing these efforts. By taking these steps and committing to ongoing efforts, workplaces can become more equitable, inclusive, and supportive of all employees.
Do you have any mentors or role models who have helped you on your personal journey?
Mentors are important because they can offer guidance, support, and wisdom, and are a crucial part of personal and professional growth. I’ve been lucky to have a variety of mentors: bosses, coworkers, life coaches, and even my sister. Each have helped me chip away goals, overcome barriers, and reach (or get close to) my full potential.
What’s the best piece of advice you ever received?
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards.” Don’t get hung up on not knowing the future. Learn from the past to make smarter decisions, and move forward with the best information you have on hand.
The past few years have brought many new and unprecedented challenges. What keeps you motivated or inspires you to stay optimistic?
What has kept me motivated and inspired during the last few years is working in social impact and a sense of purpose and meaning. Staying connected to what matters most through my work, surrounding myself with a supportive personal and professional community of individuals with similar values, (and celebrating small victories), helps me stay optimistic during turbulent times.
Pledge 1% helps companies of all sizes and stages leverage their assets for social good. Why do you think it’s important that companies prioritize social impact? Do you have any specific stories or examples from your work or colleagues you can share?
Companies play a significant role in shaping the world we live in. They have tremendous power and influence, and the decisions they make can have far-reaching effects on society and the environment. Prioritizing social impact means taking responsibility for these effects and working to ensure that they are positive and sustainable.
Companies should prioritize social impact because it’s good for business: Consumers are increasingly looking to support companies that align with their values and are making a positive impact in the world. It’s also the right thing to do. As members of society, companies have a responsibility to contribute to the greater good. Finally, it can drive innovation. Prioritizing social impact can drive innovation by spurring companies to develop new solutions and technologies that address social and environmental challenges.
Ultimately, prioritizing social impact is about recognizing the massive role companies play in creating a better world.
If you could describe yourself in one word what would that be and why?
(Proud) Generalist. In a society that rewards specialists, I’ve found most success in having a broad range of knowledge, skills, and perspectives across multiple areas, which has made me a valuable asset in the social impact start-up world. Don’t be afraid of being a generalist.
Do you have any unique or useful life hacks to help get through your day?
My newest and most impactful hack: No phone in bed. While this isn’t necessarily a professional tool, ending my day and starting my day screen free (at least for the first several minutes) has had a positive impact on my energy level and focus.
Do you have any go-to apps or tools use love to use?
Asana for project management, and, more recently, AI programs like ChatGPT. These are revolutionizing the way we work — and very very quickly.
What are you looking forward to this year? Are there any goals (personal or professional), activities, or experiences you are excited about?
I’m thrilled to be working with incredible nonprofits and retailers to build the future of ShoppingGives. Without revealing too much, we’re investing in products and programs that guarantee social impact as a critical part of any brand’s business model.
Pledge 1%’s #WomenWhoLead series celebrates female leaders who are paving the way for the next generation. While our featured leaders come from a variety of backgrounds and industries, they are united in their efforts to promote equality for all women in the workplace. We’ve asked them to share a bit about their journey to success, as well as lessons they’ve learned along the way.
Noemí Jiménez
Cofounder + Partner, qb.
Austin, Texas, USA
What is your current role? Briefly describe in 1-2 sentences.
I’m one of two founders of qb., which is a full service women-owned ESG strategy and communications firm with an entirely remote workforce.
This year’s International Women’s Day theme is “Embrace Equity.” What does this mean to you? How can we build workplaces that are more equitable and inclusive?
Equity to me necessitates humility – embracing the fact that we are in a constant state of learning, and we will make mistakes. It means being open to listening and taking the time to understand what people need to participate, contribute and thrive in our world. In order to build more equitable workplaces, we have to be flexible, empathetic and open to change.
Do you have any mentors or role models who have helped you on your personal journey?
Yes – so many but one that immediately comes to mind is Karla Gallardo, co-founder of Cuyana. Karla is an advisor to qb., and she has helped provide perspective of what it looks like to build a thriving, responsible business and leading with authenticity in her personal brand, while also creating and nurturing a family.
What’s the best piece of advice you ever received?
Ask yourself whether you’re going for a lifestyle business or building an empire, and then plan your growth accordingly.
The past few years have brought many new and unprecedented challenges. What keeps you motivated or inspires you to stay optimistic?
Heightened consumer awareness and continued appetite for ESG, particularly from financial institutions and impact investors. We’re at an inflection point putting profits over people is becoming less and less feasible.
Pledge 1% helps companies of all sizes and stages leverage their assets for social good. Why do you think it’s important that companies prioritize social impact? Do you have any specific stories or examples from your work or colleagues you can share?
Companies that do not prioritize social impact (especially among their own human capital), are at risk of a brain drain, degrading their social license to operate, and ultimately losing market share.
If you could describe yourself in one word what would that be and why?
Empathetic – I care very much about making sure everyone feels heard. I truly believe everyone has something to bring to the table and I work really hard to make sure our partners and our own team members feel they can express themselves, and bring their whole selves to me without judgement and to be acknowledged and receive support. Our own bees are our most important stakeholder, and I want to make sure they feel that every day.
Do you have any unique or useful life hacks to help get through your day?
First is to set a realistic number of goals for the day (~1-3) – the top priority items the night before and let go of the rest of the to do list. This helps with a sense of accomplishment and reduces anxiety. second is time blocking – planning the day with time held to accomplish your goals (including blocking time for lunch or responding to emails when you’re least productive – for some it’s the morning, and for others the evening). Do what works for you!
Do you have any go-to apps or tools use love to use?
I like my pen and paper best
What are you looking forward to this year? Are there any goals (personal or professional), activities, or experiences you are excited about?
I just spoke at GreenBiz and that was a big goal of mine so excited to have done that and looking forward to more speaking roles this year!
Is there anything else you’d like to share?
While building my business, I also made 2 humans and it has been such a whirlwind – excited for the opportunity to be featured as the path has certainly not been linear. It’s nice to have a moment to reflect on all the accomplishments and center gratitude and pride!
Study.com: Keys to the Classroom
Keys to the Classroom is an education initiative created by Study.com to help combat the teacher shortage across the nation and diversify America’s teacher pipeline. This article discusses how they are addressing the crisis with the help of 25+ institutions.
Keys to the Classroom: Where did we start?
Research shows that students of color experience many positive benefits when they have at least one same race/ethnicity/identity teacher. These benefits come in terms of higher-performing academic outcomes, self-esteem, high school graduation rates, college persistence and more. We also know that state credentialing exams for aspiring educators of color can be one of the biggest barriers to becoming teachers.
In 2021, we created our educational initiative Keys to the Classroom to directly address these issues and to help aspiring educators pass their tests and start teaching. Through Keys to the Classroom, we donate a year of access to our online courses to ensure educators from diverse backgrounds have everything they need to succeed.
Results to date:
Since we launched Keys to the Classroom a year ago, we have built partnerships in 20 states across the country. In addition to growing this new community, we have also seen the following accomplishments:
- 25 total programs to date and growing (TNTP, Teach.org, Tennessee GYO, Vt NEA, Center for Black Educator Development, and many more)
- 50% of recipients identify as people of color.
- 1/3 identify as African American (5x higher than the national teaching corps representation at 7%!)
- More than 60% identify as first-generation students
- Recently won Fast Company Most Innovative CSR Initiative
Some of our current partners
What we’re doing now?
Since starting the initiative, we have built a coalition of over 25 institutions (including State DOE’s/Grow Your Own programs, Unions, National nonprofits, MSI’s, etc.) to target donations of our teacher test prep materials and share knowledge about what tools are working.
We are building community, collecting data and in conversation about– with a specific focus on alternative educator pathways, especially those that focus specifically on building a more diverse teacher pipeline.
We are interested in growing this program and would love to hear your thoughts.
Originally posted on Justworks.com
Justworks’ Impact Update: People Powered. Powering People.
Introduction from Our President and CEO
All of us at Justworks feel that we have a special company with the potential to make entrepreneurship accessible for all.
We sum up our approach to Impact as ‘People Powered. Powering People.’ This focus on people runs through what we do, both for Justworkers and for our customers.
Our customers are mostly modern entrepreneurs. In fact, approximately over 70% of the people using Justworks today were born after 1980. We are at the front of the curve on a massive shift in workforce preferences and behaviors. Our customers want products that show off their values and a partner who takes a stand on important issues.
They also look to us to lead by example—from how we foster a culture of belonging and acceptance, to how we provide development opportunities for employees and adopt sound business practices.
As we look ahead to the future, we seek to lead with compassion and integrity to create more opportunities for more people—as we stand at the side of the entrepreneurs and small businesses who contribute so much to our economy and society.
-Mike Seckler, Justworks President and CEO
This is Justworks, Inc.’s (‘Justworks’) inaugural Impact Update and it is meant to serve as a baseline for the future. Unless otherwise stated, the reporting period for this report is Justworks’ fiscal year 2022 (i.e., June 1, 2021–May 31, 2022). When we are referring to this period we may state it as FY22. If we refer to the year 2022, we are referencing the calendar year. The data in this report is not assured by a third party.
Impact Highlights
Our Approach: People Powered.
Our people power our business. We aim to foster an inclusive culture of belonging in which Justworkers can thrive, grow and realize their potential.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Belonging: Our DEIB mission is to help every Justworker realize their full potential. Justworks is a place where no matter what you believe in, what you look like, or where you come from, you can apply yourself, embrace our values, and grow both as a professional and as a human being.
Employee Engagement and Development: Our mission is to help people realize their potential—and this applies as much to our own employees as to our customers. Our focus is on hiring, developing and retaining great people.
Employee Health and Wellbeing: We believe supporting our employees’ health and wellbeing is central to helping our employees realize their potential.
Our Total Rewards Philosophy: We foster belonging and take care of our employees as reflected in our Total Rewards Philosophy, which covers our approach to pay and having a stake in company ownership, and our comprehensive package of benefits.
Powering People.
We believe our people are driven by our mission to help entrepreneurs and businesses grow with confidence. These businesses create jobs, strengthen communities and spur innovation. They are an important part of our economy and our society. Through our social impact programs, we aim to create more equitable access to entrepreneurship. This is good for our business and good for the world.
Advocating for Our Customers: We focus on issues that relate to our mission to break down the barriers to entrepreneurship, our DEIB efforts, and our sustainability goals. We also engage on issues that directly impact the way in which our customers operate and the lives of the 160,000 worksite employees we serve.
Just Thrive: supporting underrepresented founders: The Just Thrive program supports underrepresented founders who are Justworks customers by providing more equitable access to the basic business infrastructure needed to get up and running.
Jusworks.org: We set up our business to help other entrepreneurs to succeed. Through our Justworks.org program, we are reaching out beyond our own customer base to help break down barriers to access to entrepreneurship. We are specifically focused on supporting the growth of Minority and Woman Owned Enterprises (MWBE)
How We Do Business.
How we operate provides strong foundations for our business, from ensuring digital security and data privacy to using energy efficiently, and applying high ethical standards.
Climate and energy: As we grow at Justworks, we plan to continue exploring how we can improve our impact on climate change. We aim to continue to evaluate our processes and policies, analyze our relevant business activities, and work to find ways to lower our Greenhouse Gas emissions(GHG).
Our FY22 GHG footprint includes the Justworks office located in New York City, New York. Where data was not available, the calculation was based on estimates, as noted in the report.Justworks’ emissions were calculated following the guidance of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol). Except as otherwise noted in the report, industry-standard estimates based on spend have been applied to calculate all Scope 2 and Scope 3 categories. None of the GHG emissions data cited in the report have been verified, assured, or audited by a third party.
For more details on our GHG emissions and assumptions embedded within our calculations, please see the Climate and Enegey section in our report.
Digital Security and Privacy Our objectives for data privacy are to fulfill our obligations as a co-employer in the collection, use, and safeguarding of sensitive information, and to know how to respond (including with respect to disclosure obligations) in accordance with applicable laws and regulations.
Business Ethics: Business ethics principles govern how our employees interact with each other, customers, vendors and other third parties. For us, it’s not just about complying with the rules, but also approaching each situation with our COGIS values and ethical lens as our anchor.
Access the full impact report here.
Pledge 1%’s #WomenWhoLead series celebrates female leaders who are paving the way for the next generation. While our featured leaders come from a variety of backgrounds and industries, they are united in their efforts to promote equality for all women in the workplace. We’ve asked them to share a bit about their journey to success, as well as lessons they’ve learned along the way.
Kathleen Egan
CEO & Co-Founder, Ecomedes
San Francisco, CA
What is your current role? Briefly describe in 1-2 sentences.
I’m the CEO which includes obsessing over driving value to our customers, growing an amazing team, and managing our HR/finances/funding. I am a passionate advocate for a sustainable future where impact-aware B2B purchase power helps save the planet.
This year’s International Women’s Day theme is “Embrace Equity.” What does this mean to you? How can we build workplaces that are more equitable and inclusive?
Equity means that everyone is heard. Different team members have different ways of communicating and different topics where they are more comfortable sharing. It is my job to be sure that every person on our team has a forum to be heard and feels that their input is important, and that they are important. Equity also means fairness when it comes to compensation, promotion, assignments, and any other decision.
We can build more equitable and inclusive workplaces by 1) realize that it takes a diverse team to win. 2) embrace differences as competitive advantage and abandon assumptions about the look/color/gender/age for a role. 3) listen as much as possible. 4) don’t be afraid to fail, keep improving.
Do you have any mentors or role models who have helped you on your personal journey?
Yvon Chouinard is one of my all time favorite founders and CEOs. His philosophy changed both apparel and the conservation. And he had a lot of fun doing it. One of my early bosses, Bruce was a critical influencer on me and continues to be a source of advice. I also have two investors who are very important mentors and coaches. I’m constantly on the hunt to add a new mentor or to be a mentor.
What’s the best piece of advice you ever received?
Don’t let a win go to your head or let a loss get to your heart.
The past few years have brought many new and unprecedented challenges. What keeps you motivated or inspires you to stay optimistic?
Our work for a sustainable future and our team keep me motivated!
Pledge 1% helps companies of all sizes and stages leverage their assets for social good. Why do you think it’s important that companies prioritize social impact? Do you have any specific stories or examples from your work or colleagues you can share?
From my perspective, the days of mono-focus on profit are over. Every business needs to grow in a way that enriches people, planet, and profit for the long term. This is not universally accepted yet but regulations and stakeholders are moving it in the right direction.
If you could describe yourself in one word what would that be and why?
Direct – I like to cut to the chase.
Do you have any unique or useful life hacks to help get through your day?
FUN – I try to keep it fun and my adorable husband and 8-year-old son help a lot! If I can get a break in the day to get in the water and surf or get into the woods to ski, it is a good day! The shift from laptop and zoom to the natural world helps to reset my brain and increase productivity.
Do you have any go-to apps or tools use love to use?
Apple Podcasts – there is so much amazing info out there. I always listen to these when I’m working out or biking home from dropping off JJ at school.
What are you looking forward to this year? Are there any goals (personal or professional), activities, or experiences you are excited about?
First – I’m very excited for our next stage of growth. We passed $2M in ARR which is a huge milestone for our team. I’m excited to add some capacity to the team (and me) becuase we have been very capitally efficient but now it’s time to grow!
Second – I’m excited for a big family trip to AK! This was a bucket list trip for my Mom and Dad. My Dad passed away so my mom is taking 14 of us on a 2 week trip to Denali and cruise to see ocean wild life.
Originally posted on The Collab Catalyst
Pledge 1% Update: SEETurtles.org
The Collab Catalyst is still a very new company, but it was important to establish our values and the accountability for how we embody them early. One of our core values is always give back As such, I have pledged to donate 1% of our net profit and 1% of our time towards causes that are important to us.
This month, we made our first donation to an organization called SEETurtles.
SEETurtles connects people with sea turtles in meaningful, personal and, memorable ways. They help the sea turtle community connect, grow, and thrive by supporting community-based conservation efforts. Their impact is impressive:
They have saved more than 9 million turtle hatchlings at more than 60 nesting beach conservation projects in 25 countries across Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia, and Africa. We have provided more than 200 grants to date, totaling more than US $900,000 in funding.
More than 1,500 people have visited turtle projects, supporting conservation and local communities. More than 500 volunteers have completed more than 5,000 work shifts at turtle projects.
We have generated more than US $1 Million in benefits for turtle conservation and local communities through tours, donations, and in-kind services.
To learn more about their extraordinary work, visit their website.