Community Engagement
ScottMadden is committed to partnering with charities and non-profit organizations to make an impact in our local communities and nationwide.
ScottMadden has helped numerous organizations over the years and will continue to respond to emergent situations as they arise. Building on that foundation, we recognize the value of committing to partnerships with non-profit organizations that allow us to make a measurable impact both in our local communities and more broadly.
Focus Area Objectives
Our charitable giving focuses on supporting the following areas in line with the firm’s priorities: veterans and their families, the environment, poverty alleviation, and education access.
In all our giving and community engagement activities, we aim to:
- Add value to partner organizations in alignment with their missions and needs.
- Consider employee input when selecting partner organizations and respond to high-impact events and emergent situations in real time.
- Adapt our approach over time as needs change, while continuing to reflect the core strategic priorities and values of ScottMadden—integrity, respect, trust, and quality relationships.
1. Veterans and Their Families
ScottMadden is proud to have many former active-duty and currently serving reservists among our consultants and staff. Our veterans contribute unique perspectives and talent to the firm, and we are committed to helping all veterans thrive.
2. The Environment
Our clients across industries are continually confronting the realities of climate change and other environmental concerns. We aim to support local and national conservation and decarbonization efforts, contributing to a safer and more resilient planet for future generations.
3. Poverty Alleviation
Whether in Atlanta, Raleigh, or Framingham, members of our local communities need our support. We are committed to helping individuals meet their essential needs and access new opportunities that will contribute to their economic security and overall well-being.
4. Education Access
ScottMadden employees are committed to continued learning to provide the highest quality service to our clients. We are working to broaden access to educational resources that can make a difference in the quality of life for children and adults.
5. Other Firm Events
ScottMadden encourages our ERGs to participate in community engagement.
ScottMadden partners with Community Partner Organizations (CPOs) that are local to our office locations and align with our focus areas. This year, we continued engagement with the following five CPOs:
Employee Well-being and Development
We perform at our best when we feel our best. ScottMadden is committed to promoting personal well-being at work, at home, and in our communities. We are also passionate about furthering the professional growth of our people throughout their careers.
Focus Area Objectives
Our employee well-being and development objectives continue to be:
- Wellness — Supporting and prioritizing employee physical and mental health.
- Flexibility — Adapting to remote work requirements that meet both employee and client needs.
- Culture — Creating a positive work environment where team members can engage and are driven by a sense of purpose.
- Training and Development — Addressing team member development needs and leveraging learning opportunities that engage employees where they are in their careers.
Employee Well-Being
ScottMadden supports physical, mental, and emotional wellness. Providing health benefits and lifestyle programs that further the physical health and safety of employees is fundamental to maintaining the highest level of performance. We recognize that our people often work in highly challenging, stress- and anxiety-inducing environments. Empowering our team with tools to cope with everyday challenges in healthy and productive ways ensures happier, healthier, safer, and more engaged employees. Forming and fostering strong relationships is also important for employee well-being. ScottMadden bolsters social wellness by cultivating a positive, collegial workplace, while also supporting our people who are balancing work with family needs.
Employee Benefits
ScottMadden continually assesses the benefits we provide our employees by evaluating what is happening in the market and determining enhancements to our current offerings. In 2024, we focused on promoting financial wellness materials to our employees, including hosting our retirement plan provider during one of our all-firm First Friday meetings.
We continued to encourage health and wellness through our Lifestyle Benefit Account program which allows employees to be reimbursed up to $750 annually on expenditures promoting work-life balance. This past year, employees went on “babymoons,” took their kids to Disney, donated to their favorite charities, and hit the gym, using their Lifestyle Benefit Account.
We have also continued to promote the use of mindfulness and healthy habit resources, such as the Employee Assistance Program and the Headspace app, through targeted campaigns to employees throughout the year. In 2024, 100 active-subscribed employees who utilized the app completed nearly 4,000 minutes of collective meditation. This year, we also upgraded our subscription to include up to five family members per each employee.
Office Neighborhoods
At ScottMadden, each office is organized into “neighborhoods” to encourage team members to interact, learn, and laugh with each other. This year, the neighborhoods in the Raleigh office put on a friendly “tacky sweater” competition for the holidays. Neighborhoods were also provided with a budget to get together for a fun activity outside the office. Neighborhoods across all three of our offices enjoyed getting out for events like happy hours, an escape room, and other fun times!
OF EMPLOYEES participated in the 2024 Lifestyle Benefit Account program
ABOVE: "Tacky Sweater" contest (Raleigh)
ABOVE: Celebrating National Intern Day with a round of golf (Atlanta)
ABOVE: Holiday Party (Framingham)
ABOVE: "Tacky Sweater" contest (Raleigh)
ABOVE: Celebrating National Intern Day with a round of golf (Atlanta)
ABOVE: Holiday Party (Framingham)
ScottMadden continues to value the need to network and socialize among firm colleagues. One of the things that makes ScottMadden a great place to work is our collegiality, connectedness, and culture.
Training and Development
Our approach to development is based on the belief that we learn best by doing. Working in small teams, led by seasoned consultants on high-impact client projects, creates the best conditions for putting developmental concepts into action. Receiving support and immediate feedback from team members both accelerates development and prepares us for our next steps.
But that is not all. We also provide formal online and in-person courses; structured mentoring through our sponsor program; dedicated time for development outside of client work, such as for professional certifications and licenses; and opportunities to advance one’s skills and professional interests through involvement in our Communities of Practice.
Finally, we have built our training and development program with our people and clients in mind. From competency recommendations aligned to our employees’ development plans to course offerings that evolve alongside a changing business landscape, we are committed to enabling our people to meet the changing needs of those we serve.
For 2024, several talent management objectives were established and successfully met throughout the year:
- Revamped the “Manager Fundamentals” program to reinforce structured thinking, focusing on “Thinking and PowerPointing,” project planning, and people management.
- Leveraged the learning management system to deliver training, track completion, and perform reporting.
- Developed and delivered the training theme “Project Planning” and provided extended learning opportunities.
Donte Anderson
Senior Associate
"The sponsor family has been an incredible support system as I transitioned into consulting from a non-traditional background. My sponsor's coaching has helped me understand many of the key aspects of consulting. Additionally, my peers in Trish's sponsor family make it much easier to tackle challenging projects and clients, knowing that I can always reach out for their support."
Donte Anderson
Senior Associate
"The sponsor family has been an incredible support system as I transitioned into consulting from a non-traditional background. My sponsor's coaching has helped me understand many of the key aspects of consulting. Additionally, my peers in Trish's sponsor family make it much easier to tackle challenging projects and clients, knowing that I can always reach out for their support."
Building Manager Fundamentals
In 2021, managers expressed the need for further training to support the transition from senior associate to manager roles—specifically moving from a sole contributor to managing people. We developed targeted manager training, “Manager Fundamentals,” to address these needs and conducted pilot sessions in 2023. At the completion of the pilot, we collected feedback to enhance the training program going forward. A revamped program was launched in Q4 2024 when we successfully completed the 10-week course with 20 participants.
Building Leadership Capabilities
In 2024, we decided to re-introduce our Situational Leadership training to a cohort of leaders who had not previously taken it. We updated and refined our materials in 2024 in anticipation of conducting the course in 2025.
Leveraging the Learning Management System
In 2023, we transitioned to the learning management system Learn365 (formerly LMS365). In 2024, we increased the contents of Learn365 to nearly 60 courses and deployed our Security Awareness training through the platform. In cooperation with the Analytics group, a suite of courses designed to reinforce analytics and Excel skills for consultants was developed and launched using Learn365.
Project Planning Training Theme
In 2024, we developed and delivered the training theme “Project Planning” and provided extended learning opportunities for consultants. Overall, the course received one of the highest ever scores for our self-produced content and will serve as an example and benchmark for future efforts.
Sponsor Program
Our matrix organization and project-based management relationship have enabled us to formalize the role of sponsor and mentor through our firm’s sponsor program, which creates a two-way exchange to promote our consultants’ development and engagement. Each sponsor supports a group of three to five consultants, which we refer to as a “sponsor family.” Sponsor families create an additional opportunity for employees to connect and build a stronger sense of community, while developing at the firm.
ABOVE: Project team in Seattle
ABOVE: Sponsor family event
ABOVE: Sponsor family event
ABOVE: Project team in Seattle
ABOVE: Sponsor family event
ABOVE: Sponsor family event
Trish Ferris
Partner (Sponsor)
"ScottMadden’s sponsor program is a great opportunity for our leaders to support, develop, and get to know our consultants holistically beyond just the day-to-day project work. In my sponsor family, we are all about fun (we laugh A LOT), networking, and personal connection, in addition to career development. My sponsor family events are one of the things I most look forward to every year."
Trish Ferris
Partner (Sponsor)
"ScottMadden’s sponsor program is a great opportunity for our leaders to support, develop, and get to know our consultants holistically beyond just the day-to-day project work. In my sponsor family, we are all about fun (we laugh A LOT), networking, and personal connection, in addition to career development. My sponsor family events are one of the things I most look forward to every year."
Inclusion at ScottMadden
Our Commitment to Creating an Inclusive Culture
At ScottMadden, ensuring inclusive and respectful treatment for everyone is central to who we are and is core to our values. Growing a culture in which everyone is welcomed, valued, and respected has long been a strategic priority for the firm. We are committed to advancing our inclusion efforts as we work toward a better future for all.
Building an Inclusive Culture
The commitment to grow a culture of respect and belonging is something that is taken seriously by the entire firm, and the impact of this is evident in the results of our 2024 Inclusion Survey. ScottMadden is committed to completing a survey every two years as a “health check” to ensure we are creating a safe, inclusive, and thriving environment for all.
More than 56% of our firm participated in the survey which covers seven categories.
How Did We Do?
2024 marked our third cycle of measuring inclusion within our culture. Each year—2020, 2022, and 2024—our overall performance has improved (as demonstrated in the chart below). The degree to which our employees agree that we are moving in the right direction and demonstrating inclusive behavior has increased from our baseline of 3.47 in 2020 to 3.60 in 2024. In 2025, we will continue to focus on “Belonging,” creating a place where everyone can be their authentic selves, and “Inclusion Awareness,” creating opportunities to increase awareness and communication about inclusion for everyone. These two areas demonstrated the most opportunity for improvement.
For each category shown in the chart below, we presented questions and measured “level of agreement” on a four-point scale: strongly agree (4), slightly agree (3), slightly disagree (2), and strongly disagree (1).
2024 SURVEY DATA
ABOVE: Project team dinner at Liberty Bell in Philly
ABOVE: ScottMadden won two SSON Impact Awards!
ABOVE: Project team photo at driving range outing
ABOVE: Project team dinner at Liberty Bell in Philly
ABOVE: ScottMadden won two SSON Impact Awards!
ABOVE: Project team photo at driving range outing
