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- EDSI
EDSI
EDSI is a national workforce development, customized training, and consulting company rooted in servant leadership. Guided by the mission and core values of Show Up, Smile, and Support, EDSI has celebrated 46 years of success by helping people and companies in transition. Headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, and employing over 850 professionals across the country, EDSI offers the reach of national expertise with the personalized attention of a local partner.
We work collaboratively to solve problems, drive innovation, and support regions, employers, and jobseekers as they navigate their greatest workforce challenges. Committed to delivering quality excellence, EDSI became an ISO 9001-certified organization in 1997. Each year, our certification is renewed by an independent auditing firm that conducts a multi-day review to ensure that all our policies and procedures, from finance to IT, HR, program start-up, and sales, are documented in detail and implemented consistently.
We work collaboratively to solve problems, drive innovation, and support regions, employers, and jobseekers as they navigate their greatest workforce challenges. Committed to delivering quality excellence, EDSI became an ISO 9001-certified organization in 1997. Each year, our certification is renewed by an independent auditing firm that conducts a multi-day review to ensure that all our policies and procedures, from finance to IT, HR, program start-up, and sales, are documented in detail and implemented consistently.
Purpose
EDSI operates 115 contracts in nine states with a staff of more than 750 professionals who collaborate with state agencies, workforce development boards, community partners and employers in regions across the U.S. to deliver innovative solutions that create a better workforce. EDSI has assisted over 750,000 participants, many of whom are considered hard-to-serve, including unemployed and underemployed adults and dislocated workers, incumbent workers, at-risk youth and those aging out of the foster care system, foreign-born adults, Veterans, individuals with disabilities, noncustodial parents, returning citizens and those in recovery. Throughout EDSI’s growth in recent years, we have attained a “national appeal with a local feel." As a for-profit corporation, we take pride in achieving performance benchmarks and implementing continuous improvement measures to become more efficient and cost-effective. Our customer focus means investing in our staff as much as our customers. We are committed to creating a culture that makes EDSI a great place to work; the result is deep institutional knowledge arising from our employees’ experience and tenure. EDSI is honored with numerous awards every year for having an exemplary company culture, a commitment to employee growth, and quality of service delivery. These awards recognize companies who acknowledge that employees are their greatest asset and work with conviction to create organizational value & business results through their people.
Vision
At EDSI, we really do believe a picture is worth a thousand words, and that is why our Chief Servant Leader, Kevin Schnieders communicates the company's future vision through a painted picture video every three years. View EDSI's painted picture vision story for 2026 on our website homepage (www.edsi.com) to hear Kevin communicate the company's strategic thinking and future vision in a three-year look-ahead. The video highlights how our culture, collaborative partnerships, and curious conversations will lead to growth and innovations in the areas of customer care, customized training and service delivery. In order to carry out our goal of connecting jobseekers with employers, EDSI and all of its representatives pledge to remain a "people-first" organization as we serve our customers with care, love and respect, and deepen partnerships throughout our nine-state region to grow in quality versus quantity. EDSI's core values of Show Up, Smile and Support guide each team member to serve customers with the highest level of compassion and quality. In order to deliver on the promise of a "people first" approach, we start with our own team members. By providing them with a supportive and energizing work experience, they in turn have the passion to deliver outstanding service to our customers and make a lasting impact in our local communities, our nation and the world.
Mission
Powered by positivity, a strong culture and a service-oriented brand, the EDSI family believes in living our professional lives in service to others and exemplifying our mission statement: We must strive to create enthusiasm in our clients, see through their eyes, understand their needs and deliver more than they expect.
EDSI is built on a foundation of servant leadership, and our core values of “Show Up, Smile, and Support” make up our Daily Ways that guide our team members across the company in helping clients overcome barriers and achieve their goals.
EDSI Daily Ways:
SHOW UP: - I always arrive on time. - I am the best me that I can be today. - I use my judgment and take initiative. - My word is my bond.
SMILE: - I wonder. - I am self-aware. - I treat my colleagues like customers. - I am part of the solution.
SUPPORT: - I live my professional life in service to others. - I love other people's perspective. - I do what is best for the blocks. - I talk with people, not about them.
Why We Do What We Do at EDSI
We believe we can help our customers overcome their most challenging obstacles.
We believe in seeing through other people's eyes.
We believe that we can make a difference in people's lives.
We believe in meeting people where they are today and helping them to realize a better tomorrow.
We believe in living our professional lives in service to others.
EDSI is built on a foundation of servant leadership, and our core values of “Show Up, Smile, and Support” make up our Daily Ways that guide our team members across the company in helping clients overcome barriers and achieve their goals.
EDSI Daily Ways:
SHOW UP: - I always arrive on time. - I am the best me that I can be today. - I use my judgment and take initiative. - My word is my bond.
SMILE: - I wonder. - I am self-aware. - I treat my colleagues like customers. - I am part of the solution.
SUPPORT: - I live my professional life in service to others. - I love other people's perspective. - I do what is best for the blocks. - I talk with people, not about them.
Why We Do What We Do at EDSI
We believe we can help our customers overcome their most challenging obstacles.
We believe in seeing through other people's eyes.
We believe that we can make a difference in people's lives.
We believe in meeting people where they are today and helping them to realize a better tomorrow.
We believe in living our professional lives in service to others.
Additional Culture Details
Our CEO – who prefers to be called a Chief Servant Leader because of his love of people – believes that our culture is exceptional due to our ability to be kind, curious and consistent. To promote continued learning and support a high-performing organizational culture, ongoing professional development opportunities are offered internally through both instructor-led workshops as well as self-directed webinar sessions in our e-learning platform, EDSIyou University. Within their first year, all team members complete 12 foundational trainings. In addition to courses dedicated to employee enrichment and personal growth. Job-specific training courses are also offered. In 2025 our Learning and Development team will launch an extensive WIOA training program comprising of 38 modules. Additionally, we have enriched our training library with Mental Health First Aid Training over the past year. Currently, our team is visiting all EDSI office locations to deliver the impactful Better Together training. The Learning and Engagement Team logged 16,458 hours of time spent in learning and 19,178 course completions by employees in 2024. EDSI’s Learning and Development offerings have grown from basic webinars to a comprehensive range of offerings driven by employee input, including four communities of practice where staff share insights and expertise. These are called Learning Summits, and they bring together employees in related job classifications across the company to learn and innovate.
Values
- SUPPORT
- - I live my professional life in service to others
- I love other people's perspectives
- I do what is best for the blocks
- I talk with people, not about them





