How the employee empowerment network supports Goodwill employees

In 2022, we realized many of our team members who work in our store and donation centers were facing similar barriers to employment as the people in our communities. 

So, we decided to extend our mission services to our first community from the inside out. We launched the Employee Empowerment Network at the Retail Operations Center in Racine, Wisconsin with the goal of confidentially engaging 100 employees. Thirty employees enrolled with concerns related to economic stability, including emergency housing, rent and utility assistance, and car repair. We also discovered they needed support understanding and accessing the benefits already available to them, such as our Employee Assistance Program and Employee Life Fund. The launch was so successful that we have created a plan to scale the program across our enterprise to reach more employees in 2023 and beyond. 

Will Page is a member of the team launching the program. “It’s been incredibly rewarding to help our own employees overcome challenges they are facing both personally and professionally in order to set them up to be the best versions of themselves.”