Who we are
Our mission
Securing the financial future and sustaining the trust of California's educators.
As a world-class financial services institution and state agency, the CalSTRS organizational culture emphasizes customer service, leadership and respect for our members and colleagues. We value our employees and encourage an environment motivated by our core values: Customer service, accountability, leadership, strength, trust, respect and stewardship.
Diversity
All the ways people can differ from one another, visibly and not.
Equity
An environment where each employee has the opportunities and resources to succeed through intentional policies and practices designed to remove individual and systemic barriers.
Inclusion
Creating a work environment where differences are welcomed, and every employee feels valued and respected.
Inclusion Council
Our Inclusion Council collaboratively promotes, pursues and engages a CalSTRS culture that fosters diversity, equity and inclusion through respect, understanding and compassion. The council is made up of employees from around the organization who are passionate about DEI.
Everyone wants their colleagues to succeed. Whenever I have questions, they're like, without a doubt, yes, let me put my stuff down. Let me help you, because I want you to succeed in your role. I am just so grateful to have landed here for my very first state job.
In the private sector, maybe it's just competing with your colleagues to make sure that you get that promotion instead of them, but here it's very much we're a team, we're all rowing in the same direction. You're going to have a great supportive environment. You are working toward an incredible mission, which is supporting the teachers of California. You're going to learn. You're going to love it.
I would say my favorite part about working with CalSTRS is that I get to work with my local community. Most of my interactions with educators and administrators and those that we serve are happy interactions. Usually they're coming in for the best part of their life, that next stage. They're getting ready to retire.
Working at CalSTRS is working in a very collaborative environment where you feel very supported. We're all working for the same mission and I think as an organization, from the top down, that's really instilled in employees from the moment they start.
There's various opportunities to develop professionally, so getting to do the training with other program areas, I feel very valued at the organization.
Everyone's very friendly. Everyone always says hi. There's never a silence in the elevator. Everyone talks to each other.
CalSTRS does a really good job of valuing your voice here. My role is I look for ways to make your voice heard. CalSTRS really does feel like people are what's important here. Having an effort to actually support career growth is absolutely vital and helpful to an organization. And then supporting people's voices and making them feel heard and included is absolutely valuable to an organization.
Our Virtuosity employee recognition program nurtures an alignment of employee interests with the core values, mission and vision of CalSTRS. Virtuosity, CalSTRS Powered by You, celebrates the exemplary performance of staff working together, exceeding expectations and recognizing their peers’ successes.
Virtuosity provides staff with seven distinct platforms within varying achievement levels to nominate deserving leaders and peers for going above and beyond in their service to members and fulfilling our mission.
