How Zeta Global Uses AI to Help Employees Navigate Everyday Workplace Moments

Why Zeta Global Created Zeek and How It Supports Employees

At Zeta Global, a new AI tool isn’t replacing human connection — it’s extending it. 

The company’s new internal solution, Zeek: Growth & Culture Coach, is designed to help employees navigate everyday workplace moments, such as preparing for a difficult conversation, delivering feedback or leading a team.  

“It helps employees think through challenges, practice conversations and receive coaching in real time,” Chief People Officer Candice Chafey said. “Rather than waiting for a manager, people partner or colleague to be available, employees can access guidance when they need it most.”

According to Chafey, Zeta Global’s leaders believe that the timing is right for a solution like this, as AI has evolved to a point where it can provide meaningful, contextual guidance during the workday. Rather than leverage AI solely to boost productivity, they wanted to harness its power to enhance the employee experience and help people grow, all while honoring the company’s virtues: “Grow,” “Humanize,” “Commit,” “Collaborate” and “Innovate.” 

Senior Manager of Talent Experience Kelsey Schimmel said that the tool enables employees to embrace these virtues by helping them move from a reactive state to a more intentional one, making everyday interactions more thoughtful. 

“We are building a culture committed to living our five virtues every day and needed a tool that helps employees practice those behaviors naturally in the flow of work,” Schimmel said.

Zeek: Growth & Culture Coach was developed out of a need to scale leadership, culture and employee support across Zeta Global in a way that wasn’t previously possible, making it easier for employees around the world to thrive in their roles and, ultimately, leave their own mark on the organization.

“Our vision is that every employee should have access to the same quality coaching, resources and cultural guidance that historically only a few people received through experience, availability, proximity or development programs,” Chafey said.

How Zeta Global Built Zeek: Growth & Culture Coach

The development of Zeek: Growth & Culture Coach required cross-functional collaboration, employee feedback, cutting-edge technology and AI expertise. 

Senior AI Adoption Specialist Sarah Green led the creation of Zeek: Growth & Culture Coach, with support from Associate VP of AI Operations Ruth Basanta. Green guided the people team through the fundamentals of AI agent-building, offering support with the design, iteration, testing and evaluation of the agent, while applying AI strategy and best practices around functionality and user experience. 

Schimmel and the rest of the people team chose to use Microsoft Copilot Lite, a no-code AI agent builder, to create the tool. This allowed them to pin the agent companywide in Microsoft Teams. 

“By integrating Zeek into tools employees already use every day, like Microsoft Teams and Copilot, we reduced friction and increased accessibility,” Chafey said. “Our teams focused heavily on usability, testing and feedback loops to ensure the experience felt natural and intuitive rather than introducing another standalone application.” 

The development of Zeek: Growth & Culture Coach was also informed by feedback from a pilot group on the people team, which included Chafey and several other colleagues, who helped shape feature refinements, user experience and tone. For instance, during one internal test, feedback revealed that the company’s virtues were called out in a rigid way, so the team redesigned the language to weave them in seamlessly and indirectly at times. 

Meanwhile, Chafey and Schimmel collaborated with another member of the people team and Executive Creative Director Vladimir Yerichev to create the logo design for the tool. 

This level of cross-functional collaboration was critical to the success of Zeek: Growth & Culture Coach. To ensure everyone was aligned, employees involved in the development process focused on one overarching question: “What would actually help an employee in this moment?”

“That shared focus allowed us to balance technical innovation with practical value,” Chafey said. 

 

What Zeta Global Learned From Building Zeek

For Chafey, one of the biggest lessons learned during the creation of Zeek: Growth & Culture Coach was understanding that successful AI adoption isn’t a technical challenge — it’s a human undertaking. 

“People adopt tools when they solve real problems, fit naturally into their workflows and help them achieve better outcomes,” Chafey said. “The technology matters, but trust, relevance and simplicity matter more.”

Green agreed with her colleague, adding that the user experience was tantamount to building an effective AI agent. 

“AI is seen as highly technical, but in reality, many of our conversations centered more on the human element of designing a thoughtful experience for employees,” Green said. “A lot of our focus centered around questions like, ‘How should the agent interact with employees, and what would make it feel genuinely helpful?’” 

The experience also taught Schimmel a lot about designing clear, behavior-driven instructions for an AI agent and how those instructions shape tone and user trust. Through pilot group testing, she discovered how important it was to iterate, as testing for unwanted behaviors and responses enabled them to ensure their guardrails worked as intended.  

“I’m walking away from this project with a deep understanding that successful AI isn’t just about tech — it’s about thoughtful design, testing and innovation,” Schimmel said.

 

How Zeta Global’s New Internal AI Tool Helps Employees Grow

Zeek: Growth & Culture Coach may be empowering Zeta Global employees to thrive now, but it’s also shaping how the company drives AI initiatives in the future. 

“We’ll focus on practical applications that remove friction, increase capability and help employees perform at their best rather than adopting technology for technology’s sake,” Chafey said.

Chafey sees Zeek: Growth & Culture Coach as a major business milestone, not just a technical achievement. She is eager to see the solution empower employees to reflect, find the right tone and approach common workplace moments more easily. 

“Ultimately, my hope is that Zeek helps us create a workplace where every employee has access to the guidance, support and development they need to do their best work and continue growing throughout their career,” Chafey said. 

“Ultimately, my hope is that Zeek helps us create a workplace where every employee has access to the guidance, support and development they need to do their best work and continue growing throughout their career.”

Zeek: Growth & Culture Coach is designed to help employees live out Zeta Global’s virtues every day by making them practical rather than abstract. For Schimmel, seeing employees gain confidence in the workplace makes her especially excited about Zeek and its impact on Zeta Global’s employees around the world.  

“Over time, that builds a culture where feedback feels normal, recognition is authentic and our virtues aren’t just words on a wall in the hallway — they show up in how we actually work together,” Schimmel said.

 

Frequently Asked Questions