Learning Series | Launching a CSR Program with Vanessa Davis

Summary: Learn how Vanessa Davis launched Octo's CSR department and focused on engaging employees during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Transcript:

‍Andy - WeHero: Well, very excited to have Vanessa Davis here today. We have worked with Vanessa on a variety of different initiatives with we hero, but she is involved in the overall corporate social responsibility, employee engagement employee altruism, that world and that universe. So thank you for joining us. Very excited to have you here today.

Vanessa Davis: Excited to be here. Thanks Andy.

Andy - WeHero: Yeah, well maybe we'll just start off. We obviously know a little bit about your background, but if you wouldn't share just your background, the role you're in now, the role that you created for yourself just to give people a little bit of background on, on where you sit,

Vanessa Davis: Absolutely happy to do that. So I lead, as you said, corporate social responsibility as we well as employee engagement for my company, Okta we're a technology firm. We serve federal government agencies. So most of our employees are highly skilled technologists working on artificial intelligence, machine learning, really cool stuff. That's helping our government agencies modernize and solve many problem problems we all face today. So I'm excited to step into this role as of last year. Actually it was probably around January when I started having conversations with leadership about how the programs they had around corporate social responsibility. They're all kind of driven by different people across the board who were willing to step up and lead a little thing here and there. And we had this opportunity to make it like a full blown program. I said, this could be a full time position.

Vanessa Davis: So they said go for it. And, and that led into the job that I hold today. Prior to that background wise, I worked for Arizona state university for over a decade proud sun devil myself. And I worked in sustainability with the global Institute of sustainability and led program management for a global consortium, worked with faculty and students across seven different countries across three continents. I think we had 13 or 14 member universities on this program. I supported at the time I left and we were actually not just researching the sustainability challenges out there, but creating solutions, piloting them at member institutions and scaling them even across governments. We, we had success across scaling sustainability curriculum across the German government. They put out, you know, a German certified certification and same thing with the, the Mexican government. So when I stepped into the technology role and the technology world at large, you know, I as an opportunity to bring some of that solution making into this, into this space because, you know, lots of tech skills and a lot of people who are really passionate about the different causes different challenges, wicked challenges that we face in society. And I wanna put that, that skill to use. So leveraging things like skills based volunteering is, is something that's really big in, in my current role now.

Andy - WeHero: Yeah, yeah. Will appreciate that background. I did not know you weren't so involved in the sustainability and that whole programming it's really it's kind of full circle there. It seems like.

Vanessa Davis: Yeah, it truly is. And, and really I could share backstory even further back. It really started in second grade. When I ran for commissioner of the environment at my elementary school first

Andy - WeHero: All what elementary school had that role?

Vanessa Davis: It, it was not I sit actually here on the other side of the country of, of where my corporation is headquartered in rest in Virginia. That's where Okta is. I'm in Arizona and to be Arizona, Arizona is not seen historically as a place where you learn about sustainability education. At least not when I was in elementary school, that was the one year I happened to live in California. So this was in Northern California. We, we had that baked into our curriculum, so it was a student government role and it was the same time I watched Erin Brockovich. And so, you know, just these little things in society are the things that give us passion and that growth. And you know, ended up meeting the person who led ASU global Institute of sustainability and he recruited me. So that's, that's how I got into that job.

Andy - WeHero: So awesome. Nor well as a resident of Northern California, I'm not surprised I was part of the curriculum and I'm glad we had a little bit of an influence on you.

Vanessa Davis: Yeah, those are mine.

Andy - WeHero: Yeah. So, so when you transitioned this role, it sounded like last January. What did you, how did you design the role and kind of what goals were you trying to achieve? And I guess ultimately, why did the leadership team enable you to do this and what were they hoping to get out of it?

Vanessa Davis: Great question. So I came actually from another technology company connect which was Okta's first acquisition. And in that role, I was the office manager and oversaw our corporate social responsibility initiatives, employee engagement. We put on lots of social. We had lots of wellness related programming and that was something I was able to step into. This new company Okta had acquired us. And, you know, so now we've got many more employees we can leverage to drive impact. And, you know, I, I just showcased that to the leadership. Leadership is all been very engaged in corporate social responsibilities from the get go. Our CEO himself donated 10 million last year to Virginia tech. Quarter of that went to launch the market at Virginia tech, which was, which is helping to close the food security gap on campus with students who might be a little more food poor.

Vanessa Davis: And that's important, you know, because if, if you're hungry, the learning outcomes are, are not up to par at all. And then we, the rest of those funds went to help launch of the Singani. This Isani is our CEO, the Singani center of artificial intelligence and data analytics there. So, you know, we, it, it just goes to show that, you know, when you have leadership that really is aligned with social responsibility as a, as their own personal passion, it makes it that much easy year to sell these things. And I gotta tell you, since we did this, I, I feel like it's, I've seen it more and more coming out of like the board side of the corporate world. Mm. You know, it's, it's sustainability ESG. So your environmental, social governance initiatives these things are real the top of mind right now across not just Okta, but I'd say industries across the board.

Andy - WeHero: Yeah. And do you think that that interest is largely reputational driven or do you think people are starting to understand the benefit of doing these things for their company? Internally?

Vanessa Davis: I, I think now nowadays it's, it's leaning more toward the latter of what you just pointed out. I can share with you, you know, when, when I was a sustainability student at ASU while I worked at ASU, because thank you for the free tuition. I love that benefit. I, I, you know, heard a lot more about greenwash and that was, that was more prevalent back in those days where, you know, it was more about, you know, we're doing this because it looks like the right thing to do. It makes us look great on paper. That said, when you looked at actions taken by a lot of companies, you know, sometimes the actions didn't really align with the commitments they we're putting out in social media for existence. But now I think the education is starting to catch on. A lot of corporations are starting to educate their staff around sustainability challenges that we face and get them engaged. And you know, what our personal actions you can take, what are actions your team can take collectively. And that's, that's something that we're doing with our Okta impact hub which is our internal employee engagement platform that we partner with, we aspire on.

Andy - WeHero: Yeah, no, it's awesome. And I think that trend is, is, is a positive one away from the greenwashing, more towards understanding it. And I think we, we get really excited that more and more of these incredible, you know, institutions, universities out there are just coming out with great data to support this, what I think companies already seeing. And so I'm excited to hear that you think the trend is, is a positive one. And so you're sitting in your seat, what are your annual goals and, and how do you measure your success, I guess, for your business, but also for the communities that you're trying to support?

Vanessa Davis: Yeah. Great question. So where I sit, you know, I, I've got a big scope, so what's our, our social responsibility impact in the communities that we serve, but also around team morale, you know, keeping a pulse on team morale is, is important because that impacts your engagement. And if you don't have high levels of engagement, then you're not able to make that impact in the communities that, that you're serving. So team morale, employ wellbeing and community impact I'd say are the, the three areas where the goals that I oversee fall into and then we, we work together to formulate those goals. And so as, as a sustainability professional myself, you know, I I'm really big on not trying to create things myself in a vacuum. I, under San, you know, it's, it's important to have stakeholders involved in those conversations.

Vanessa Davis: And so we were very intentional from the start of developing really formalizing our, our CSR program about making sure we had all the right stakeholders in the room. So our CSR committee which has a think currently around 30 members on it includes representatives from every business unit in the organization and from every location where our employees sit as well. And these people range from entry level to very senior level folks who you know, I've got one who leads our, our center or of excellence for artificial intelligence that sits on our committee. So, you know, it, it's a range of different expertise as well. And so you're bringing, and then diversity as well. You're bringing all those different perspectives to the table when you have opportunities. So that you've got all those voices to, to answer the question. And, you know, is, is this aligned with our strategy, which at Okta, our CSR strategy is really centered on serving vulnerable populations.

Vanessa Davis: So lifting up people so they don't fall through the cracks. And then also serving food security technology, education pipeline, and, and that goes from K to gray or from the classroom to the boardroom, if you like that language better. And then also health outcomes, because we happen to work with quite a few health agencies with the government. So it, it, it helps. And it helps for someone like myself who was successful in advocating for a single position to do all of this big work, you know, to actually have the resources, the man and the woman power to, to actually kick these things off and make impact, because it really does take a village.

Andy - WeHero: Yeah. Doing good is hard is, is the one thing we, we all probably overlook, but I, I think the thing I appreciate the most is that that 30 person like working group or committee, cause I think often we see at companies, maybe there's a three person CSR division, if they're a large company and then they are kind of reporting into one person and there's gentle relationship to the business leaders and HR, but at the end of the day, you know, we think, and I'm curious if you agree with this, you know, the program's only really working if you're listening to what leaders want about the mission of the company, as well as what, you know, the entry level employee wants. And so it seems like instead of doing a bunch of surveying and, and interviews, you kind of just combine that into a really diverse working group. And so everyone's moving in the right direction.

Vanessa Davis: And I I'd say really all of it, you know, you, the working group is, is really critical for having that collaboration so you can make an impact, but I think surveys still have, they're still very useful tool for especially taking a pulse on employee morale. And then having those interviews, those more informal touch bases with your, your community partners, with the different employee groups that you serve. I think all of that's important because, you know, it's all, this is all holistic, you know, we've gotta take all of the data, the, the quantitative and the qualitative, and that's what tells us, you know, are we really serving our mission here?

Andy - WeHero: Yeah, yeah. And I think that's it sounds like you have enough man and woman power behind you to do that, which is, it is awesome to hear. Industry has changed a lot due to COVID and just the whole working world and the employee engagement CSR world would be really curious to hear, you know, how Okta has handled it, you know, how have the surveys around employee satisfaction gone? What tools have you used to mitigate that? And I guess as you look out two years to five years, you know, assuming you have that crystal ball, what is gonna change and what is gonna be the steady state going forward?

Vanessa Davis: Yeah. A, a lot has changed with the pandemic and, you know, I, I tend to be probably an overly optimistic person. And so I'll, I'll share, you know, I, I think a lot of silver linings came out of it despite, you know, the, the immense challenges that, you know, families are, are facing that have been directly impacted by COVID. I think it's, it's helped push corporations and organizations with large into a zone where they're more comfortable with giving their employees a little more autonomy. As, as someone when I worked at, in sustainability at Arizona state, I was an executive assistant. I remember back then pitching to my amazing boss. Who's still my mentor. At the time, you know, let, let me work from home like one day a week, because I feel like if I have less distractions, I could get so much more done that didn't fly at the time.

Vanessa Davis: Fast forward to pandemic, you know, I, I still am friends with a number of folks in the executive assistant world, and they all have excelled during the pandemic because they were able to, to take that autonomy and move projects forward faster. And because they, they have the right mode to collaborate, you know, they know how to get things done. They're superheroes, if you'll of, of any organization wanna find someone who can do someone at an organization look for the executive assistant, just I note there. But in general for Okta, we, we found a lot of success in leaning into that autonomy and flexibility and trusting our employees and we've had great results with it. And I think our federal government customers, from what I've heard through our program management team, they've, they've also had the same experience, you know, and, and some of them have even at least up until today and who knows, maybe it'll end up being a little more permanent LA you know, their policies around being able to work from home.

Vanessa Davis: So now Okta officially has an alternative of work scheduled policy that allows flexibility. So essentially it doesn't matter what hours you're working, as long as you're putting in the hours. And, you know, you're able to create a set schedule for yourself that you and your manager can agree on. And that, that helps serve employees, such as myself, who have school age, kids at home home who were doing school during the pandemic and, you know, certain portions of school, they really need that, that extra assistance. And so, you know, it really went a long way in showcasing to our employee workforce that we we're here for them. And we recognize that we can't be successful as an organization unless we are in enabling them to be successful as individuals. And so we, we stood up that the flexible work schedule, we stood up the employee engagement platform that I talked about, our Okta impact hub two weeks after we all moved to remote work.

Vanessa Davis: And I think that that that's really what truly helped build the gap in the social experience, you know, because we're all experiencing isolation or we're overwhelmed by, you know, our family members being around a little too much. You know, and so having these disability to connect I think it, there was an appetite for it even before the pandemic. And I think I suspect that many workplaces are like Okta, where you've got a distributed workforce and, you know, different people that are yearning to connect with folks, you know, from another team, from another location. And when you've got these, these platforms like we aspire which we dove Okta impact hub that lets those people come together, they can share stories, they can take action together, they can do virtual volunteering with we hero. I remember it was December. We, we did our first engagement with you all writing letters to the elderly, you know, in the communities where our employees live and work.

Vanessa Davis: And, and that was, you know, I, I heard from a lot of our employees who engaged a nice mental break as well from, you know, the, the craziness of, of the Workday and the pandemic in general. And it made us all feel good because we're all yearning to see our aunts and uncles and cousins and grandmas and grandpas. And we couldn't do that then. So I think, you know, it, it goes both ways. And once you get employees engaged, it's, it's like they're hooked and then they keep coming back from more and then you're serving more and more impact.

Andy - WeHero: Yeah, totally. I, I mean, I couldn't agree more, I think back to pre COVID, we worked with some of the really large tech companies in the bay area, and the big problem they were having is they had half of their product management team in San Francisco. Yeah. Half in New York and maybe a few people, Seattle and Atlanta. And they're like, like, this is one team we need to find a way to work together. And those were big barriers. And I think now, like you said, the barriers have broken down. There's a sense of normalcy. And I think, especially for the skills based knowledge based economy that you guys operate in, I think in powering your employees through the flexibility is just really powerful and can, can drive engagement when done the right way. And it sounds like the we fire platform allows you to do that in a, in an efficient and kind of fruitful way, which is great.

Vanessa Davis: And it's, it's very action oriented. So the, the campaigns are really each, each campaign has different action items listed, and then we're collecting that data in the background. So picture a sustainability campaign that says, you know, here are a list of ways you can personally impact sustainability you know, change out your light bulbs to L E D and then we're ticking off those actions. And that's actually, you know, quantifiable data that we're collecting to build, to say across our workforce, you know, we're, we're saving this much energy in their households, you know, so it's not just operationally, but, you know, impacting that behavior change, which as someone who my, my degree, my free from ASU was an interdisciplinary studies focused on sustainability and sociology, because I feel like behavior change is the most toughest nut of sustainability to crack. And you know, that, that's why, you know, I'm a big supporter of we fire and platforms like that, that use action driven campaigns.

Andy - WeHero: Yeah. And then being able to quantify it through corporate level data just provides more buy-in from the leadership which is, which is awesome. Yeah. All right. Final question. And I'm gonna make it a little harder on you. So you obviously work at a company where the CEO himself is so passionate about this. Yeah. Now let's say Okta doesn't exist and you're going to another technology company, that's say 75 to, you know, a hundred people. The CEO gives back personally, but it's not his passion and he's not doing it at the scale that the Okta CEO is same time. His peer groups, everyone's saying, Hey, you need to focus on, you know, CSR employee engagements, you are dropped in there. What, what do you do? What plan do you set and what do you achieve over the first six to 12 months to try to make this success?

Vanessa Davis: I, it's a great question. And I I've run into other CSR professionals. Who've asked it before. And honestly, I, I wouldn't have done anything different than when we started last January. So, so if I look at like a six month period you know, I, I look at pitching this to our C and if it was at a different company, you know, I would still show like, here's the value add to the company, and here's the value add to your employee base? And here's the value add to the community. So you, you've gotta show them, you know, lead them to the, yes, we support you and, and empower them by saying, you know, we've got staff here at Okta or whatever your company is that can help drive this. You know, we, we don't have to necessarily create a whole nother 10 person team.

Vanessa Davis: You know, it, Okta is proof in the pudding. We, we have all voluntary based committee members and they get a total of one hour of time per month that is paid. The rest of it is voluntary. And it just goes to show that, you know, when you give someone the opportunity to step up and apply their skills in a really cool way that serves the community, they'll do it, especially when you do things like incentive of his volunteer time, too. So we just launched a volunteer grants for good program, where once an employee logs, 25 hours, they get a $250 credit on the Okta impact hub to go and give back to a, a charity of their choice. Awesome. Typically, an employee will give back to that same organization. They gave their time to, so essentially the corporate corporation is helping to enable their impact to go twice as far.

Vanessa Davis: So you know, it support your, your employees show up for your employees and they will show up for you. You know, I'll, I'll share that not every senior leadership person I go to, you know, fully embraces it the same way our CEO does. But I'm always able to get them over to that, that, you know, over, over that point where they at least feel like they're willing to try it. And then once you show results, it, it, you can't stop it from growing. So that's my challenge now is, you know, I've got me one, one full-time position. Yeah. And our opportunities to impact community have just been growing exponentially. As a result of that, you know, we now have a, a little bit more support. I've got a, a person for eight hours a week that's been super helpful.

Vanessa Davis: And we've got double the CSR budget this year compared to last year. So, you know, if you can take that back to your leadership team and showcase, you know, here's, what's possible, give me a little leeway to, to pilot this, you know, pitch it as a pilot, if they're not that comfortable with it, because I think once you start into the work and you're starting to show outcomes, keep sharing that with your executive executive leadership team, because they're gonna share it up with their board. And these are things that, you know, even invest teams board boards everywhere are looking for from their, their corporations. So it's important.

Andy - WeHero: Yeah. I love what you mentioned, just how once you get the employees involved, there's no stopping them. Yes. It's almost like a snowball effect, I guess, in Arizona, like a sand just continually growing. Yeah, exactly. And that, I think ultimately because the data's there, you're gonna continue to see more success and engagements and the leadership team can't say no to that. I feel like once they see the benefits,

Vanessa Davis: Yeah. Especially when you have employees, you know, commenting publicly on your big slack channels. Like, Hey, we really love that we were able to nominate those public charities, you know, that, you know, the corporation put up money matching funds for or we were able to submit our own designs for a company t-shirt, you know, and, and then we had peer based voting and then we sent out the t-shirt to everyone. So engage your employees. And, you know, it's what creates a Tivity too. If, if you wanna keep your, is retained,

Andy - WeHero: Like that word

Vanessa Davis: You know, it really helps to, to create reasons that they wanna come to work, make them happy to show up every day, no matter if in person or at home.

Andy - WeHero: Yeah. They're still showing up just the same.

Vanessa Davis: Exactly.

Andy - WeHero: Well, Vanessa, I really appreciate it as always great to learn from you and, and about the success that you're having. And if anyone wants to reach out to Vanessa, I'm sure she's available on LinkedIn and online. I don't know if you have a Twitter that you post about this type of stuff on, but you should, if you don't

Vanessa Davis: Not as active on Twitter anymore, but I'm, I'm VB greeny there. I'm definitely active on LinkedIn. So look me up. I'm happy to connect with, with anyone and everyone share the love.

Andy - WeHero: Yeah. Awesome. Well, thank you again, Vanessa and we will talk again later.