As we approach the end of the year, we’re taking a look back at all of our achievements of 2021 to celebrate, learn and gain momentum as we continue growing in the new year. In 2021, we experienced new partnerships, awards, growth, media coverage, team bonding activities, and the opportunity to continue helping organizations resolve misconduct and improve company culture. We’ve rounded up a few of our favorite highlights from the past year.
2021 Work Shield Milestones
Partnerships and Announcements
In 2021, Work Shield implemented several business updates that help us to more efficiently partner with organizations to to manage workplace misconduct and create safer, more equitable and inclusive environments. In addition to moving our Work Shield headquarters to the Crescent in Uptown Dallas, we also made other exciting business moves as well.
- Portal 2.0: In March, we launched Portal 2.0, which includes upgraded incident management and reporting capabilities designed to preserve and protect organizational cultural health. The Work Shield Portal provides employers with real-time data and a comprehensive snapshot of the cultural health of their workplace environment. The portal gives organizations increased visibility of their workplace culture with the ability to dig in deep to track relevant trends and analytics. It’s the one-stop-shop for access to everything they need to handle workplace incidents.
- Sign Up page: While we know how easy it is to use our Work Shield solution, we wanted to make it even easier for organizations to sign up for Work Shield, which is why we unveiled a new sign up page directly on our website. Leveraging technology for a more efficient process is key, and this begins with the onboarding process and continues throughout our service.
- Partnership with IntegrityFirst: In addition to our existing partnerships, in September we announced a distribution partnership with IntegrityFirst, an industry leader in pre-employment integrity testing. As a Work Shield partner, IntegrityFirst will further help their growing client base create safe environments by providing our effective workplace misconduct reporting solution.
Awards and Events
It’s always an honor to be recognized for our efforts and one-of-a-kind solution in improving the way organizations handle workplace incidents. Most recently, we were thrilled to accept several awards, while also furthering our knowledge of the industry by participating in events.
- August: Work Shield co-founder and CEO Jared Pope was awarded the Work Proud Recognition of Achievement, celebrating and recognizing his contributions, practices and approaches to building and inspiring employee-first culture.
- September: Jared Pope and Work Shield CLO Travis Foster attended the D CEO Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Symposium to participate in important conversations surrounding making workplaces more inclusive and equitable.
- October: Our CLO Travis Foster was named a finalist for D Magazine’s D CEO Corporate Counsel Awards, and Work Shield was selected as a finalist for the D CEO and Dallas Innovates 2022 Innovation Awards.
- November: Work Shield was selected as a finalist for the EHIR (Employer Health Innovation Roundtable) Legal Technology Innovation Fall 2021 Roundtable Meeting where we shared our cutting-edge technology platform to fellow innovators and professionals.
Team Bonding
We don’t just help other organizations create healthy workplace cultures. We practice it within our own team as well. This year we cultivated many opportunities for our team to connect, refresh and grow together.
- Employee Appreciation: In the spring, we hosted a delicious employee appreciation luncheon at one of our favorite local spots, Sixty Vines in Dallas. Employee recognition is key to cultivating positive workplace culture. In fact, research shows that employees are 2.7 times more likely to be highly engaged when they believe their successes will be recognized.
- Cinco de Mayo Celebration: Our team values important observances, and we couldn’t let Cinco de Mayo go by without a workplace celebration! Celebrating cultural diversity at work is crucial and increases employee morale and engagement.
- Wine Down Wednesday: Connecting with our business partners doesn’t always have to be done in the boardroom. In November, we hosted a ‘Wine Down Wednesday’ event with Crescent Real Estate, LLC.
- Holiday Party: We keep the holidays festive here at Work Shield, and we’ve already kicked off the season with our annual holiday party at client Fogo de Chao’s flagship location. Check out our team photo in our recent LinkedIn post.
Speaking Engagements
As we continue to produce results for our clients, we enjoy sharing our expertise and insight into workplace issues and how our solution is paving the way for improved DE&I in the workplace.
- Human Resource Executive Virtual Session: In March, Work Shield was selected as one of six HR tech startups to participate in a virtual session with Human Resource Executive. Jared Pope was honored to speak about how Work Shield is the first and only solution of its kind for combatting harassment and discrimination in the workplace.
- DE&I Speaker Series: Jared Pope joined forces with client Texas Security Bank’s Business Speaker Series to discuss diversity, equity and inclusion industry updates, top risk factors and solutions to protect employers, employees and workplace culture.
- Southlake Executive Forum: During the summer, we had the honor of participating in meaningful discussion around reconstructing your business in a post-COVID world. Building trust within an organization was imperative when the effects of the pandemic on the workplace weren’t fully understood, and SHRM research shows that when there is more trust at work, employees are 23% more likely to offer ideas and solutions.
In the News
This year, Work Shield was featured in a variety of top-tier publications to share insight and participate in conversations surrounding workplace culture, industry trends and exciting announcements. We’ve included a few of our favorites below.
- Business Insider: In March, Jared Pope spoke with Business Insider on the reasons behind why workplace issues go unreported and the fear of retaliation that many employees face.
- Forbes: It’s critical that organizations are able to access real-time insights about their business, particularly its cultural health. In November, we discussed our Work Shield Employer Dashboard with Forbes, highlighting how our dashboards are helping organizations to monitor, manage and prevent crises in the workplace. View the full article here.
- Inc.: With the hot topic of vaccine mandates in the workplace taking over headlines, our team was sourced to provide valuable insight into the possibilities of hostility and discrimination within organizations.
- SHRM: In 2021, we saw a rise in hate crimes against Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs). Our team spoke with SHRM about how businesses should be addressing discrimination in the workplace.
2021 will go down with more than 300% growth for Work Shield and over 300+ clients partnering with us. We appreciate each member of our organization for their dedication to achieving more equitable workplaces where all employees are safe and feel comfortable speaking up. Thank you to our team and partners for a successful year, and we look forward to accomplishing even more in 2022.
