Valued Launches with $1.7M in Seed Funding to Combat Workplace Bullying

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Valued today officially unveiled its compliance solution to help HR leaders proactively combat abusive conduct like workplace bullying and harassment, as well as reward and spread positive behaviors. Coming out of stealth mode, the company is also announcing it has raised $1.7M in seed capital led by BootstrapLabs.

Leveraging the latest advancements in natural language processing, Valued analyzes anonymized communication data from platforms like Slack and Gmail to give companies an early warning of potential problems such as inappropriate behaviors and biased or inconsistent treatment. The technology also allows companies to get regular conversational feedback from their employees to keep a pulse on what's really happening inside the organization. Now HR leaders can gain the insight they need to reward and encourage positive behavior while proactively shielding their employees from abusive behaviors that may lead to attrition, legal risk, loss of engagement, loss of productivity, and ultimately costs to the business.

Today's workplace is in crisis. According to Workplace Bullying Institute, more than 60 million workers in the U.S. alone are affected by workplace bullying such as verbal abuse, humiliation, alienation, intimidation, unfair evaluation and criticism, sexual advances and more. The UMass Center for Employment Equity (CEE) reports that 5 million employees in the U.S. are sexually harassed at work every year. These alarming trends highlight a deleterious impact on employee performance, motivation and mental health. As a result, employee attrition is up and engagement is down — and organizations are struggling to find solutions. Findings from the American Physiological Association 2018 Work and Wellbeing Survey show only 32 percent of U.S. workers say their employer has taken new steps to prevent harassment in the workplace, illustrating the need for urgent action from American employers.

"We specifically designed Valued to make the workplace an open, safe and inclusive place for everyone — regardless of gender, sexual orientation or ethnic background — so professionals can maximize their potential and be their best at work," said Sabrina Atienza, Founder and CEO of Valued. "As a female entrepreneur and software engineer, I'm also aware of the long-term damage workplace bullying can have on one's performance, overall mental health, and ability to grow as a professional. With that in mind, it's imperative businesses do everything in their power to bring this level of behavior to a complete stop while also encouraging and rewarding those employees who make an effort to collaborate effectively with their peers."

Valued combines conversational feedback and natural language processing to help leaders identify trends, alerts, and opportunities to improve. Features of the Valued solution include:

• Valued language processing engine analyzes anonymous, aggregated communication data to detect patterns over time. This gives leaders real-time insight to create a thriving culture, keep engagement high, and prevent workplace bullying and harassment.
• Valued Slack bot invites employees to share their weekly progress, concerns and upcoming efforts, entirely through Slack messaging. This encourages employees to voice problems early so leaders can take action and provide consistent support.
• Data-powered org chart visualizes communication patterns within and across teams, enabling leaders to optimize their organizational design and improve collaboration.

"Workplace bullying has become a pervasive issue in businesses around the world," said Ben Levy of BootstrapLabs. "The last two years have seen the #MeToo movement, the denunciation of toxic work culture, and the #GoogleWalkout involving 20,000 employees in the largest tech employee activism demonstration in modern history. Employees are fed-up with fake corporate values. They demand action, they demand fairness, they demand transparency and equal opportunities. These core values should be a reality for employees."

Nicolai Wadstrom, Managing Partner at BootstrapLabs adds, "We believe Valued will empower leaders to implement zero-tolerance policies and make their employees feel truly valued and respected. We believe that in the future using Valued will be as important for employees — and their employers to attract and retain talent — as having a health benefits plan."

For more information on Valued, please visit www.valued.co

About Valued
Valued is a compliance solution designed to proactively reward diversity and inclusion, combat abusive conduct, and help companies create a culture where people thrive. The solution enables HR leaders to get conversational feedback from their employees and analyze anonymized communication data from platforms like Slack and Gmail to detect potential problem areas early on. The mission of Valued is to empower HR leaders with the insights needed to protect their employees, and help the company avoid legal risks and potential damage to their reputation. For more information, please visit www.valued.co.

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