“Show Up, Stay Fierce.”  That’s what @MightyCasey said in a #HealthITChicks discussion about advice for young women who are thinking about going into Health IT.  #HealthITChicks is a community connected in the social media space on LinkedIn and Twitter.  Thinking about the number of amazing women that work for Galen, I thought that maybe my company would provide t-shirts at HIMSS16 for #HealthITChicks, and jumped at the possibility of sponsoring the t-shirts.

Shortly after offering our support, I got an email from @JennDennard asking me for a little street cred.  She wanted to make sure a corporate sponsor for the group actually “walked the walk.”  I found it an interesting process – trying to identify the bullet points for a 10-year-old company that is walking the walk and doing it well.

I knew in my gut that Galen was doing something right when I was at our annual awards dinner last year and, was struck by the number of women among us who were leaders, despite the company never having a specific program to address gender equality.  It may be that a younger company who gets to write its own story may have a unique narrative relative to companies that were founded in a different era.

Galen makes a point to hire for a good fit, excellent aptitude, and the ability to adjust to changes in the market.  It does take a special kind of person to work at Galen, and that is not lost on the leadership of the company.  Leadership also recognizes that employees are the most valuable assets, and are responsive to employee feedback when it comes along.

Anecdotally, we have lots of stories about how Galen is like family and really supports a home/life balance.  For example, I live in the Central Time Zone, but work from home on East Coast hours which allows me to get my kids on and off the bus for school.  As I pondered Jenn’s question about walking the walk, I talked to several of my co-workers and ran some numbers.

• Galen has women involved in every line of service we offer – Products, Technical Services, Interfaces, and Professional Services
• Galen has women in the C-suite, Leadership and Management Teams, and throughout the organization
• Galen has a rich history of mutual support and mentoring for all employees, and many female employees have identified this as a benefit of working in this environment
• Galen has many incredible role models within our ranks – strong and smart women in director and manager roles, as well as lead and senior consultant roles
• This year we saw the addition of short-term disability leave and maternity leave to our benefits packages

Galen women, like all Galen folks, make it a habit to show up and stay fierce.  We are passionate about what we do and we are fortunate to work for a company that values us as key components to success.