Inside Heidrick & Struggles’ parental leave task force - and how it drove meaningful change

When Heidrick & Struggles - one of the largest executive search firms in the world - analyzed their people analytics, they discovered a common theme: parental leave had significant implications on both retention and development across their global workforce.

They recognized that starting a family is a significant milestone in their employees’ personal lives—and an equally pivotal moment in their professional journeys, one that deserves intentional, thoughtful support.

Determined to reimagine their approach to parental leave, the firm launched a parental leave task force.

Led by Chief Inclusion Officer Cecilia Nelson-Hurt and Senior Manager of Inclusion and Belonging Dominique Dickson, the task force brought together HR leaders, employees and other stakeholders to uncover the root cause of the challenges their people were facing.

The task force’s findings ultimately transformed Heidrick & Struggles’ parental leave program, enabling the firm to deliver a consistent and supportive experience for all employees.

In today’s episode, Cecilia and Dominique join us to share the ins and outs of the parental leave task force, and how this initiative led to a partnership with Parentaly.

They cover how parental leave became an inclusion & belonging-led priority, the steps they took to gather data to shape their parental leave strategy, and the value parental leave support has brought to their company.

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Allison: Cecilia and Dom, thank you so much for joining me here today.

Cecilia: Thank you for having us.

Dom: Thank so much.

Allison: I am so excited for this conversation. I spend so much of my life talking about parental leave with companies, HR leaders, and I have very rarely met people who have taken as sophisticated of an approach as you all at Heidrick & Struggles. And so when I heard about what you had done even before we met, I thought, my gosh, we have to get them on the podcast to talk more about this.

So I want to start with sort of the background before we even met you, you all created a parental leave task force within Heidrick & Struggles. I'd love for you to share more about what is that parental leave task force and why did you originally launch it?

Cecilia: Sure, I'll be happy to take that question, but I do want to acknowledge that most of the heavy lifting and the credit goes to Dom, right? It's one of those things where I'm the manager, but I'm very clear on who is the brains behind this operation. And Dom was definitely the brains behind this operation. To go back in time a bit, we at Heidrick have a global approach.

And so we were looking at our people at analytics and we were looking at retention and development and what sort of factors could influence someone's development as well as their tenure with the organization. And this was done on a global front. 

And so as it turned out that globally across the regions of America's, the Americas, Europe and Africa and APAC, they all identified that parental leave was something that was impacting both retention as well as the development. 

And really key here, not only just for women, right? We saw this as something that was an opportunity across genders. Yes, of course, a great number of women as birth giving parents would be impacted, but this was something that was impacting globally. And we saw this highlight for us the need to have a unified and strategic approach to address these challenges from a global perspective. 

And so we had a couple of areas that we looked at, whether it's learning and development and other things. But when it came to parental leave, we saw that this was something that showed up in all three regions. And so to ensure strategic consistency, our team was designated to take the lead. And really the reason why we did this was to have an opportunity to identify something that can be scaled and applied against all regions to affect the challenge effectively.

And so, I said, Dom Dixon was appointed to be the project lead of this initiative and thus was established the parental leave task force. And so, you know, from my view, here's what I saw as three of the objectives, right? And so the work that I saw Dom and the team do and really in partnership with our global HR team was conducting a comprehensive review of our current parental leave policies across all regions because we know that parental leave legally, there are different mandates as to how much time you can take and so forth. 

And so we wanted to look for what were the gaps that the company could fill and where were their inconsistencies. The other thing we realized was that we wanted to do a bit of benchmarking. So what are some industry best best practices when it comes to parental leave so that we can ensure that we were being competitive, as well as being in alignment with the expectations of our employees. And then of course, gathering a tremendous amount of feedback from employees and stakeholders.

And this is where Dom excels, right? In the focus grouping, in surveys, as well as doing one-on-one interviews. And that's why having a parental task force was key because we really got to understand what their experiences were regarding their expectations and regarding how they took leave. And so that's a little bit the background as to how this all came to be.

Allison: And I'm curious, and maybe that's a good segue into one of the questions I wanted to ask Dom, because I find that oftentimes parents are very scared or hesitant to share their experiences. And so I'm curious to learn more about that sort of third point that Cecilia made around all of the work that you did to hear from employees. And how did you tactically do that?

Was it focus group? Was it one-on-one? Did you issue a large survey and all of a sudden you were shocked to see the results? I'm curious, like, what was the impetus and then how did you ultimately identify, wow, this is something that I need to do more work on to deeper my understanding.

Dom: I think it was a combination of things. was defining the problem we were solving. It was really a collaborative effort, which is great because I believe wholeheartedly that people are more likely to buy into solutions when they're part of the architecture. So it really started with a combination of employees who were deeply passionate about this topic. And then there were human resources professionals who had the access and authority to drive meaningful change.

And together, that was really the foundation for what became a really solutions-oriented mandate. Like Cecilia said, we were looking at the benefits, right? But what support could complement the benefits was really the mandate of the task force. From there, the team grew, I would say, organically and intentionally. So in terms of organic growth, task force members brought in others they knew could add real value to the conversation. 

For example, there was a specific executive search practice that had garnered a really positive reputation for how they handled parental leave support with their employees. So one of our task force members knew of that reputation and brought in a colleague from that practice to share their experience and really contribute to some of the best practice conversations we were having. And at the same time, we were very deliberate about ensuring representation across key areas, right?

We wanted to include birthing and non-birthing parents and also colleagues from different geographies, business segments, position levels. And I think that that balance of passion, expertise, and the diverse perspectives gave us clarity and focus. And we needed that to really understand the problem holistically and ultimately how to solve it.

Allison: Something that sticks out to me, what you said that I actually didn't realize coming to this conversation is that you also brought in people who had experienced what good looks like. And I think oftentimes companies forget that. And I think that's really powerful because one of the things, at least in my personal experience with parental leave is usually it's easier to talk about what's wrong, right? Like that feels like something that is easier, but then what gives us hope and ultimately motivates us oftentimes to do better is knowing that there is a different way. 

And so if you can identify what works well and then start to think about how do we scale this across the entire organization so that this isn't manager by manager or group by group dependent. I didn't realize that you had done that. I think that's really cool that you brought them into the earliest stages of the task force. 

So then by the time we were involved and we started our conversations, I remember, and again, this is actually coming through other people on my team, so I have sort of secondhand knowledge here. I remember you had a full report at that stage of here are the recommendations and here are the things that we are going to do coming out of this task force. Can you share more about what were those top findings and how did you turn those findings into action?

Dom: Sure, sure. Let me step back for a second and kind of explain how we got there to the recommendations. It was, I mean, it was really a foundation of listening and learning from the task force. I mean, to your point about bringing others in, even members who weren't of the task force contributed because we went out and interviewed people who had experienced the good and the bad around parental leave, right? 

And we brought their ideas into the space. So we began by creating sort of sub-task force groups. Cecilia mentioned the focus groups. Really to discuss experience, again, both positive and challenging, and really talk about before, during, and after parental leave. And I feel like these conversations really helped identify some common themes that shaped our understanding of the overall gaps and opportunities.

From there, we developed seven potential solutions based on those recurring themes from the sub-task force groups. And we conducted an impact and feasibility assessment to prioritize the top three. We did that anonymously. We wanted to have a really clear picture of what would have the most impact, but also what was reasonable, just given resources, and really to prioritize the top three based on that assessment.

Those priorities ended up being, the top three ended up being comprehensive manager training. That was number one. So our employees acknowledged that how the manager supports the employee through parental leave was the number one on the list to prioritize. Then a detailed leave planning process for the person taking parental leave. And then also a robust resources library, really understanding what supports were out there and what resources they could apply to their own situations.

And I think each of these was designed to really address a critical support point in the parental leave journey. And we felt as a group, you know, making these our areas of focus would help ensure that employees feel supported and equipped throughout the process. So that's how we landed in our top three.

Allison: Can you share more about, you have this list of seven, I already forget the language you used, but it was the impact assessment and feasibility. How do you do that? Is that being, are you throwing out ideas to all of your employees and saying, rank them? Are you discussing it in your subgroups? How does that actually work?

Dom: Just the logistics of it. I'm a huge process person, so I really enjoy this piece of it. And Cecilia's laughing at me because I get excited about this stuff still. So it was, like I said, anonymous. We used our internal survey software. And we listed those seven solutions. And we gave each member of the task force some guidance around how to score impact on a scale, and then also how to score feasibility.

Allison: Yeah.

‍Dom: So something could have been this would really be high impact but probably won't get it done especially in the short or in the short or even midterm, right? So feasibility would really bring that score down. So as an average we ended up scoring all seven solutions across the task force through that survey exercise and that's when we ended up with those scores that put the three solutions I just mentioned in the top three.

Allison: Were you surprised at the top three that came back?

Dom: I think it came out right based on the conversations. I was part of those sub-task force conversations. So I knew where people felt really passionate about, and that was reflected in their scores, for sure. I was hoping for some of the really high impact, but things I knew in my heart were low feasibility. People might use their biases to score it a little bit higher, so we could get buy-in on that.

But it came out, everybody was really honest and people were coming from different parts of the company. So having that holistic view on what was feasible based on their knowledge and acumen of our firm was really helpful. And I think it produced a lot of accuracy. And I love that people leaned into the manager piece, right? 

Because parental leave, you immediately go, this is all on me. I'm taking leave. This is my burden. I have to support myself, I have to figure out my way through it. I think people tend to look inward first because it's their experience. But hearing the task force really lean into how a manager can really support and facilitate that process was wonderful that it came out across the board really consistent.

Allison: It's, I love that you described the logistical way that you assess this as well, because I often talk about manager training, not only, I just believe that the manager is so important in this experience. And also it's actually not that much work to give managers so much support, right? 

Like I really believe most managers want to do the right thing. They just don't know what it is. And so I love the whole impact and feasibility because I think the manager piece would probably score off the charts in both of those areas. So what did you do then? You got these three back. Then I, because I believe that's when Parentaly met you is because you already had the, remember the seven. 

I don't remember if you knew exactly what the three were, but I remember hearing from my teammate who said you wouldn't believe it. They literally, we don't even have to sell them. They've already done this work. They told us what we always tell people are the most important things and they have all the data and whatnot. So how did that work in that timing of when we actually moved into the solutioning together?

Dom: I echo what your colleague said. The decision to partner with Parentaly, it really was a natural outcome of the task force findings. So we had some internal referrals and Parentaly came onto our radar from a number of colleagues internally. And when we explored their offerings, we realized they align almost perfectly with those top three solutions. And we were already developing them internally, right? So the manager training, the career coaching, compare that to the leave planning support and also a comprehensive toolkit, thinking about the resource library that we prioritized.

And it felt like such a rare partnership opportunity. And I think about it, right? It's like you're buying a house, right? And you're shopping. And unless you're building it from scratch, you probably have a checklist of things that you want. And you're more than likely going to end up with a place that doesn't check every single box.

But we're lucky, Parentaly was going to do exactly that for us with this project. What made the partnership even more compelling, and you touched on this a little bit, Allison, was the pre-work the task force had done. We had already defined the challenges, identified key priorities, which meant we could hit the ground running with Parentally. When you're taking on a partnership, you don't want it to feel burdensome.

And I think your expertise and your team's expertise, really complemented our internal efforts and allowed us to deliver sort of a more seamless and impactful solution for our employee community.

Cecilia: The other thing that I would add to Dom's point is the timing. We could not have planned this. If you think about the year when we came together, there was almost a dual path happening. Dom and the parental leave task force had arrived at the three most feasible of the seven.

And so the next step was, okay, so how do we do this? And so we were literally at that, how do we do this point, when I got a phone call from our CHRO saying that she got a referral from somebody that we should meet with this parental leave group because they sound like, you know, and she's the social, she knows what we're doing, but she's not intricately the way that and I were. So she knew this was happening and she heard reports and she felt that it would be a good opportunity because this sounded like a good match, but she trusted us. 

But at that time, Dom was not on the first call. And so I was in the first call and as the Parentaly team was presenting it, I'm like, they're presenting exactly what Dom presented. They're right. And so, I'm literally like, and I don't remember why Dom wasn't included in that first meeting, but I remember saying to her, you have to see this.

Allison: You're like, have you been snooping? Have you been reading our emails?

Cecilia: They actually like, it's almost like you built this thing and you stopped there and then here comes this company like, we actually do the next thing. And so it made, to Dom's point, like the team came so prepared. We had said, we think the three critical junctures in someone's lead is the pre-leave - so people actually have fear at how do I tell my manager and how's my team going to support? - so some people don't say anything immediately.

And then while I'm away, how do I stay away, but engaged and ready and then integration. So we had already established that those were the three areas we wanted to focus on. And your team said, well, here are the three areas that we focus on. And it was so perfect. So again, I do believe the preparation, the amount of work that we did, but also what the Parentaly team did was perfect and the timing. We could not have come together…the stars were truly aligned because we came together at that exact turning point.

Allison: And at that point in time, had you already started to build internally? Because my memory is that there was a debate. Do we try and build this in-house? Do we outsource it? Can you share more about that debate?

Dom: Sure, I think it was different for each solution, right? I think for the manager training, we were really going to start partnering with our learning and development department. They were already looking at people manager training, just understanding as you grow in a company and you end up having direct reports, what are the new skill sets that you need to learn and really prioritize? 

So we felt like parental leave, any direct report could end up on parental leave, how do you manage that? We felt like that could be a good subsection there. So we were working on leaning into a people manager training, but parental leave being a piece of that. 

As far as the leave planning template, we did start building that. It was actually one of the resources we ended up sharing with Parentaly to guide our unique solution through your company. So we had started planning that.

And then the resources library, we had developed a project plan for how to collect crowdsourced resources from our different communities. Like we use Slack for instant messaging and group messaging. So we had sort of a mom's, parents' channel, dad's, the new dad's channel was actually a result of the task force. That was a really quick win for the task force getting a dad Slack channel up and running.

So we were going to start there by collecting resources that our own employees had shared to start building out that library. So we did start doing the internal work. And we were right at the beginning of that, of doing those three project plans at the same time when a parental lead came into the picture.

‍Allison: Yeah, it's interesting to hear that because I do think when we built our resource library, what we call the Parentaly Toolkit, from the beginning, we said, we're going to meet companies that have already started this or want some things that are custom to them that reflect their unique culture or their unique processes. And so we built it in a way that we can merge the materials together. 

And so I think that's really interesting to hear that you had started, but then it is sort of like, there's a lot that goes into this once you actually hit the ground running. And so it is helpful to be able to combine forces. 

Let's talk a little bit. One of the biggest misconceptions that I hear when I talk to people is they assume that what Parentaly does is just for mothers. And since day one, we have always been gender agnostic. It doesn't matter how people are expanding their families, if they're using a surrogate, adopting, giving birth, or have a partner who's giving birth. It doesn't matter.

We've done a lot of work well before we even met Heidrick to make sure that our marketing is reflective of this broad audience. We want to be able to support everyone. 

Tell me about how you thought about that. Cause in this conversation, I've picked up on multiple times where you have mentioned a specific intention to be as broad and inclusive as possible in the parental leave experience. How did you think about when you launched this partnership, this pilot with us, how you attract and sort of market this to everyone?

Dom: You're right, we were really intentional about that. Making sure the program has participants that were representative of our global employee population, regardless of some of those attributes you mentioned, that was a priority. To start, we started with, for the pilot program with Parentaly, we started with 20 coaching program seats. The manager training would be broadly available to all people managers or future people.

But for the coaching program specifically, we created 20 ideal profiles representing birthing and non-birthing parents across different business segments, levels of seniority and regions. So this ensured that we were designing the coaching program pilot seats with diverse perspectives in mind.

And to your point about marketing, we also partnered with Parentaly to develop a comprehensive internal marketing and communication strategy. And this included leveraging our internal platforms, our intranet, Slack, like I mentioned, different methodologies that we use to communicate with our employees, email, newsletters, those types of things. Even events, we could get Parentaly on an agenda for an upcoming event where a lot of employees would be attending. Really engaging key stakeholders. And we brought in benefits, right? Corporate communications to help us really drive awareness in partnership with Parentaly.

Another tactic we employed to introduce the program globally was hosting an information session. And that was a virtual session. And employees really came in to learn about the resources, ask questions, and share feedback with the internal team and for instantly live. So that was tremendously helpful. 

Some people, no matter if you tell them by email and then you told them what you told them by email, sometimes day-to-day, it doesn't reach them in a way that will allow them to engage the way we wanted them to. So having that live session was just another opportunity for people to spend their time and really take it in. 

Finally, I'd say we've built in plenty of feedback loops into the program. I think that's so important. It will allow us to really continuously assess where it's resonating with who based on those profiles where we can improve, right? 

And ultimately, these insights will help us refine our approach and really maximize the impact for our employees worldwide. And we need this as we start to think about what this benefit looks like long term.

Cecilia: You know, I have to say that Dom loves a puzzle. And so the data, the coming up with the profiles, again, we started with a pilot. And so wanting to make sure that, from a feedback perspective, that we're having the broadest reach. So it’s not that we didn't want to make this program available to everyone, but we wanted to have that distinct profile so we can have a better assessment across various factors. 

And so when we first launched it, it was almost like a fun game because immediately we started getting responses. And as individuals, again, we don't know who the people are who were applying, but what the Parentaly team will say, well, this fits one of your profiles.

Dom: This is a profile 15 sign up!

Allison: Yeah.

Cecilia: Profile 14 was like a bingo card where we're getting individuals who match the profiles that we had established. So that let us know that our thinking and rationale made sense. It actually validated our approach based on who was applying to be a part of this pilot.

Allison: Yeah.

Dom: And we have to be flexible with those 20 profiles. In an ideal world, these exact 20 people who fit these parameters in our organization were expanding their family while we launched this pilot, right? There's no way that was going to happen. So we had to be flexible. We prioritized geographical diversity since we're a global company, right? 

So if someone was sort of a repeat of a profile, but they had a different geography that we didn't have a lot of sign ups in, we would make an exception there. And Parentaly was really flexible with us too in that regard. So if someone was coming back from leave, had already started their journey but wanted to benefit from sort of that second half of their experience returning to leave and making that seamless, Parentaly offered that seat to be a half a seat, because they were getting half the coaching program experience. 

So we were able to get more profiles in that way even, which I think will be really beneficial. And even more focused, right? They'll be able to really tune in to a specific section of that coaching program and provide feedback.

Allison: Yeah, I love this too because we spend a lot of time thinking about what is the data that we need to track before, during, and after parental leave to also understand a few things. One is why people are even signing up. 

So we ask them, what are you even hoping to get out of this experience? Because I think what I've found over the years, what's so hard about helping employees go through parental leave is there is such diversity in their experience. So many different aspects impact this, whether it's relationship aspects at home or, you know, parenting or financial or career or your manager, there's just so much. 

And so how do we track why you're coming here, what you're worried about, and then make sure that we are getting you that specific experience and support that you need. 

And so along those lines, I had a question for Cecilia, how do you then, you your end goal here is we want to retain and advance our talent. How do you think Parentaly is doing that and how do you keep a pulse on if this is working?

Cecilia: Yeah, absolutely. I'm going to start with what I would finish this statement with by starting with one of my favorite quotes. And it was from someone who, when we sent out, I think it may have been the email communication that came from me announcing this new partnership. 

The fact that there was somebody who said, I'm no longer at that stage of life where I'm going to be expanding my family, but I still think this is a great program. Right. So.

To answer your question, the partnership with Parentaly directly supports our goals because it helps us to foster a workplace and a culture that values and supports our employees at every stage of their parental journey. Looking at all of the factors, as you both have mentioned, their home situation, the way in which they are.

whether they're welcome by a surrogate, by adoption, by birth, moms, dads, right?

And so the fact that we were able to offer something that everyone could benefit really speaks to what type of company we truly are at our core. So we walk the talk, right? We actually care about you and we're demonstrating this by this amazing program that we're putting forth.

The other piece that I think was the secret win was while the pilot seats are one-to-one, the fact that, as Dom said, the managerial training, that's the secret win because you don't even need to have an employee getting ready to take leave to participate in the training as a manager. 

So that means that any manager of people can opt in and be part of that training. So it actually makes them a better manager for all sorts of leaves. So somebody could be out for a medical illness or a surgery or an injury. And so I still get to think as a manager, how do I create an environment that supports that person while they're out? And then how do I help bring them back in?

And so that I think was one of the biggest wins in this was here we get, we're making our managers better people leaders. And I think that is so key because at the end of the day, we all know that individuals don't leave companies, they leave managers.

Allison: Right.

Cecilia: So as Dom said, when we were thinking about doing this ourselves, build versus buy, we were going to fold this into our manager training. Because if you're a better manager, at some point in your career, you're going to have someone who's going to expand on their family. So this is a tool that will remain in your toolbox that you can pull out at any time.

Allison: Yeah, I think my favorite part of manager training also is when we talk about what are some of the well-intentioned assumptions that you are making because you want to support your employee but actually could be hurting them. 

And I find that, I mean, now I'm just bragging about this manager training, but I couldn't agree, I could not agree with you more that I think it's such…it's so specific in a way that we've actually found very high utilization attendance and then actually people going out and putting the learnings into practice because I think that people are really hungry for guidance and it's sort of a taboo topic, right? 

Like they don't want to ask, hey, should I ask this new mom who I know is breastfeeding if she wants to take this trip? Like, am I even allowed to ask that, right?

And so I think that there's just, totally agree with you that oftentimes we get really focused on the coaching seats for the new parents. And we sometimes forget that manager training is actually deeply powerful. 

And you're right. We even have some clients that make this mandatory, even if they don't have someone going on leave, because we all should know these things, because we're all going to have someone go on leave at some point in time, even if it's just a coworker it's not a direct report.

Cecilia: That was our approach to our HR team. We didn't make it mandatory, but we highly suggested it because we realized that when an employee shares their news, they typically share it with their HR or manager, whichever order they decide. It was really important for us that our HR team understood the workings and the offerings of parentally because they're going to be the ones doing the face-to-face

Allison: Right. Yeah, that's amazing. I know we're getting towards the end of our time here today. I want to ask you two, okay, three rapid fire fast questions. One is, can you sum up the value of the parentally and Heidrick partnership in one sentence?

Cecilia: Yeah, that's hard. But what I'll say is that this relationship, this partnership, and I think if anybody is listening or watching, you can definitely hear the relationship that we built with Alison and the team. 

But it's been so invaluable with helping us to be better equipped with the insights, the strategies, and actionable solutions that are needed to create a globally consistent and inclusive parental leave program that empowers our employees and strengthens our leadership pipeline.

So I think that you do both. You help us empower employees and you help us through manager training make a stronger leadership pipeline.

Dom: Well, mine is going to be a run on sentence. No, I feel like the value of our work together, and I agree with everything Cecilia said, it's really rooted in the seamless collaboration. There was a shared attention to detail. 

It really allowed us to create a high quality experience that wasn't only tailored to our employees' unique needs, but it was also perfectly aligned with our company culture.

I mean, at some point, I feel like we were blurring the lines between our teams. And I mean that in the most impactful way, right? I mean, we often joke that we're basically working for each other's companies at a certain point in the onboarding process.

Allison: I love that. two out of three, the second question is, if you had a magic wand that you could wave and have one thing come true for all of your employees going on parental leave, what would you wish for?

Cecilia: Yeah, I think that welcoming someone to your family, right, regardless of whether it's your first, second or third, it's such a special time. And so my magic wand would be for all of our employees to feel both professionally and emotionally the support so that they can be fully present to embrace this new chapter with confidence, knowing that their growth in their career, knowing that their contributions are valued, and feeling that they have the support that's needed, whatever they need to fully integrate in a manner that works for them, both going on leave, while they're on leave, and when they come back into the office or back into work.

Dom: I agree. I would love our employees to feel no fear on that side of things when they're taking parental leave, that nothing is going to derail their progress within the company and their professional growth path just because they're going on parental leave. So I feel like the support we offer, it should mitigate that fear to the greatest extent possible. That would be my magic wand.

‍Allison: Amazing. Last question is, what are you most excited for outside of Parentally and Parental Leave within your world today, looking into 2025? What are the projects or topics or initiatives that you're most excited about? Or maybe pick one, because I'm sure you have a lot going on.

Dom: I would say there's a new program that we launched recently that I'm really excited about. It's called Generations at Heidrick. It really mirrors our approach to inclusion, right, and how it's constantly evolving to meet the needs of our people. And the Generations program, which I like to call my baby, right, it's a great example because it stemmed from employees identifying the need to bridge generational divides. 

Have four, sometimes five generations in the workplace right now. And it was such a full circle moment. listening to their feedback, employee engagement surveys, word of mouth, those types of things, developing a tailored solution, and seeing such strong engagement. We're right in the middle of our first cohort of the Generations Program.

I mean, participation more than doubled compared to other voluntary programs we've launched. And that feels like such a big win for the inclusion and belonging team. And looking ahead, our inclusion and belonging efforts, they're really focused on broadening the definition of diversity and embracing people's full identities. 

So I'm really excited about that, whether it's faith-based, age, first generation, socioeconomic status, and beyond, right? Really ensuring every individual feels valued and motivated to do their best work and I think that translates into the best service for our clients. So really excited about that.
Cecilia: Absolutely. I couldn't say it any better. That was perfect.

Allison: I love that program. had the pleasure of hearing a little bit more about that before. And I think what's so interesting to me also is that it is actually deeply rooted in business success. The more that different generations can work together, the more everyone is going to do better and your clients are going to be able to have that benefit. And so it feels like it is so perfectly aligned to so many goals. And I just think it's a unique project program initiative that you've launched. So thank you for sharing that. 

Thank you both for your time today. We went longer than I expected, but we are so happy about this partnership. Our team loves working with your team and thank you for coming on and sharing more about the work that you've done because at the end of the day, we need people who are deeply passionate about the employee experience like you are to first identify the areas for improvement and what is working well that we can come together to solve and make this better for everyone. 

And so I just think what you've done, all of the pre-work you did, and then how we work together to actually move that into the solution stage is such a great blueprint for other people to be able to learn from. So thank you so much for your time today.

Cecilia: Allison, thank you and your team for the work that you do. And I know that you've all benefited as well. And so thank you for taking your lived experiences and turning it into something that does good for companies and for our employees. So thank you.

Allison: Thank you.

Dom: Thank you for having us. It's a pleasure to work with your team. And I know it will be a long and fruitful relationship. And I'm really excited to continue exploring that. Thank you for having us today, letting us share our story.

‍Allison: Likewise. Thanks.