Client Experiences
Catalyzing Change
Grads of Life has worked with over 180 leading companies and organizations to implement skills-first and DEI best practices and drive positive outcomes for their employees, businesses and communities. Learn how we can support you on the path to becoming a more agile, equitable and inclusive employer.
Blackstone
Problem:
Blackstone, a leading private equity firm, partnered with Grads of Life to help develop its signature Blackstone Career Pathways™ initiative for portfolio companies. The program provides portfolio companies with the tools and resources to recruit, retain and advance employees from untapped communities.
Solution:
To bring Career Pathways to life, Blackstone collaborated with Grads of Life to design the program’s key strategic activities and KPIs and develop critical implementation playbooks. Grads of Life has continued to support portfolio companies in assessing their diversity, equity, and inclusion practices and identifying re-credentialing and upskilling opportunities.
Outcome:
Built custom tool to assess newly acquired companies for the appropriate level of operational support required.
- 6,000 veterans and diverse employees hired in 2022
- 560 positions filled internally
“The insights and framework provided by Grads of Life’s DEI diagnostics were so valuable to us that we formed our multiyear DEI strategy around them."
“At Alight, we believe people are the single most important part of an organization – and there is a synergistic relationship between work and life. Career Pathways and Grads of Life provided the framework needed to create an effective diversity recruitment strategy to attract, retain, and rise underrepresented talent, externally and internally."
Alight
Problem:
As part of its participation in Blackstone Career Pathways, Alight wanted to reimagine its inclusion and diversity (I&D) framework and create a sustainable pipeline for diverse talent.
Solution:
Grads of Life administered the Skills-First Navigator inclusive practice assessment, surveyed staff on their awareness of inclusive practices and policies, and interviewed diverse selection of staff about their experience at Alight. Grads of Life produced a summary report highlighting key areas of strength and opportunity for advancing I&D and increasing internal mobility.
Outcome:
- Alight is training hiring teams to take a more comprehensive approach to evaluating talent, using diverse assessors and candidate slates when evaluating potential candidates
- Alight is building inclusive environments through significant investments in Employee Resource Groups and incorporating DEI into quarterly performance conversations to hold all accountable in fostering an inclusive environment
- Alight has hired nearly 2,700 historically underrepresented racial minorities and more than 200 people with disabilities since starting their Career Pathways engagement in 2020, allowing them to provide more personalized care to their growing, diverse customer base
United
Problem:
United Airlines, Inc. sought to implement skills-first hiring practices to expand the volume, equity, and inclusion of the organization’s talent pipeline.
Solution:
Grads of Life collaborated with United Airlines, Inc. to develop and implement a skills-first hiring pilot. This pilot involved recredentialing select priority roles, updating the hiring process with comprehensive skills-first tools, and training hiring managers and recruiters on skills-first hiring and the updated tools. The initiative laid the foundation for a more inclusive and equitable hiring process across the organization.
Outcome:
- Identified equitable talent management strengths and areas of opportunities
- Removed degree requirements from select priority roles
- Created skills-first tools for each recredentialed role (job descriptions, interview guides, interview questions, and skills rubrics)
- Provided impact measurement metrics selection guide
“Working with Grads of Life has been a great and seamless experience. The collaboration, flexibility and attention to detail has been extremely helpful in managing projects with several departments and stakeholders. Our teams have consistently been pleased and impressed by the process and materials developed. This has sparked even more conversation around working with the Grads of Life team on future roles.”
“Grads of Life gave us deeper insights into our talent practices, which is at the heart of DEI. I highly recommend them to any organization."
Zelis
Problem:
Zelis is modernizing the business of health care by building something remarkable: a connected platform that bridges gaps in the financial system and aligns interests across health care insurers, providers and consumers. It sees across the financial experience to identify, optimize and solve problems holistically with technology built by health care experts – driving real, measurable results for their clients.
As it’s grown, Zelis has maintained a strong commitment to building a thriving workforce. During its Bain Capital portfolio onboarding process, Zelis took advantage of an opportunity to partner with Grads of Life to assess the organization’s DEI maturity and identify avenues to expand skills-first hiring and internal mobility.
Solution:
Grads of Life administered the Skills-First Navigator to assess key areas of strength and opportunities for advancing DEI practices, and the Skills-First Accelerator to identify high-need and high-volume roles, optimal for recredentialing and career pathing. The Grads of Life team then facilitated an action planning conversation to further refine Zelis’ DEI strategy and plans for implementation.
Outcome:
- Insights into strength and areas of opportunities across several DEI domains
- Framework for developing organizational DEI talent strategy
- Best practices for acquiring, retaining and advancing diverse talent
- Insights into options for creating internal career pathways
Bain Capital
Problem:
Bain Capital Private Equity sought to support their portfolio companies in strengthening their DEI foundations and overall practices.
Solution:
Bain Capital partnered with Grads of Life to design, pilot, and scale an initiative to help advance portfolio companies’ DEI efforts and goals. Grads of Life administered the Skills-First Navigator to assess key areas of strength and opportunity for advancing DEI practices, and the Skills-First Accelerator to identify high-need and high-volume roles, optimal for re-credentialing and career pathing. The Grads of Life team conducted action planning workshops with portfolio companies to further surface and prioritize important focus areas for future investment.
Outcome:
- Insights into strength and areas of opportunities across several domains.
- Best practices for hiring and retaining diverse talent.
- Strategies on diversifying talent supply chain.
- Paths to creating upwards career pathways.
- Actionable 6-18 months roadmap
“Working with the Grads of Life team at some of our portfolio companies has been incredibly valuable. Their diagnostic tools and analyses allowed us to see areas of strength and opportunity across the most important DEI metrics. This is a no-brainer, value-add partnership for any company looking to jump start their DEI progress.”
“Grads of Life was instrumental in helping us bring awareness and education to our leaders and HR team on the significance of opportunity talent and what they mean to Delta Air Lines"
Delta
Problem:
Delta, a U.S.-based airline with 60,000-plus entry-level employees and founding member of the OneTen coalition, sought to implement best practices for managers supervising entry-level team members from underrepresented backgrounds.
Solution:
Grads of Life delivered a training series to Delta’s hiring managers to build competencies around a skills-first approach to talent management. The program included sessions on opportunity talent and the value of investment, best practices in skills-first hiring, and building an opportunity manager mindset.
Outcome:
Participants reported a high degree of satisfaction with Grads of Life’s intervention, assigning an average score of 4.5/5 for the series. Over 96% of participants reported they were “very confident” or “extremely confident” in their ability to articulate the importance of skills-first hiring after participating in the program.
YUPRO Placement
Problem:
YUPRO Placement is the industry-leading skills-first placement firm bringing together a purposeful workforce ecosystem that champions sourcing, recruiting, retaining and advancing traditionally overlooked talent. YUPRO Placement’s staff are experts in helping companies identify talented team members from historically excluded groups, but the team needed support on ways to communicate the benefits of using skills-first practices for a wide array of corporate stakeholders.
Solution:
YUPRO Placement partnered with Grads of Life to lead a three-hour professional development workshop on the benefits of skills-first talent practices and ways to communicate the value of these practices for a wide array of corporate stakeholders.
Outcome:
Following the workshop, YUPRO Placement refocused branding and messaging to align with Grads of Life’s skills-first hiring practices. All internal and external materials, including newsletters, webpages and social media, were updated to clearly socialize the value and benefits of skills-first hiring practices. The team also redesigned their professional sales deck and rebranded their skills assessment package.
As a result:
- The open rate and click-through rate for YUPRO Placement’s newsletter increased by 200%.
- Followers on LinkedIn increased by 30%.
“Our partnership with Grads of Life broadens our perspective on skills-first hiring and inclusive talent solutions. This dialogue ensures we are evolving with the marketplace and designing workforce solutions that drive social impact and build careers for our talent community. Grads of Life helped us build messaging that our team is proud of and can speak with ease where our clients and prospects alike can visualize their success in strengthening their workforce while building equity into their recruiting processes.”
“The insights and framework provided by Grads of Life’s DEI diagnostics were so valuable to us that we formed our multiyear DEI strategy around them."
Great Wolf Lodge
Problem:
Great Wolf Lodge is a chain of indoor water parks and family resorts featuring restaurants, shopping, attractions and children’s activities. As an early adopter and champion of Blackstone Career Pathways™, Great Wolf Lodge committed to diversifying its talent pipeline. To achieve this goal, Great Wolf Lodge focused on creating intentional relationships with local, community-based organizations focused on assisting talent looking for careers, with an emphasis on veterans, women and opportunity youth.
Solution:
Great Wolf Lodge partnered with Grads of Life to assess its DEI maturity and to identify the internal practice changes necessary to increase the hiring, retention and advancement of historically underrepresented talent.
Grads of Life administered the Skills-First Navigator inclusive practice assessment, surveyed staff on their awareness of inclusive practices and policies, and interviewed a diverse selection of staff about their experience at Great Wolf Lodge. Grads of Life produced a summary report highlighting key areas of strength and opportunity for advancing DEI.
Outcome:
Since partnering with Grads of Life, Great Wolf Lodge:
- Hired 6,000 ethnically diverse and veteran Pack Members in 2022.
- Commenced building a new Management and Development program that recruits from colleges and universities, including HBCUs, and partnering with community-based organizations like Habitat for Humanity affiliates to identify other top talent from historically underrepresented backgrounds.
- Created a calendar of events and activation plans designed to foster inclusion and belonging.
- Started upskilling and supporting diverse talent so they can transition from stepping-stone to middle-skills and management roles at several lodges.
- Hired the company’s first Inclusion & Diversity Program Manager to drive Career Pathways and advance broader DEI initiatives.
Santa Clara County
Problem:
Santa Clara County (SCC), despite its affluence, has a large Opportunity Youth population eager to access education and employment. SCC engaged Grads Of Life to help coordinate and align stakeholders. Grads of Life worked with local training providers to equip them with skills to deliver customized professional development training to Opportunity Youth across SCC.
Solution:
As part of working with a municipality, Grads of Life brought together public and private stakeholders, partnering with Opportunity Youth Partnership (OYP), a member of the Aspen Institute’s Opportunity Youth Forum (OYF), to deliver customized Career Labs. Professional skills training sessions that focus on building community and effectively preparing Opportunity Youth for the workplace, SCC’s Career Labs equipped local training providers with the skills to deliver more impactful workforce readiness training to Opportunity Youth. Grads of Life supported OYP to administer these Career Labs to five local training providers, and connected Opportunity Youth to Grads of Life’s Opportunity Youth Employer Network.
Outcome:
81% of students completed the program. More than 90% of participants reported improved communication and problem-solving skills, and over 85% reported an increase in self-confidence. The initiative led to 23 Opportunity Youths gaining meaningful employment.
“I have spent 15 years working with Opportunity Youth and I have been waiting 15 years for something like Career Labs to take hold. I have seen myriad "Workforce Development" programs and “Career Readiness” trainings for Opportunity Youth. If those things worked, the game would be over by now. Career Labs is different.”
“We see Grads of Life as the ‘training wheels’ helping us and our members figure out what works. We are proud to have partnered with them to increase opportunity and economic mobility by investing in our future workforce.”
American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA)
Problem:
The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) needed to address the labor shortages in the hospitality industry. They partnered with Grads of Life to meet targets set as part of their ‘Empowering Youth Initiative’ – to increase the number of Opportunity Youth hired in the hospitality industry, to help Opportunity Youth turn these positions into long-term careers in hospitality.
Solution:
Grads of Life consulted with AHLA, bringing subject-matter expertise in identifying Opportunity Youth’s obstacles to success in the hospitality industry – designing solutions specific to AHLA’s goals. To establish career pathways for Opportunity Youth, and a replicable market-based program model that can be scaled nationwide, Grads of Life brought together hoteliers including Marriott and Hilton, and designed and created various assets such as Advisory & Design services, Playbooks and Work-based and Professional Skills training. These measures ensure that hoteliers understand how to best support and develop Opportunity Youth.
Outcome:
As of March 2020 the Empowering Youth Initiative has trained over 465 participants across 45 hoteliers in 6 markets. Recognizing the promise of this approach, AHLA has committed to investing another $2 million to these efforts over the next 3 years.
Bank of America
Problem:
As part of a commitment to hiring 10,000 recruits from low to moderate income communities, Bank of America (BoA) sought Grads of Life’s expertise to create a strategy for the recruitment, training and development of people from these backgrounds.
Solution:
Grads of Life conducted interviews and site visits at BoA banks and their existing non-profit partners to inform strategy design. BoA also collaborated with non-profit partners to provide professional development training in local communities. Grads of Life was not only able to provide some of this training but also helped BoA establish recruiting and partnership guidelines for this broad network of non-profit partners.Grads of Life also consulted on the implementation of tools and structures including working groups, a playbook for training providers, manager training, and a referral and hiring portal.
Outcome:
As of December 2019, Bank of America was more than 78% of the way to achieving their goal of hiring 10,000 people from low-to-moderate income backgrounds (8,076 hires).
“Demand for talent is stronger than ever and Grads of Life is helping us to recruit, develop and retain the best.”
“Grads of Life understands the importance of putting our mission at the center of every decision. They walked alongside us to develop concrete plans that will allow us to serve our members’ career needs and ultimately achieve sustained independence.”
Rung
Problem:
Rung, a St. Louis non-profit organization launching in early 2021, helps women reach sustainable and fulfilling life outcomes. Rung sought Grad’s of Life’s expertise to develop a sustainable operating model that would offer career training and a holistic, supportive culture.
Solution:
To inform their solution, Grads of Life undertook research to grasp not only the career needs of the women Rung will serve, but also the needs of the partners who will work with them. This research allowed Grads of Life to gain an understanding of the local labor market. Leveraging this insight alongside Year Up United’s 20 years of experience providing workforce training to young adults allowed Grads of Life to share assets and best practices with Rung. Grads of Life then worked with them to establish a recruitment pipeline model and admissions assessments.
Outcome:
Following their partnership with Grads of Life, Rung was equipped with a clear set of organizational values and a unified vision for all partners, as well as an actionable, detailed Project Plan for an effective workforce training program ready for launch in 2021.
