We’re on a mission to create healthy, equitable workplaces where people are valued, supported, and empowered in ways that support their economic mobility, emotional well-being, and career success.
About Empower Work
Empower Work is a non-profit that envisions a world where everyone can thrive at work. When work actually works for people, every individual’s economic and emotional well-being increases. And there is a ripple effect: communities, companies, the economy, and our democracy, thrive.
How We Fuel Change
To achieve our mission, we take a three pronged approach:
Direct service - our free, confidential text line improves well-being for historically marginalized workers through coaching and resources that support increased confidence, clarity, agency, empowerment, and economic security – all rooted in equity.
Training and community - we improve workplace skills, practices, and education through our training platform for both volunteers and community partners.
Policy and practice change - we root approaches to systemic workplace change in worker’s experiences through data and stories.
Our Outcomes
We’ve supported over 350,000 people at work in the first five years.
We believe every person should have the opportunity and be empowered to claim one’s rights to reach their full potential and thrive in healthy, equitable work environments. Through our three pronged approach that positively impacts individual and collective agency as well as addresses systemic change, we strive for the following outcomes:
Economic Security: Fair financial compensation for work and access to supportive pathways that lead to greater career mobility. When dislocated from work, safety net resources that provide a steady and secure source of transitional income and support to pursue next steps in their job search.
Emotional Well-being: Good mental health that enables people to manage stress amidst challenges, embrace their abilities and agency, and work well. Support for mental well-being individually and systemically as it underpins people’s ability to make decisions, build relationships, and feel secure.
Equitable Workplaces: Workplaces that recognize the intentional and unintentional barriers that prevent people from thriving and embrace ongoing work to create practices and structures that ensure economic and emotional well-being where workers can reach their full potential.
Connect With A Peer Counselor
Our text line is freely accessible thanks to generous support from organizations and individuals who believe in our mission, and earned revenue from trainings and partnerships.
Text 510-674-1414 or click on the web chat icon. Support is only a text or click away.
Our Story
In 2017, the Founder of Empower Work, Jaime-Alexis Fowler set out to answer the question: how can we better support people at work?
And in 2018, Empower Work was launched to reach workers where they are and to create healthy and equitable workplaces for all.
Tough work situations are universal, but the resources to navigate them are not. Nearly 95 percent of the people we surveyed said they'd experienced a significant work challenge--and half left their job as a result.
The employees who are impacted the most? Those with less social capital such as women, LGBTQ+, first generation in their family to go to college or join an industry, people of color.
What if every person could get help when they experienced a micro-aggression or feared being fired or were grappling with an ethical question, or have exciting job offers to choose from but couldn't make a decision? How would that change someone's success in their role, career trajectory, or economic opportunity?
Empower Work was born from the belief that every person should have an advocate to support their professional journey and equip them with the skills to successfully handle complex work challenges.
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