The 10 Core Values That Help These Companies Support Their Teams

1. Do what is right, always.

2. Inspire passion and adventure.

3. Take ownership. Get it done.

4. Celebrate authenticity.

5. Focus on outcomes.

6. Drive connection and teamwork.

7. Fuel growth and innovation.

8. Stay humble and curious.

9. Smile.

10. Build and shape a better future.

These 10 core values drive the success of Slalom — a consulting firm focused on strategy, technology and business transformation — and Slalom Build — which creates the digital products and experiences that technology-driven organizations use to drive true change.

Together, these companies have an impressive global reach and work with leading clients from around the world, including Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, Microsoft, Salesforce and Tableau, as well as startups, nonprofits and innovative organizations of all kinds.

To learn more about these companies and their award-winning cultures where women like you can grow careers with confidence, we reached out to Stephanie Foerst, Senior Consultant at Slalom LLC, and Elysia Lock, Senior Architect at Slalom Build. Here’s what they had to say!

Describe what your company does in one sentence.

Foerst: Slalom is a global consulting firm that helps people and organizations dream bigger, move faster, and build better tomorrows for all.

Lock: Slalom Build consultants bring deep experience in building technology products and the end-to-end capabilities to realize client goals.

What differentiates your company from others in its space and industry?

Foerst: I really feel that Slalom cares about their employees. Yes, sometimes projects can get difficult and require extra time, but there’s a focus on making sure we’re not being overused and that we’re helped in our work. I’ve never felt so supported by a team when leaving on PTO as I have here!

Lock: Slalom Build sends entire squads, rather than one or two consultants, to partner with clients and build cutting-edge technology products. We work in a wide variety of industries, and each of our Builders has a depth of experience in specific technologies and industries, which allows us to quickly and efficiently provide value to our clients as soon as we start a project. We also truly value diversity, and it shows in who you see at our offices and the initiatives and opportunities we provide to our people.

Describe employee benefits that positively impact women who work at your company.

Foerst: There are some new benefits launching soon around family planning. Not just expanding adoption and fertility benefits, but also benefits for freezing eggs and surrogacy. While these benefits will not be used by all women, the expansion will allow a greater number of women to take advantage of these benefits (and something not many companies offer).

Lock: 

• Excellent parental leave and adoption benefits and policies; the best I have seen in my 15-year career.

• Several employee resource groups (ERGs) for women, BIPOC, LGBTQ+, parents and veterans, which allow us to find people that look like us.

• Leadership truly encourages us to bring our whole selves to work.

• Excellent work-life balance.

• A wide variety of mentorship and career development programs, including some directed specifically at female-identifying folks, to help everyone achieve their career goals.

Again, these are some of the best career development programs that I have seen in my entire career.

What are other unique benefits or perks your company offers employees?

Foerst: A flexible well-being fund! You can use it for your Peloton membership, yoga classes, relieve some financial stress, or donate it to a charity. It’s really nice to be able to pick where to spend the funds — not everyone wants the same thing!

Lock: As a pregnant person and a mom, the parental leave benefits are personally very important to me. I also love Project Ada, which supports those identifying as women to pursue AWS certifications and compete in Game Days and hackathons. This program alone has seen a massive uptick in the number of certifications owned by women — from 6% to 50% in two years. 

Breaking Barriers also focuses on supporting traditionally underrepresented communities in upskilling and earning certifications in Azure. Our flexible return-to-office approach has been very important to me, and I love that when I’m in the office I can shoot some hoops, drink some on-tap cold brew or beer, soak up some lovely Lake Michigan views, or head up to the 70th floor café, bar, and fitness center.

What career development opportunities can women job seekers expect at your company? How is career pathing approached?

Foerst: In addition to a regular promotion path, Slalom provides opportunities to make horizontal shifts based on your interests. For example, if a consultant is interested in making the move into the Salesforce space, there's training and support for that move.

Lock: I like to think of this as a “choose your own adventure” approach. If we want to deepen our technical expertise, we can participate in certification programs for specific technologies or work with our people managers to be aligned to projects that give us hands-on experience. If we want to develop our personal brand and voice, we have classes around that, blogs we can contribute to and a wealth of opportunities to practice public speaking. If we’re not sure what we want or want to explore our options, there are mentorship programs and leaders who will talk us through that and provide guidance.

Career pathing has clearly defined roles with outlined expectations within each practice. Once consultants want to move into leadership, there is an official process in which we choose what kind of leader we want to be, craft our personal story around that and do some self-assessment to make sure we’re ready to progress. We get to choose our own team of advocates to present these materials to so that they can advocate for and ensure our advancement. I love this approach and feel like it’s very different from most places, where you simply ask for a promotion and a few managers decide whether or not you advance.

What’s something you think most people (perhaps even current employees) don’t know about your company that you think they should?

Foerst: The Atlanta office has a Coke machine that you hug! You place your hands around it and give it a hug and it gives you a soda.

Lock: We love to have fun! I’ve never been a person who liked company retreats and team meetings — I always found them cheesy and boring. Slalom is truly not like that. I miss our in-person weekend retreats, and I’ve brought my family to two of them. I’m so glad they’re returning this year. They really are great theme parties and a good chance to connect with some of my favorite coworkers and get to know them, their partners and sometimes even their families.

What’s one thing your company does — whether a formal policy or program, or more in terms of office culture — that you think is particularly unique or unexpected?

Lock: If there is a goal you have professionally or personally, you can find support for it. We talk about delivery excellence and delighting clients a lot, but we’re also very serious when we tell people to bring their whole selves to work. The more you lean into that, the more likely you are to really love your work. Slalom is the first place I’ve been out and proud as a bisexual mom who goes to Burning Man, and my manager is also a queer burner who supports and celebrates me. It’s pretty awesome.

Is there anything else women should know about pursuing a career here?

Foerst: I've been recruiting female friends of mine — and I didn't do that in previous jobs — so I say do it! 

Lock: You are your best advocate. Speak up and share your dreams and goals, because people care and want to see you achieve them.

Want to help make a positive impact at these companies, which always put people first? They’re hiring! Check out open opportunities below!

Fairygodboss is proud to partner with Slalom and Slalom Build. Find a job at these companies today!