EP. 91 Engaging Employees: Building the Intersystems’ Women’s Network

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Women Alex MacLeod and Jennifer Catella of Intersystems.  Intersystems is a global tech company focused on healthcare, data and analytics.  After an engaging company leadership training, they along with another female leader colleague, began meeting regularly and thought about how they could engage with other female leaders or up and comers in the workplace.  These informal meetings led to larger group discussions and the forming of the Intersystems’ Women’s Network.  Alex, Jennifer and their colleague Yoonji Choe began hosting events with speakers on professional development, set up mentoring pairs, created opportunities for focused topic sessions like managing a new family while pursuing career advancement.  Employee response was simply fantastic – they had tapped into something much larger.  Since then, the company had asked for volunteers wot work on DE&I efforts and quickly saw they had significant engagement – over 200 volunteers in a ~1700 person company.

 

In this episode Alex and Jennifer discuss:

• How and why they started the Intersystems’ Women’s Network
• How they gained support from company senior management (it was easy!)
• Plans for how to expand the network for team members globally
• How the network connects with the company’s DE&I initiative

 

Their best advice for starting an effort like this at your own company – just get going!

 

Alex MacLeod

Director, Healthcare Commercial Initiatives.   LinkedIn

Jennifer Catella

Manager, Quality Development.  LinkedIn