Slalom Columbus: Building a Fiercely Human Employee Experience
Learn why Slalom’s Columbus market is being recognized as a great place to work and how your organization can adopt a people-first approach.
By Julie Westerbeck and Charlene Bridges
At Slalom, our people come first and our core values guide how we work. We help people and organizations dream bigger, move faster, and build better tomorrows for all. We’re guided by our vision of a world in which each person has the opportunity to love their life and work.
Our fiercely human ethos shows up in everything we do, and we are proud to share that Columbus Business First has recognized Slalom Columbus as a 2022 Best Place to Work for Central Ohio.
Providing a top-notch employee experience isn’t just lip service
Slalom is a purpose-led, global business and technology consulting firm in 43 markets around the world. Our journey in Columbus began three years ago, shortly before the start of the pandemic. As a newer market, the immediate pivot to a remote and hybrid work environment was daunting — how could we maintain our culture in a growth period when most of our people haven’t had the opportunity to meet in-person? With this new shift. we knew we needed to rapidly evolve.
Guided by Slalom’s organizational effectiveness capability, we used an ETHOS framework to navigate the complexities of the new landscape to reimagine employee experience (EX) and build our culture. The war for talent is fiercer than ever before and EX differentiates Slalom as an employer of choice. The best part? The data supports this approach. We’ve seen a nearly 10% increase YoY on our employee experience index, while growing the size of the team by more than 100%.
Our people-first approach
So how do we do this? Engagement is a foundational construct within EX, and we use human-centered design to build a culture where people are central to the solutions we create. Our people programs start with empathy and involve people in the design and structure. We operate under a test and learn mindset, aiming to iterate and continuously improve as we gather feedback.
We’ve discovered being intentional about connection and appreciation provides the greatest foundation for EX. One of the most impactful ways we’ve built connection is through a standing “Coffee and Donuts” weekly morning connect where we go around a virtual room to discuss a topic (i.e., What’s the best pizza in Columbus? The best advice you’ve ever received?). This has dramatically improved our ability to connect and has created a virtual water cooler. Work is never the priority in this meeting — connection is the priority.
Other engagement programs include Colleague Connect, ERGs (Employee Resource Groups), a new hire buddy program, and employee-led events like the golf club and book club. Beyond building connections, we want our people to feel recognized for their effort in meaningful ways. We show appreciation through our Culture Club, quarterly office awards, and actively using our office-wide Teams channel to provide shout-outs, share humor, and recognize milestones. Moments of appreciation matter in our culture, whether from your manager, peers or leadership.
What our people say
“Since joining Slalom, I’ve been so impressed with our culture. Not only do we offer a variety of fun programs and events at work, but leadership allows us the flexibility to enjoy our lives outside of work. It’s refreshing to have the encouragement to recharge, enabling me to do my best for our clients.”
- Kaitlyn Annandono, Consultant
The Columbus Business First award represents the collective voice of our people-first, values-based culture. We believe that employees and clients seek us out because of our culture and recognition like the Best Places to Work Award lets prospective employees and clients know that our bar is high.
“When we thought about opening the Columbus office of Slalom, we knew we were building a local culture based on Slalom’s values and principles. And this Slalom foundation enabled us to launch something special in the Columbus market. We started Day One with the idea that we wanted every single person in this office to feel valued, connected, and empowered to bring their whole self to their daily lives. What we have built exceeds our vision and we are humbled to continue to learn from each other and support each other every day. We believe this is the consulting revolution that will ensure our people, our partners, and our clients can love their lives and futures.”
- Channie Mize, General Manager
Slalom is a global consulting firm that helps people and organizations dream bigger, move faster, and build better tomorrows for all. Learn more and reach out today.
