Women Empowering Women
Our mission at UnitedHealth Group is to help people live healthier lives and to help make the health system work better for everyone. Everyone being a key element of that mission. This is also true when it comes to the environment we foster for our employees, one in which all employees are valued, respected, heard and empowered to do their best work in pursuit of our shared vision. In the spirit of inclusion and equity and in celebration of Women’s Equality Day, we’re sharing a few of many incredible stories from women across our enterprise who have been empowered by or have empowered other women in the workplace:
Empowerment in Our United Culture Ambassador Community: As part of the Culture Ambassador community, Michele R. felt empowered when Stefanie, a fellow Ambassador, provided her an outlet to practice her passion for facilitation in an Ambassador community virtual forum. Here is Michele’s experience:
“I met Stefanie through volunteering with the Culture Ambassador Community. Right off the bat, she was welcoming and excited to connect me with volunteer opportunities. Over time, I felt comfortable to share with Stefanie that I enjoy facilitating culture activities and moderating discussions about personal development. She heard me, and she created an opportunity for me to facilitate a learning session for our ambassador community. In March of 2021, I hosted a learning session for 1,000+ ambassadors to connect with Our United Culture principles. It was an amazing development experience that I will cherish forever! I’m grateful to Stefanie for believing in my potential to host that session, cheering me on and creating the platform to help me launch into my passion work.”
Empowerment in Supporting Women Returning to the Workforce: Inspired by a movement started by Meagan Markle for her 40th birthday to commit time to mentoring women returning to the workforce, Lily S. joined the cause and invited others in her network to participate. Here is Lily’s story:
“I have been devoting 40 minutes of mentorship this month to women embarking on their job search and encouraging 40 other people in my network to do the same. I want to contribute to a global wave of compassion and positive change. So far, I have given resume support and offered job search process and interview tips. I have connected a mother returning to the workforce with the recruiting manager for a role she applied to. I also met a woman returning to work and was able to learn more about her job search and connect her with my network.”
Empowerment in Sharing Lived Experiences to Drive Change: Engaging with others through our Employee Resource Groups helped Myrtle M. to form a newfound connection that empowered her to be authentic and vulnerable by sharing her story with others in the community. Here is Myrtle’s experience:
“In our teams at UnitedHealthcare, we started to have open candid conversations on how the world was impacting and colliding in our personal and professional bubbles. In this moment and in a step toward vulnerability, many of us, but particularly Kim and I, found a common bond. We have very different lived experiences, but what we found together is a compassion for each other’s experience, a desire to listen and be authentic to who we are and how we see things and our desire to drive this with others to create change. From our discussions and the growth in our relationship, I have become empowered to be more authentic in representing who I am in the workplace vs. what was ‘safe’ to be known as. The ripple effect has been a deeper understanding of how our individual strengths, challenges and perspectives can be grounded in our cultural values to stand in the light and cast a leadership shadow that embraces the need for change, creating harmony to give each other the psychological safety to represent our true selves and most importantly bravely and unabashedly share compassion in action with each other and those we are inviting on the journey with us.
Kim has empowered me to think with a bigger heart, move off the sidelines to take action and be vulnerable to be on the front lines. I have learned showing my vulnerability to others is a strength, not a weakness. The result has been an outpouring from others in our Employee Resource Groups and other team members raising their hands as Kim and I created café conversations across UnitedHealthcare Operations centered in our cultural values and driving our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).”
Empowerment of our Future Generations: Determined to teach her daughters to always try, Tresa M. found motivation from this powerful quote from Reshma Saujani, Founder & CEO of Girls Who Code: “Don’t be afraid to fail or be less than perfect. Women want something but our insecurities talk us out of it, and then we watch someone else do it…and then we have regret.” Here is Tresa’s story:
“I am a mother of two girls and one of the main things I tell them on a regular basis, is to at least try. Often times young children have that mentality of “ I can’t” or “I’m not able to do that,” so I always encourage my daughters to keep trying even if something seems hard at first because eventually they will be able to do it. I have regrets on missed opportunities because I was scared to try and now use this advice for my own life. Sometimes it is the simplest pieces of advice that go a long way.”
UnitedHealth Group is proud to work together to keep pushing inclusion and equity initiatives forward, and creating a space where you’ll be empowered to do your life’s best work.SM
