Corporate Empathy

Aegis Living

By Leah Etling on Apr 1, 2013 in People

At Aegis Living, corporate values are much more than pleasant words that conjure positive thoughts. The philosophy for Dwayne Clark’s Washington-based residential senior living company is rooted in poignant personal history, and creates a culture focused on happy employees and helping people.

“There’s a type of person that wants to work at Aegis and fits the criteria we look for in our employees. They’re passionate about what they do, and they understand empathy,” said Jennifer Hall, Director of Marketing for Aegis Living.

Empathy is at the heart of the Aegis experience. Company founder Clark absorbed its importance during his childhood. Raised by a single mother who worked hard to support herself and her son, Clark has written a book about his mom, My Mother, My Son, and speaks frequently of the lessons his upbringing contributed to his life and work. At the heart of those experiences is a story that motivated the start of Aegis Living’s Potato Soup Foundation, an internal non-profit benefiting employees going through crises or emergencies, in 2005.

When Clark was a teenager, there came a time when his mother simply didn’t have the money to put food on the table. So she ‘borrowed’ a bag of potatoes from her workplace, brought them home and made them into soup, which she and Dwayne ate for a week. It was a week he never forgot, but it wasn’t the monotony of potato soup that made the biggest impact.

Clark’s mother, Colleen Clark, urged him never to forget what the experience felt like. She told him: “And when you have employees, don’t ever forgot to be there for your employees and they will always be there for you.”

In practice, the concept has expanded to Aegis employees who support each other just as they support the residents at Aegis’ 28 senior communities (two more will open in 2013). Donations are collected internally and externally for the Potato Soup Foundation. And each year, it benefits about two dozen Aegis employees in dire need of emergency assistance.

In a video posted on the Aegis corporate website, recipients of funding who were willing to share their stories talk about how their employer helped when they were in need of money for funeral and burial costs, an unexpected heart surgery, or the replacement of possessions damaged in a random home invasion. Employees who receive support typically remain anonymous, but these recipients were willing to share their experiences.

“When we received that help from the Potato Soup Foundation it was like light at the end of the tunnel,” said Griselda Galvan, whose family was cash-strapped by her daughter’s college tuition and her husband’s job loss when her husband needed a triple bypass heart surgery.

Clark feels the program has achieved a result his mother would applaud.

“We are an organization of people helping people, and the Potato Soup Foundation is just one example of how we do that.  When we can help our staff in their time of need, that’s a really great thing.  I think my mom would be proud of the Potato Soup Foundation,” Clark said.

Aegis’ efforts to give back, however, don’t stop with the internal support. The company and its employees are involved in a variety of other causes domestically. Over 150 Aegis representatives walked in local Alzheimer’s Association Walk to End Alzheimer’s events, and raised funds for the national research and education organization.

The American Heart Association, FareStart, and Washington-based non-profits working for seniors and scholarships and against domestic violence are also supported by Aegis employees. In late March, dozens of Aegis employees participated in We Day, a Free the Children event in Seattle that tells kids its “cool to care” and encourages them to become community volunteers and engaged global citizens.

In 2013, Aegis Living is also working as a team to raise $300,000 to create a new facility for a charity called Somaly Mam Foundation, which works to end human trafficking and sex slavery. Founded by a Cambodian woman, Somaly Mam, who escaped the brothel she had been sold to as a child, SMF supports sex slavery victims and helps them create new lives. The Lotus House that Aegis hopes to build will house 100-150 survivors as they recover from trauma and prepare for the future.

So far, $65,000 has been raised, and the hope is to finish the fundraising by the end of this year. Individual Aegis communities are hosting fundraising events to benefit the cause, like dinner/auction evenings and Christmas tree sales. Larger scale fundraiser planning is underway.

And when it is time to build the Lotus House, teams of Aegis volunteers may also travel to Cambodia to donate their time and sweat equity as construction volunteers. This January, Mam and several of the women she has helped came to Washington for Aegis’ annual EPIC Annual Meeting, making it clear how powerful this assistance will be.

The connection between these Cambodian women and the residents and staff of American senior communities may not be a linear one, but it’s fully cohesive with the empathy espoused by Clark and Aegis Living.

“It goes to caring for people that are vulnerable. Our tagline is: ‘We’re the people that make life better.’ It’s about making the world a better place,” Hall said.

Yardi commends Aegis Living, a Yardi client, for their exceptional efforts on behalf of their residents, community, and global causes.