Topic: Employee engagement and culture

Impact Next: An interview with PNC’s Sally McCrady

Posted on by Brianna Provenzano

At a moment of growing inequality and division, who is advancing the vanguard of economic and social progress to bolster our most vulnerable communities? Whose work is fostering the inclusive growth that ensures every individual thrives? Who will set the ambitious standards that mobilize whole industries, challenging their peers to reach new altitudes of social impact? 

In 2024, Impact Next — a new editorial flagship series from NationSwell — will spotlight the standard-bearing corporate social responsibility and impact leaders, entrepreneurs, experts, and philanthropists whose catalytic work has the potential to shape the landscape of progress amid urgent need for social and economic action.

For this installment, NationSwell interviewed Sally McCrady — Chair and President of the PNC Foundation.

Greg Behrman, CEO and Founder, NationSwell: What brought you to this field? Was there anything formative or foundational that galvanized your commitment to driving social and economic progress?

Sally McCrady, Chair and President of the PNC Foundation: Like anything, probably a little bit of luck and being in the right place at the right time. 

I’ve been at PNC for 26 years now, and I started right out of graduate school. I really wanted to work for a nonprofit, and never thought I would be saying someday I’ve been at a bank for 26 years. But I got a terrific opportunity at PNC to start doing research in support of our Community Development Banking group, which felt like a good first step, and I became really interested in the role that banks can play in terms of community development. 

From there, I went into our Compliance group where I did work for the Community Reinvestment Act, which I’m happy to say PNC has had an outstanding rating under for the last 40 years. In September of 2003, PNC announced a program called PNC Grow Up Great, and I was immediately drawn to its mission and the importance of early childhood education. Twenty years later and here I am — working not only on our Grow Up Great program, but also overseeing PNC’s charitable giving.

Behrman, NationSwell: What do you think is different about how PNC approaches its philanthropic work and community investment? 

McCrady, PNC: To me, the piece that’s always made our philanthropy impactful and interesting is that we are very committed to making decisions locally. To give some context, when PNC Grow Up Great launched in 2004, PNC operated in 12 markets — we had never really done anything where everybody had a similar focus. Fast forward 20 years, and we’re now in 54 markets. 

What’s been interesting, and what’s allowed Grow Up Great and our philanthropy in general to be successful, is that we have never stepped away from the local approach to philanthropy. So while Grow Up Great has a common mission, and we are all focused on supporting high-quality early childhood education, that looks a little bit different in each one of our markets because we know that our local markets and our employees there, know the needs; they know the nonprofits that can have the greatest impact, they really take the lead and make the decisions locally, and that’s been very successful for us.

Behrman, NationSwell: Is there a signature social or economic project or initiative you’re currently overseeing that you’d like to spotlight during our discussion?

McCrady, PNC:  One of the things I treasure most about Grow up Great is our strategic focus on one common social issue — early childhood education —. What that’s allowed us to do, not only at the corporate level, where we have a couple of partnerships that are national in scope, but also at the local level, is build relationships that, in many cases, have spanned the full 20 years. 

One of my favorite initiatives that we bring into all of our markets now is called Be My Neighbor Days. Across the country, we’re partnering with Fred Rogers Productions, a local PBS station, and a number of community partners for a community day with all sorts of different activities for families and their younger children to really think about how they can be great neighbors. They might be writing, they might be putting packages together for local senior communities, but everything is done with the importance of kindness in mind.

Another partnership that’s been amazing to work with is DonorsChoose, which is a platform where citizen donors can go online and help fulfill a teacher’s request, since we know they are still spending out of their own pockets for things they want to utilize in their classrooms. 

Several years ago, when we first worked with DonorsChoose, the platform was not open to Head Start programs, which are one of our biggest partners since the inception of Grow Up Great. We’ve been able to work with DonorsChoose to re-envision the platform. And, with our committed funding, DonorsChoose now serves Head Start programs across the country. We’re so proud of this investment, because I can’t think of any educators that need it more than our Head Start teachers.

Behrman, NationSwell: Is there anything else that you might want to lift up in terms of the ambition of your work, or things that you feel like are particularly innovative that you’re pushing on right now?

McCrady, PNC: I’ll highlight our employee volunteerism program also, which is a little bit different than other corporate programs out there. First, our employees receive 40 hours of paid time off each year to volunteer. So one of the programs we can volunteer for is Grow Up Great, and we’ve had 1.1 million hours in support of early childhood education through the program. Second, I think volunteers are the heart and soul of our program, and it’s awesome to see how engaged our employees get. It’s so rewarding to support our philanthropic giving with employee volunteerism, and to support our employee volunteerism with philanthropic giving.

Behrman, NationSwell: People often talk about integrating employee giving, and philanthropy more broadly, into their business strategies. Are there connection points there with the work that you’re doing?

McCrady, PNC: We have a dedicated skills-based volunteerism program where we work with a small group of nonprofits in several of our markets to help address a particular issue they’re hoping to solve. For about 16 weeks, our employees and nonprofit partners work together to focus on that one problem. We’ve helped organizations with IT, job descriptions and overall HR strategies, we’ve supported landscaping and marketing needs, and we’ve helped Head Start programs streamline enrollment and translate documents into multiple languages.

We also encourage our nonprofit partners to think broadly about how they can use the experience and different skill sets of thousands of PNC employees to make a difference. So every day, we have opportunities to make those connections and help create long-term success. 

The more we’ve learned about early childhood education and the positive impact it has on a child’s lifetime trajectory, the more we’re convinced it’s the place where we could really make a difference. And it wasn’t already crowded with a lot of voices — we felt like it was an area where we could really make a difference and, probably most importantly to who we are as a bank, there was a ton of economic research coming out that explained the value of long-term investment.

Behrman, NationSwell: Is there an approach to your leadership that you would say has allowed you to drive impact and be successful in the way you have?

McCrady, PNC: First and foremost, none of this would be possible without our executive leadership support and active engagement in driving the importance of our community work. 

Another approach that has served me well over time is just having the utmost respect for my colleagues across the markets, and being such a huge fan of what they’re doing and the organizations that they choose to support. The different work they’re doing might not seem like a fit with the project we’re trying to do at first, but then when you understand the local nuances, it makes sense. So I think it’s just being open to new ideas, how things might look a little different in every city where we operate. And that’s OK, because again, our colleagues understand the community and what they’re trying to accomplish.

Behrman, NationSwell: What are some of the defining trends you’re seeing right now in community impact or corporate philanthropy? 

McCrady, PNC: From a corporate philanthropy standpoint, one thing that’s really important in this moment is around employee engagement and just thinking about how all of our workplaces have changed dramatically over the last four or so years. One area we focus on a lot is making sure our employees understand what we’re doing in the community and have an opportunity to learn and engage in the impactful work we do. 

For the last several years, one of my favorite things that we do to engage our employees is provide a DonorsChoose gift code around the holidays and let them go online and choose a project to support that speaks to them. So I think a lot of it is the importance of creating and enforcing PNC’s culture — really just tying everything back to the employee experience.

Behrman, NationSwell: Of the social or economic leaders who perform a similar function to yours at peer organizations, whose work inspires you, and who do you hold in high esteem?

McCrady, PNC: I’m following Mackenzie Scott and all of the decisions that she and her brilliant team have made in the last several years. It’s so interesting to see the nonprofits they select, and in so many cases they’re familiar organizations that we have worked with in a small way. I’m beyond excited to see the recognition and elevation into the national limelight, because in many cases they’re small local nonprofits that would never have these enormous resources to really take their mission to scale. 

I’ll also mention Cathe Dykstra, who runs an organization called Family Scholar House in Louisville, Kentucky. The program is basically a housing education program; the majority of the clients are single moms, but there are also some great dads that have been part of the program as well. The scholars are graduates of high school who want to go on and get higher education – two-year, four-year degrees – and the program provides the stable housing and everything their families need to allow them to achieve their educational goals. It truly breaks the cycle of poverty in one generation, and what’s been awesome to see is that while they have five campuses in Louisville, it’s now spreading across the country. 

Behrman, NationSwell: Could you recommend any insightful resources – maybe a book, report, podcast or article that has significantly influenced your thinking?

McCrady, PNC: A podcast I love and just discovered in its second season is Wiser Than Me by Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

Just this weekend, I listened to an episode featuring Diane von Furstenberg, and she also had Rhea Perlman and Bonnie Raitt as guests — it’s just amazing. The guests are women that are mostly in their 70s, talking about these remarkable careers and what they’ve done philanthropically. It’s just a ton of fun. She ends every podcast by calling her mom and telling her about who she’s just spoken to, and her mom has these wonderful anecdotes or insights that take you by surprise. It’s a wonderful array of women leaders that have accomplished so many things — I find it crazy inspirational every time I listen.

Impact Next: An interview with Adobe’s Amy White

Posted on by Brianna Provenzano

At a moment of growing inequality and division, who is advancing the vanguard of economic and social progress to bolster our most vulnerable communities? Whose work is fostering the inclusive growth that ensures every individual thrives? Who will set the ambitious standards that mobilize whole industries, challenging their peers to reach new altitudes of social impact? 

In 2024, Impact Next — a new editorial flagship series from NationSwell — will spotlight the standard-bearing corporate social responsibility and impact leaders, entrepreneurs, experts, and philanthropists whose catalytic work has the potential to shape the landscape of progress amid urgent need for social and economic action.

For this installment, NationSwell interviewed Amy White — Global Head of Corporate Social Responsibility & Communications at Adobe.

Greg Behrman, CEO and Founder, NationSwell: What brought you to this field? Was there a moment in your life that galvanized your commitment to driving bold action on social and economic progress?

Amy White, Global Head of Corporate Social Responsibility & Communications, Adobe: It might sound sort of cliché, but my career in community service really starts with my parents. They were both career public servants, my mom in education and my dad working for the National Soil and Water Conservation Service and earning his BS and Masters Degree by leveraging the GI Bill. My love for the environment and concern about climate change and climate justice came from my dad and my belief that economic opportunities were unlocked through education came from my mom. There was never a doubt in her mind that we would all go to college, but I didn’t really anticipate getting a degree in forestry that I don’t use very often now. 

I’d say the other formative moments in my career that have brought me to social impact work have been working with direct service organizations. My early career began in direct service with the YMCA and the Girl Scouts, running resident camps and helping all kids realize their full potential. That evolved into the understanding that some communities were not reaching their potential either because not everyone was able to participate, or because there were systems in place that limited their power and mobility. These realizations motivated me to move into a career that is focused on advocacy, communications, and eventually philanthropy, all in service of trying to level the playing field. 

Behrman, NationSwell: Looking back at the scope of your career, how have your thinking, your strategies, leadership style, or philosophies evolved?

White, Adobe: If you were to ask some of my closest friends or former bosses, they might tell you that I am deeply principled, and that sometimes gets in the way of getting what I want. I think my principles and style haven’t changed, but my ability to see that there is often more than one way to get to my desired outcome — and that shared success with other business leaders or community organizations or folks in positions of policy or advocacy can be shared — has. I think some of that is maturity and understanding the context of the systems and problems we are working to change or improve, and some is getting smarter at building allies “across the aisle” to support my goals 

Philosophically, I have always believed that we are stronger and better together. Through collaboration and leveraging the best of our collective resources, listening, strategy, and thinking, we come up with better solutions and usually a more sustainable and lasting change.

Behrman, NationSwell: In your mind, what defines this present societal and economic moment? Which trends fill you with optimism, and which ones give you pause?

White, Adobe: Two topics that I spend time thinking and worrying about, particularly in the U.S., are polarization and isolation. To my earlier point, I think we are better as a collective, but the political polarization and isolation that has endured in a post-Covid world has resulted in less of the community-based living that humans are meant to have. 

I think that has big implications for our mental health and well-being, and that our empathy has taken a beating as we have forgotten how to be curious about others and care for our neighbors — which is exacerbated when it comes to and how we care for the folks who are the most disenfranchised. I think it’s deeply concerning that the topics where Americans have historically been united, or at least willing to have a civil debate, are no longer even on the table for Thanksgiving dinner. We seem to have lost the ability to have a classy conversation and respect the dialogue because we have to win, and because we’re entrenched in our positions.

I also don’t know that social media is necessarily helping us. I think some of the gains we saw in the earlier era of community building, organizing, and information-sharing that social media enabled are now being lost to echo chambers of folks with the same ideas, and replacing our in-person relationships with technology. 

Not to be discouraging — all that being said, I do have a lot of optimism and hope. I’m really encouraged by the idea that an entire generation of social activists are coming into their own as the executive directors or CEOs of change, creating movements as community organizers and advocates who are now in leadership positions and able to swing resources and attention toward issues that matter.

Behrman, NationSwell: What’s not getting enough attention?

White, Adobe: Education. As I shared earlier, I’m a firm believer that education unlocks enormous opportunity — but actually being able to unlock those opportunities starts with ensuring equal access to education. 

It’s going to be really important that we make this education accessible to everyone: in schools, in workplaces, and through non-traditional pathways and local community-based settings. 

I also believe that increasing attention to education means increasing attention to the unique educational needs of the current generation, Gen-Z. We know that Gen-Zers are uniquely creative, ambitious, and vocal, so we also have an opportunity to reframe the skills we’re able to provide them with so that they can truly feel empowered to shape the future. 

Behrman, NationSwell: What makes the impact strategies or initiatives you’re championing within your organization unique? Can you walk us through the steps you’ve taken?

White, Adobe: Adobe’s overall mission — which our CSR work is obviously hyper-focused on — is to do the right thing by focusing on people, purpose, and community. I think these three ideas really come together through the employee community engagement work we do right in our own backyard of San José, California. This has been a focus of ours for as long as we’ve been in San José — which is a long time, since 1994! — but we really ramped it up in 2023 when we launched our Hometown Commitment. The Hometown Commitment is Adobe’s promise to San José — a promise to give back to the community that we call home and a promise to help support the institutions, organizations, and people who work to make it a better place. And for San Jose specifically, we believe through strategic partnerships and funding we can help revitalize the downtown community that still is recovering and reinventing itself after COVID.  We think we can support community based organizations and social service providers to activate public spaces and care for the most vulnerable folks in that community so we can all thrive together. 

A recent and especially fun example of this work can be found directly on the pavement in San Pedro Square in San Jose. Adobe collaborated with two of our hometown grantees — the San Jose Downtown Association (SJDA) and Local Color — to paint a beautiful pavement mural, “Threads Woven.” Created by local artist Jim Fonseca, the mural is inspired by Mexican sarape blankets and aims to showcase the vibrancy and color of San Jose. It isa huge mural (over 12,000 square feet!) and we were able to offer up some of our programs like Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, and Adobe Fresco to help with the design. It is the largest public artwork of its kind in San Jose — and it’s so colorful that you won’t be able to miss it. 

I think this particular project stands out as a great example of our impact strategies at Adobe and how they really span from inside our company to our community. Our community and impact work is expansive and optimistic, but we also take the time to focus on smaller projects that can make a difference in individual communities. 

Behrman, NationSwell: That’s very cool – can’t wait! Can you elaborate on your specific role in spearheading social or economic progress within your organizational framework? Where does your function sit, and how does your role stand out from other social or economic impact leadership functions? 

White, Adobe: What I love most about my role is that I have a unique perspective on where our people, our products, and our philanthropy intersect to really impact social progress. We’re a creative company. How do we use our creative tools to make a difference? I see my role as bringing together Adobe’s resources to solve problems and support the communities of people we serve.

An important component of the resource we bring to bear is Adobe’s platform. Our CSR team sits within our Global Marketing Organization and that means that we view storytelling about our grantees and partners as integral to how we raise awareness and introduce our audiences to organizations doing amazing work. 

Behrman, NationSwell: Could you recommend any insightful resources – maybe a book, report, podcast, or article that has significantly influenced your thinking?

White, Adobe: One thing I’ve read recently that’s stuck with me is this supplement to the Stanford Social Innovation Review sponsored by the Trust-Based Philanthropy Project. It covers a number of really important issues — trust-based philanthropy, racial justice in philanthropy, how philanthropic founders can remain accountable, and more — and a big takeaway for me is how trust-based philanthropy can help inform the future. 

A trust-based approach to philanthropy means a more equitable relationship between foundations and their grantees. It means instilling more trust in local organizations, letting grantees and partners take the lead, and focusing strongly on relationship building — and consequently, trust-building. I really believe that centering community is key to making the biggest impact — and to do that, philanthropic organizations and philanthropists themselves have to lead with trust. But I also think that too often, corporate funders do not choose this approach. There is often a quid-pro-quo approach with nonprofit partners.  And while there may be less reporting that private or government funding, there is a push for NGOs to support brand building versus focusing on their strategic programmatic priorities and corporate funders have a lot to learn and reflect on in the learnings relating to trust-based funding approaches.

Impact Next: An interview with Salesforce Foundation’s Becky Ferguson

Posted on by Brianna Provenzano

At a moment of growing inequality and division, who is advancing the vanguard of economic and social progress to bolster our most vulnerable communities? Whose work is fostering the inclusive growth that ensures every individual thrives? Who will set the ambitious standards that mobilize whole industries, challenging their peers to reach new altitudes of social impact? 

In 2024, Impact Next — a new editorial flagship series from NationSwell — will spotlight the standard-bearing corporate social responsibility and impact leaders, entrepreneurs, experts, and philanthropists whose catalytic work has the potential to shape the landscape of progress amid urgent need for social and economic action.

For this installment, NationSwell interviewed Becky Ferguson — Senior Vice President of Philanthropy at Salesforce and CEO of Salesforce Foundation.

Greg Behrman, CEO and Founder, NationSwell: Tell us a little bit about your journey into leadership in this field. Were there any defining moments, experiences, or mentors that helped you to get here? 

Becky Ferguson, Salesforce: For me, a really foundational experience was my first job out of college back at a small, community-based nonprofit in the community where I grew up. 

When I look back, I appreciate it for a number of reasons. First, the support services we provided across the entire county made me appreciate just how interconnected so many social issues are — I learned to look at things holistically and try to get beneath the surface and understand the root causes. 

It also gave me an appreciation for every single dollar. When I look back, I realize how much we made happen as a small organization with a limited budget. And through my career, as I’ve worked with larger organizations, partnerships, and budgets, I still try to think about the power of every dollar. 

And then the other thing I really took from that experience was that when you work at a startup or a small nonprofit, you wear a lot of hats. One of the hats I wore in that period of time was running the hotline — making sure that any day of the week, any hour, if someone called, there was someone on the other end to pick up that phone. I learned that oftentimes what people really needed in that moment was someone on the other end to listen. There is so much power and importance that comes with presence and listening. 

Behrman, NationSwell: What makes your approach to your work differentiated or sets it apart in the field?

Ferguson, Salesforce: At Salesforce, we’re celebrating our 25th year anniversary as a company this year, and one thing that has grown with us over the years is what we like to call the 1-1-1 model. Early on, we made a pledge to look at how we could give back our financial contributions, our time, and our product, and the ways in which we have been able to watch and see those contributions grow over time is really remarkable. As we look back over the years and see things like over nine million volunteer hours from our employees, thousands of nonprofits that now use Salesforce technology to help power their missions out in the world, and much more. The layering of that impact over time is really powerful. We’ve also always really believed in the power of partnerships and it has been so inspiring to see other companies adopt the 1-1-1 model and make it their own with now over 18,000 companies joining the Pledge 1% global movement. 

Behrman, NationSwell: Salesforce has really built a reputation for being out in front and on the vanguard. Is there anything you can point to that has helped you to stay in alignment with those expectations over time?

Ferguson, Salesforce: To start, it is very much a part of the origin story of the company — it’s the fabric of who we are and our values. 

I think another element of it is that at Salesforce, we’ve really embraced a more distributed or integrated model of impact in the company — meaning it lives in different parts of the business; it’s not just one person or one team’s responsibility alone. At times that can be a little bit messy, but we’ve always felt that that is actually the most powerful way to make lasting change happen.

Behrman, NationSwell: There’s a lot of energy around employee engagement, volunteering, folks wanting to see how to push to the next level of impact, engagement, design. Is there anything you are particularly proud of that you might speak to?

Ferguson, Salesforce: A couple of years ago, we decided to shift away from just celebrating the number of hours people have volunteered — which is really impressive, and which we still have ambitious goals around — in favor of thinking about how we can also inspire and celebrate a deeper kind of giving back journey for employees. 

We dug in with our in-house design team and got a lot of feedback from employees to create a new impact journey. We now have a set of impact milestones people can earn that encourage them to not only volunteer, but to volunteer more than once with an organization, to volunteer and donate, to perhaps join a board — the ultimate goal is to build deeper and deeper engagement. And then as we reward, recognize, and celebrate those milestones over time, we’re able to connect employees with different opportunities that they can then use to continue to further their impact journeys. 

We’re hoping to reach over a million employee volunteer hours this year. The way in which Salesforce employees engage and give back, whether it’s individually or collectively with their teams, is really inspiring.

Behrman, NationSwell: I have this impression that you guys have a differentiated way of communicating, and using narrative, to further ingrain this work and inspire employees. Can you bring us into that a little bit more?

Ferguson, Salesforce: We are a company and a culture of storytellers, and we bring our work across the company to life through stories — be it stories about customers that we work with, stories about our employees, stories about our community partners. We often refer to the individuals in those stories as trailblazers — people who are forging a new path forward — and the idea is that any of us can be a trailblazer in all sorts of ways, from how you’re using new technology to how you’re inspiring teams. 

We’re also definitely intentional about the ways we create moments and avenues to share those stories. We were just at the company kickoff, and we ended the time together by recognizing three employee trailblazers who were rewarded with golden hoodies and recognition from the entire company. They were three really different employees, working in very different roles and parts of the company — making a unique impact not only in their day jobs, but also in their communities. 

At the end of the day, we are community builders: We think a lot about our ecosystem of partners and trailblazers and the ways we all come together in community. And people really feel that sense of community.

Behrman, NationSwell: What has helped you to be an effective leader in the space? Are there attributes or proclivities or parts of your philosophy of leadership that are central to your leadership

Ferguson, Salesforce: I’ve worked in a lot of different organizations, sectors, and settings. I’ve done work in the UN, research, corporate venture capital, private philanthropy, corporate philanthropy, and I think across all of those roles, I have gained an appreciation that there are many different ways and styles of leadership. I think there are two things that really resonate with me: first, trying to reorient my mindset around failure — this idea that to do hard things, you’ve got to take chances, you’ve got to make bets, and it’s not always going to work or go exactly as planned, and that’s okay. 

Behrman, NationSwell: I’d love to hear about a few things you might recommend that have been influential to you in your leadership journey or current state of mind.

Ferguson, Salesforce: There are a couple things that are on my book stand right now, and one of them is Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge and the teaching of plants. What I love about it is it’s a blend of stories and science. Another is a book by Bob Sutton called Scaling Up Excellence that was recommended to me by another leader here at Salesforce. One thing about Bob Sutton’s work that has been sticking with me lately is he talks about this idea that in organizations and companies, things layer up over time and you need to step back and look at what is no longer adding value and strip those things away.

He refers to them as barnacles, and that is something I’ve been thinking about lately — what are the barnacles in the work, in the field I’m in, that have layered up over time and are no longer serving us? What do we need to chip away at or strip so that our ships can sail much faster to where we’re trying to go? 

Behrman, NationSwell: Who are some of the peer leaders you really admire — folks more or less in your role at other companies or organizations who you think are really great leaders doing great work?

Ferguson, Salesforce: I’ve met a lot of incredible people through the NationSwell community actually. Being around a table, sharing meals with folks. For instance, Alicia Vermaele, executive director of the Starbucks Foundation, is someone I love to run across town and have a cup of coffee with and hear what’s on her mind, what she’s working on and thinking about. And then Shamina Singh and the team at MasterCard, that’s another group I have come to know through the NationSwell community that I think are doing great things in the world. 

Investing in employee well-being: innovative policies and benefits

Investing in employee well-being: innovative policies and benefits

CURATED COLLECTION
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The COVID-19 pandemic served as catalyst for employers to invest more deeply and creatively in employee wellbeing, driven by fundamental changes to workplaces (e.g. remote work), implications for healthcare, family and childcare support, financial outlook, and more. Simultaneously, increased focus on racial justice and equity has heightened private sector commitments to inclusive workplace policies for marginalized communities. More recently, policy changes in the U.S. –  including the overturn of Roe v. Wade and the “childcare cliff” – have escalated the need for employers to increase benefits that supplement lack of government supports. 

Employees and companies alike are placing workplace wellbeing higher on their priority lists. 91% of employees find that their job plays a role in determining their wellbeing, and 57% report seriously considering quitting for a more supportive workplace. 76% of U.S. executives feel that expectations about workforce wellbeing are higher than in previous years, and 87% say that workforce wellbeing gives their company a competitive advantage. In addition to productivity and retention advantages, companies with higher employee wellbeing scores fare better financially, showing a superior return on assets, higher profits, and higher valuations.

When balanced with other core aspects of employee experience (including leadership behaviors and job design), inclusive employee policies and benefits can play a significant role in supporting holistic wellbeing. This Curated Collection provides the business rationale for and innovative examples of private sector wellbeing policies and benefits across five key areas: reproductive health, family care, paid leave, financial wellbeing, and mental health.

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ESG Next: An Interview With Steelcase’s Kim Dabbs

Posted on by Anthony Smith

At a moment of unprecedented attention, investment, and opportunity for the emerging field of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG), leaders are asking: Who is best preparing their organization for the society of the future? Who is innovating today to meet decades-long environmental and social goals? Who is setting standards that catalyze their industry’s change for the better? Who is defining what bold and aspirational look like — and how best to advance that work in practice?

Enter NationSwell’s ESG Next, an exemplary group of investors, executives, authors, philanthropists, social sector leaders, academics, and field builders who are helping to shape business as a force for social and environmental progress, advancing — and even pioneering — the most forward-thinking and effective programs, initiatives, technologies, methodologies, practices, and approaches.

For this installment, NationSwell interviewed Kim Dabbs, Global Vice President of ESG and Social Innovation at Steelcase and author of the upcoming book, You Belong Here on the importance of building a global learning community, the power of inclusive design, and the importance of centering the wellbeing of your teams and of other leaders.

Greg Behrman, CEO + Founder, NationSwell: Can you tell us about your professional and personal journey to this field?

Kim Dabbs, Global Vice President of ESG and Social Innovation, Steelcase: Belonging has been my North Star in the work that I do, both in the nonprofit sector and the corporate sector. I believe that everyone has a role to play in this, and part of my journey has been trying to figure out what each individual’s role is, and how to build safe spaces where everyone can be seen, heard and valued in the world.

That’s a journey that began in high school. I remember that early on, during the late ’80s and early ’90s, the AIDS crisis was devastating entire communities. I started volunteering with the AIDS Resource Center when I was a teenager, and through that, I discovered the power of collective action in effecting change.

When I was really young, I took a trip with the AIDS Resource Center to see the NAMES Project in Washington, DC. It was the last time the AIDS quilt was displayed in its entirety; it spanned the entire mall, showcasing art being used for activism and the power of collective impact. When people are confronted with issues in ways that they cannot look away from, that’s when real change happens. That experience truly kickstarted my journey.

Following that, I worked extensively in the nonprofit sector, focusing on arts, culture, and creativity, and the significant roles they play in the world. This path led me through endeavors into equity in education, and now into the work I do at Steelcase.

Behrman, NationSwell: How do you make sense of this moment in ESG? What is the potential and the promise, and where are the pitfalls?

Dabbs, Steelcase: We’re seeing before us the promise of collective action. Right now, I genuinely feel that a movement has been built. Everyone wants to make a difference, and how that difference is manifested varies from person to person, depending on the distinct capabilities or resources they bring to the table. But the task at hand is to align everyone towards the same direction. If we can build a global learning community centered around progress, that’s when real action can ensue. We have to approach this through a lens of abundance, not scarcity; through endless possibility, not fear. 

Yet, we all face resistance at some point in this journey. I see criticism as a good thing. I believe it always propels progress forward, and if you have criticism, it usually means you have a diverse range of people and perspectives at the table. But criticism can get unproductive when it comes at the expense of supporting one another. If we can center that support in our collective success when we make our criticism, I believe we can make a substantial difference in our lifetime. 

That’s easier said than done, and it’s important to remember that this is ongoing work. No matter the difference you and I make in our lifetime, there will always be another generation with their own set of challenges, and a generational workload ahead. Keeping this perspective in mind is crucial too.

Behrman, NationSwell: What’s unique about the work you’re leading at Steelcase?

Dabbs, Steelcase: We know that leaders at large organizations grapple with the questions of how to get better at actually sharing insights so what happens in Hong Kong can inform what’s happening in New York, which can in turn inform what’s happening in Mexico. The work that we’re doing here at Steelcase is about building a global learning community, about building the infrastructure for these conversations to happen. We focus on finding ways we can invite more people to the table, and finding more ways we can share insights, thought leadership, and best practices. The lab is really that community where we come together and say, “we’re going to learn from each other and with each other.”

That’s why we launched our Better Futures Community. Both our internal and external partners, as well as our clients and community partners, are involved because no single organization, industry, or sector has all the answers. The more we can come together and understand, the better. 

We do this through our Better Futures Lab, which is really about radically open innovation. We do this through the Better Futures Fund, which supports promising, new ideas in the areas of equity, education, and the environment, hoping to bring them to a point where we can design proof of concept together and then share it and embed it back into people’s value streams. And finally, we have the Better Futures Fellowship, which is an accelerator and incubator for bold new ideas around equity, education, and the environment. The last fellowship we had was around well-being and education, and the one before that focused on equity and education. We cover different topics every year.

A little bit of everyone’s involved in Better Futures at Steelcase: from our clients to nonprofit partners to architecture and design firms. A good example of this is our Better Futures work with G3ict. Together, we worked on understanding what inclusive design means for the world of work. We conducted a study with them last year to really build the blueprint for the inclusive workplaces of the future.

Because of that research, Better Futures helped support our own inclusive design practice here at Steelcase. As a result, we’re joining coalitions like the Valuable 500 to make inclusive design core to our strategy at Steelcase, and core to how we help create workplaces in the world. It’s really about understanding where that shared value lies, and where we have a chance to actually make a difference, impacting not just the lives of our employees, but the lives of all our clients as well when we bring these concepts into action.

We’re in it for the long haul. People talk about long-term value. For us, it’s always about understanding that change won’t be instant. This is long-term iteration, partnering side-by-side to say, “hey, let’s try to move the needle. Some things are going to work, some things aren’t, but we’re really committed to it.” And if we learn things along the way, we have to share it with others to shorten their innovation time concerning what works and what doesn’t. So, we’re constantly publishing, sharing, and using public forums to help people see and understand. 

With the launch of the lab, part of it is understanding that nonprofit organizations are often focused on the local level, which they should be, but they’re not often plugged into that global community. So, we’re trying to figure out how we use our global scale to help them see different perspectives, get to know each other, and understand new approaches.

Behrman, NationSwell: What would be valuable for other leaders in the field to know about what you and your team have learned?

Dabbs, Steelcase: Last year, our community was dealing with the trauma of the police-involved shooting death of Patrick Lyoya. In that moment, the first thing that we did was reach out to our community partners and give wellbeing dollars to the leaders of the organizations that were on the ground doing community response work, because we knew that there was nothing more essential than supporting people on the frontlines. I remember telling them, “You decide how you spend that wellbeing money, just do something to take care of you. Whatever it takes; you get to decide. But just know that we’re here to support you in your journey as a leader and that your wellbeing matters just as much as the people that you’re serving.”

The people on your teams are the people who are in this work, professionally and personally. We’ve learned that wellbeing is critical. How leaders take care of their teams, how leaders take care of other leaders — all of that matters. 

At our team, we start every team meeting with our team norms. And just the repetition of those norms on a weekly basis keeps everyone focused on the same things, helps everyone understand why we’re doing this work. Little rituals like that that are not to be underestimated in this really deep, heavy, forever work.

Behrman, NationSwell: To which of your leadership practices do you attribute your efficacy?

Dabbs, Steelcase: If you’re going to be a leader in this space and be successful in your leadership, you have to be radical and revolutionary. You have to act with bravery. You are delivering hard news to systems that don’t want to change. So in order to do this work, you need to have the resilience to be able to do that. 

We have to challenge the way things are. And if you’re willing to interrogate systems, if you’re willing to act with bravery, if you’re willing to speak truth to power, those are the things that are going to change the world. And those are things that I try to do every single day.

If a table isn’t set for equity and justice, I’m not going to pull up a chair to that table. I’ll build my own. 

Behrman, NationSwell: Who are the fellow leaders who inspire your leadership?

Dabbs, Steelcase: I think everyone’s doing tough work, right? The majority of people that I find incredibly inspiring are the people on the ground doing the work. I used to be a single parent, going to college, working two jobs, living on the streets. I’ve experienced homelessness. And to me, the people that I look at, it’s really, truly the people that I serve. 

When I look at the adversity that people have to overcome with systems that are difficult, those are the people we should really hold up as leaders. So there are people and organizations that obviously are making a difference, whether that be Acumen, Ashoka or others, that are building these powerful, beautiful networks to make impact happen. But at the end of the day, the people that continuously inspire me are the people that have the most to lose.

ESG Next: An Interview With Levi’s Anna Walker

Posted on by Anthony Smith

At a moment of unprecedented attention, investment, and opportunity for the emerging field of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG), leaders are asking: Who is best preparing their organization for the society of the future? Who is innovating today to meet decades-long environmental and social goals? Who is setting standards that catalyze their industry’s change for the better? Who is defining what bold and aspirational look like — and how best to advance that work in practice?

Enter NationSwell’s ESG Next, an exemplary group of investors, executives, authors, philanthropists, social sector leaders, academics, and field builders who are helping to shape business as a force for social and environmental progress, advancing — and even pioneering — the most forward-thinking and effective programs, initiatives, technologies, methodologies, practices, and approaches.

For this installment, NationSwell interviewed Anna Walker, Vice President of Impact and Issues at Levi Strauss & Co., on the unique strengths of an organization’s employees to inform corporate action, the undersung value of employee resource groups, and why coalition building is as much about the “where” as the “who.”

Greg Behrman, CEO + Founder, NationSwell: Can you tell us about your professional and personal journey to this field?

Anna Walker, Vice President of Impact and Issues, Levi Strauss & Co.: I went to graduate school for international economics with a focus on developing economies because I thought — very idealistically — that my path was leading me to work at a United Nations agency, that I’d make my contribution to the world through my work there. So while I was in graduate school, I got my opportunity to intern with the UN through the High Commissioner for Refugees, and it showed me that UN agencies are, by necessity, large, slow-moving, bureaucratic, and probably not a fit for me and my long-term goals. 

That’s why I made my way to the apparel industry: it aligned perfectly with my interests in development economics, and in helping countries moving up the development ladder, because it’s an industry that countries pursue when they’re moving forward on their economic development trajectory, transitioning from subsistence agriculture to labor-intensive industries. And Levi’s was the perfect fit within the apparel industry because it was so committed to supporting responsible practices in the supply chain and supporting workers there. 

Now, Levi’s is 170 years old this year. For most of its history, it owned its manufacturing. But in the 1980s, it transitioned from owned factories to overseas facilities. Employees asked the company, “How are we going to take care of the workers, and ensure the same level of care that they have as our own employees when the factories are owned by others and we’re just sourcing the production?” Because our employees asked our leadership that question, Levi’s was one of the first organizations to have a code of conduct for a global supply chain. Listening and responding to employee is a big part of Levi’s organizational DNA, and a big part of how I knew I’d found the right organization for me. 

Behrman, NationSwell: How do you define this moment in ESG? 

Walker, Levi Strauss + Co: This question is so fresh on my mind because we’ve been analyzing the challenges to ESG and so-called “woke capitalism” following the reaction to Bud Light and Target during Pride month — high profile cases of intense backlash that are such a part of this ESG moment. 

Levi’s is a fairly outspoken progressive company that really believes in using our voice to support the issues that our employees care about and that intersect with our business, and we used the backlash as an inflection point to brief leadership. We told them that we’re very cognizant of this changing environment, we assured them that we’ve taken some time to really stare down how it went for these other companies and why it went the way it did, and informed them of what we were going to do moving forward: remain consistent. Companies stumble when they try to change direction or appease a certain audience in a manner inconsistent with what they’ve said or done in the past. Consistency will be the key: it helps us adhere to what we can control and show up in the places where we can show up authentically.

Another big learning we’ve taken from the moment is that often, if you’ve already been outspoken on something, neutrality or silence isn’t going to be acceptable. Silence can be deafening, and stakeholders have come to count on you to be out there, to be supportive, and to be engaged. And sitting one out can often look like the wrong kind of engagement to them.

Behrman, NationSwell: What’s unique about the work you’re leading at Levi’s?

Walker, Levi Strauss + Co: I’m proud to say that through our long history, most of what we’ve been outspoken advocates on and built our social impact programs around — it’s all been rooted in our employees, rooted in what they’ve come to us and said matters to them, because it’s keeping them up at night or because they’re excited to take part in it.  

In the ’80s, we came out in support of employees dealing with HIV/AIDS, even before the disease had a name. We did that because employees came to us concerned about friends and family, and asked the company’s leadership to do something. They’ve held us accountable, and they keep us engaged. Because it’s real for them, it keeps our engagements from being one-and-done; they’re the reason why whatever we do will be far more authentic, genuine, and enduring. 

That’s what happened with our efforts around gun violence prevention. Our employees asked us how we’re going to support a safer America, which sparked us to create a threefold plan: first, we created the Safer Tomorrow Fund to give to organizations addressing community-based violence; second, we advocated to support efforts for common sense gun safety legislation at the federal level; and third, we engaged and informed employees to give them opportunities to volunteer and give, if they were interested.

When we started to build a broad coalition of companies working with us and supporting similar ends, it was slow-going at first. We sent a letter to the House of Representatives supporting the bipartisan background checks bill. And we only had three CEOs on it when we went to the House. But then, come fall of that same year, we had over a hundred CEOs on the letter when it went to the Senate. And last summer, when the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act passed, we had over 300 CEOs on the letter supporting Congressional action.  

We’re really proud to be a first mover, to be a bold mover that leverages its globally recognized brand name to build a big tent and create the safe space for other companies to join us in the advocacy. We’re going to be most effective when we’re using our brand to build coalitions and bring others along. 

Behrman, NationSwell: In the case of gun violence prevention, what helped you build such an effective coalition?

Walker, Levi Strauss + Co: It’s all about finding good partners. In the case of gun violence, we worked with Everytown and Giffords, and they’ve been really willing to roll up their sleeves and help to make it happen, to help to build the materials, and to engage and be there as experts when companies have questions. We’re not experts in gun violence prevention the way these groups are, so finding those partners that get the value of bringing the business case to advocacy is key.

As we’ve built coalitions, we’ve learned that it’s not only about who your partner is, but about where your partner is — especially when it comes to congressional advocacy. You know what members of Congress will support a bill, you know who is going to oppose it, and in the middle of all of that is the potential gettables you’ll actually need to make something happen. If you can find the companies that are their constituents in their home states, they’re the best advocates  to those members of Congress to make the case.

Behrman, NationSwell: How does Levi’s decide when to speak out or take action as an organization?

Walker, Levi Strauss + Co: Those actions all come to be through different channels. When the Dobbs decision on reproductive rights leaked, we were ready to issue a statement immediately because employees from our women’s Employee Resource Group (ERG), two years before the draft ruling leaked, asked for a meeting with our CEO and sat down with him to have a conversation on the landscape of women’s rights. 

Traditionally, ERGs allow employees from diverse backgrounds to find each other and deepen their bonds to one another, but they’re also an effective tool for surfacing to leadership those early signs of what’s on the horizon, and what your organization can do about it. Because that conversation happened years prior, we’d already had a lot of internal conversations and got our internal policies and programs in place to be able to move quickly. 

Levi’s CEO is Chip Bergh, and we do a monthly “Chip(s) and Beer” that’s sort of an ask me anything-style town hall with the CEO. That’s where a few of our advocacy and philanthropy actions have started from questions and concerns voiced by employees. Not only is it a powerful forum for directly learning what’s on employees’ minds, it helps you to create and maintain a culture of openness. 

Behrman, NationSwell: To which of your leadership practices do you attribute your efficacy?

Walker, Levi Strauss + Co: I have a smart, creative team that’s willing to try new things, take risks. I try to be the wind beneath their wings, I try to ask a lot of good questions, poke around corners, and support them to test, scale, and find what works and what fits. I encourage speed and smart risk-taking so that we always have time to course correct if we get it wrong. 

Really good leadership comes from finding really good people who are motivated, care, who are purpose and mission aligned with the organization and have a lot of energy about what they do.

Behrman, NationSwell: Who are the leaders who inspire your leadership?

Walker, Levi Strauss + Co: I’m inspired by Vicki Shabo, Senior Fellow, Better Life Lab, New America. Vicki is always advocating and innovating to make paid family leave universally available. I think of Michael Kobori, Chief Sustainability Officer at Starbucks Coffee Company, because he’s always willing to try new things, and he’s unceasingly supportive of his team. Worked along side him at LS&Co. And Hilary Dessouky, General Counsel at Patagonia, as well as Corley Kenna, Head of Communications and Policy at Patagonia, because they’ve been part of making some of the most sustainable business practices and best policies for Patagonia employees happen, and made sure to share those best practices with the rest of the business community.

ESG Next: An Interview With Liberty Mutual’s Melissa MacDonnell

Posted on by Greg Behrman

At a moment of unprecedented attention, investment, and opportunity for the emerging field of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG), leaders are asking: Who is best preparing their organization for the society of the future? Who is innovating today to meet decades-long environmental and social goals? Who is setting standards that catalyze their industry’s change for the better? Who is defining what bold and aspirational look like — and how best to advance that work in practice?

Enter NationSwell’s ESG Next, an exemplary group of investors, executives, authors, philanthropists, social sector leaders, academics, and field builders who are helping to shape business as a force for social and environmental progress, advancing — and even pioneering — the most forward-thinking and effective programs, initiatives, technologies, methodologies, practices, and approaches.

For this installment, NationSwell interviewed Melissa MacDonnell, President, Liberty Mutual Foundation and Vice President, Community Investments, Liberty Mutual Insurance, about what this moment in corporate philanthropy means for practitioners, the power of a collaborative framework for funding, and how employee volunteerism programs can better center inclusion.

Greg Behrman, CEO + Founder, NationSwell: Tell us how your professional and personal journey led to this work.

Melissa MacDonnell, Liberty Mutual:  My mom worked as a social worker in Newark, NJ and instilled a strong sense of service in my nine siblings and me.  When I was in high school, she would take me every week to volunteer with adults with disabilities.  I helped them with daily tasks like making the bed, going to the local store, completing household activities, and more. Because of my mom, service became a part of my DNA, a lens through which I would see the world. 

One of the memories that will always stay with me was of one man with whom I worked. He was misdiagnosed as a child as having developmental disabilities; when in fact, he was deaf. Therefore, he spent his entire life in an institution. It was striking to know that the inability to understand his struggle resulted in a life of institutionalization. I built a strong bond with him and spent time teaching myself sign language. I wanted him to know I saw him. 

Later, I became a volunteer GED teacher and taught young people who were forced to grow up way too soon, forced to leave school to make money for their families, forced to deal with the urgency of needs today rather than building for their futures. 

I also had the chance to become a big sister; twenty-four years later, we are still sisters. Becoming a big sister for a girl living in a group home showed me how many people are struggling on their own, without the basic supports so many of us take for granted.

Behrman, NationSwell: How do you define this moment in corporate philanthropy?

MacDonnell, Liberty Mutual: It’s such an exciting moment for corporate philanthropy. When I started nearly 25 years ago, philanthropy was more of an offshoot. The company was always deeply committed to the community, but there was a desire to keep the philanthropy separate.  That desire came from a really good place; however, it left some of our potential for impact off the table.

Today, we are an integral part of Liberty Mutual — we’re central to the purpose of the company. There’s a recognition that our engagement in the community is collectively owned through our foundation and through each of our 50,000 employees who want an opportunity to give, serve, and volunteer. And with the proper construct, we have the chance to empower and engage all of Liberty to bring our expertise, our skills, our passion, and our resources to bear for our communities.

I think we’re just all collectively inspired by the opportunity to invest the strength of Liberty Mutual as a force for social good.

Behrman, NationSwell: What are some unique programs or initiatives you’re leading that other leaders may benefit from knowing?

MacDonnell, Liberty Mutual: Our work in youth homelessness is a great example of a programmatic body of work that we’re proud of. 

In youth homelessness, we found an issue that was not getting visibility or support, where there was a real and demonstrable need. We heard from our education partners that young people were showing up to school with backpacks stuffed with everything they owned. And we heard from adult shelters that they had to turn away more and more young people every day. 

The more we pulled the thread, the more we recognized that youth and young adult homelessness was something that really needed attention. So, we started to invest and joined a collaborative that included city and state officials, nonprofit leaders, Liberty Mutual, as the corporate leader, and, most importantly, young people with lived experience. Together, we helped the City of Boston successfully apply for $4.7 million in federal funding, which was critical for creating 157 housing opportunities for youth and young adults experiencing homelessness. Since 2018, Liberty Mutual has committed $24 million towards the issue, largely in Boston.

As a result of these collective efforts, the number of young people experiencing homelessness in Boston has dropped 44%. This collaborative approach is the reason this effort has been so successful — because it included so many voices and so many experts—particularly young people with lived experience.

Internally, another example that comes to mind is our Liberty Torchbearers program, where we provide employees the opportunity to serve annually in the community during work hours, volunteer on their own time to earn nonprofit mini-grants, and give to nonprofits that mean something to them, while earning a 100% company match with no upper limit. 

What differentiates Torchbearers is that even as we use it to drive organizational cohesion around giving back, we center it on individuality and inclusivity at its core. We’re all different, and we’re all in different seasons of our lives; we all give, volunteer, and serve differently from one another. If you’re a working parent and your way of giving back is volunteering your time during the workday, you can be a Torchbearer; if you’re at a different stage in your career and don’t have as much time to volunteer, but do have the resources to donate, you can be a Torchbearer. Or if you’re a manager and you really want to infuse service in some sort of team building, you and your team can engage in a community project together as Torchbearers. 

Having a framework that is inclusive and respectful of the different places and stages of people’s lives makes Torchbearers such a positive and impactful program.

One last initiative comes to mind: We’ve pulled together a cross-functional team within the company to explore how we can bring to bear the unique strengths of Liberty Mutual on behalf of our neighbors most disproportionately impacted by climate change.  So we’ve been inventorying our expertise on the corporate side and listening and learning from our community leaders so we can accelerate, enhance, and advance climate resiliency first in Boston and then beyond.

Our hope is that this work will tap into the best of who we are, and what we do. We have expertise, we have technologies we’re constantly creating for our customers, and there’s so much that can be transferred into our community.

Behrman, NationSwell: To which leadership practices do you most attribute your effectiveness?

MacDonnell, Liberty Mutual: I live with a very deep sense of urgency on behalf of our neighbors. I feel strongly about the needs in our community, and I feel deeply about the people whose voices aren’t always heard. I also believe in the goodness of my colleagues. Together, we can meet this sense of urgency and do everything we can to advance social good. 

Behrman, NationSwell: Who are the peers that you admire and what are some resources – a book, podcast, article, etc. – that inspire  you?

MacDonnell, Liberty Mutual: I admire Jill Shah, the president of the Shah Family Foundation, and Ross Wilson, their executive director. I love the work they do. Not only are they generous givers, but they add tremendous value to community discussions and to the field of philanthropy.

A company I admire is UPS. I love how they’ve used their “superpowers” especially their expertise with distribution in times of crisis: the way that they responded to COVID, getting different services out to people as well as their activation during natural disasters. They’re there, they jump on it, and they do what they do so well in their business. 

In literature, there’s a book by Phil Buchanan called Giving Done Right. I really appreciate his point of view, and his warnings about the power dynamics of philanthropy. George Serafeim’s Purpose and Profit is also a terrific work I strongly recommend. It’s such an interesting book jam-packed with real-life cases. I have also learned a lot by Bill Gates’ How to Avoid a Climate Disaster.  In fact, I’m reading it for a second time right now!

To learn more about how our ESG Next honorees are shaping business as a force for social and environmental good, visit the series hub.