News / Case Studies
/ 07.08.19 /
ZS Amplifies Employee Volunteer Efforts to Elevate Women in the Workforce with Working for Women
CASE IN POINT: THE WORKING FOR WOMEN MODEL IN ACTION
Through its Women’s Leadership Initiative (WLI) and ZS Cares NY initiative, the professional services company ZS illustrates a new model of corporate social engagement tailored by Working for Women that is mutually beneficial to the corporate partner, individual staff participants and nonprofits. Working for Women (W4W) created a customized employee engagement opportunity for ZS that applies business resources to nonprofits geared to underserved women. This tailored model of engagement is designed by W4W to help grow organizational capacity for W4W nonprofit partners, allowing them to reach more women, and ultimately achieve W4W’s goal of helping more women reach economic independence.
Says Hensley Evans, ZS principal and leader of the WLI: “Our partnership with W4W aligns closely with our company values—doing the right thing, treating people right, and getting it right. We hope that this makes ZS a more engaging place to work for individuals for whom giving back is part of what they look for in an employer.”
The Impact:
W4W worked closely with the ZS NY office to develop and deliver employee engagement that:
- Created a significant impact in helping elevate women in the workforce by offering value to nonprofits and the women they serve
- Utilized and developed ZSers’ unique skills in activities and initiatives
- Created a memorable and meaningful experience for ZSers that also increased participation in the ZS Cares volunteer program
- Met employee goal for giving back to the community in which they live and work
- Opened opportunity for ongoing and expanded relationships with W4W and its nonprofit partners
For the ZS experience, W4W partnered with two of its nonprofit partners and developed the following initiatives:
For Bottomless Closet, which empowers NYC women in need to enter the workforce and achieve success: W4W facilitated a ZS professional clothing drive that resulted in over 200 donations. ZSers toured Bottomless Closet’s showroom, and more importantly, met staff and clients.
“It was exciting to see in-person how the donations we had collected in the office would make an impact on the community…. we ran into a few Bottomless Closet clients who were preparing for interviews and sampling donated clothing – this added a personal touch to the entire process. I look forward to seeing how ZS can continue to partner with Working for Women and Bottomless Closet to support the women in our local community!” – ZSer
Based on the success of this initial partnership, ZS will partner with Bottomless Closet to develop a plan for a mobile unit to allow Bottomless Closet to expand their service reach and assist more women.
With New Women New Yorkers (NWNY), which empowers young immigrant women in NYC to get their first paying, fulfilling job: W4W and ZS ran a workshop on how to negotiate in job interviews and how to navigate the offer process, followed by an office tour and panel discussion. Feedback was so strong among NWNY participants and ZSers that ZS will host another workshop, as well as work with W4W to find other nonprofits with whom to share this experience.
“It meant so much to share my experience with these women. It truly feels great to see that ZS is spending the time to empower women like me. Thank you all again. PS: Please count me in for any future events.” – ZSer
About ZS
ZS is a professional services firm that works side by side with companies to help develop and deliver products that drive customer value and company results. We leverage our deep industry expertise, leading-edge analytics, technology and strategy to create solutions that work in the real world. With more than 35 years of experience and 6,000-plus ZSers in 24 offices worldwide, we are passionately committed to helping companies and their customers thrive. To learn more, visit www.zs.com or follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.