What do we mean when we are talking about Whole Woman Programming? In short, it includes all programs and benefits that contribute to empower women bakers to feel confident in their careers, their decision making, and as women. While our team unanimously agrees that Whole Woman Programming has positively impacted their lives, the implementation of our programs has certainly come with its challenges. Over the years, we have worked on collecting feedback from our colleagues through our Social Impact department to identify and assess the needs of the team. We recognize that these needs change over time - especially in uncertain times like the last few years - and so we must adapt to the best of our abilities!
For those of you that may have read about our challenges surrounding our work on social impact, we are happy to share that we are making moves to define Whole Woman Programming more clearly. This includes starting by designating different levels of our programming and identifying our core programming that takes place regularly. In other words, these are programs and benefits that cover basic needs and are ongoing. These programs include:
Bank account setup upon employment
Access to our baby houses - our on-site childcare for team members womaned by professionally trained nannies
Monthly mental health services
Monthly transportation stipend
Health insurance and women’s health clinic partnership
Daily shift meal
COVID testing oversight - includes regular TWB covered testing as well as resources to communicate with local health clinics and support on testing, vaccinations, and staying healthy
All of these programs come with a bi-annual survey to collect baseline data and then a follow up report to get a better understanding of the extent to which they meet their intended outcomes. From our proactive rounds of data collection, we plan to conduct additional surveys to understand the gaps on more specific programs and trainings. Our goal is to solidify our core programming before expanding our focus onto more programs.
From here, we have identified a second tier of programs that are more customized to meet our team members where they are now. Many of these programs may look familiar because we have already done them in the past but we would like to reboot them with new information and create a new frequency schedule for them. For several of our team members that have been with us for some time now, we have seen a shift in their goals because they have already achieved the goals they set when they first joined our team. From being able to cover their children’s school fees and putting more meals on the table, women have grown to covering the rent for their homes and even investing in assets such as livestock and land! Our second tier of programs include but are not limited to:
Adding a mid-shift meal
Comprehensive financial literacy trainings
Gender equity trainings
Comprehensive reproductive health access
Reproductive health education
Goal setting workshop
With regular data collection, we are optimistic that we will be able to better understand the current needs of our team members and even be proactive towards addressing potential new needs. We know that an empowered woman has a profound impact on those around her - including her family, friends, and community - so it is imperative that we continuously strive to improve our Whole Woman Programming. Interested in learning more about how you can support one of our Whole Woman Programs? Get in touch with Madeleine, our Director of Development and Communications today!
