Creating a Culture Where Employees Proudly Bring Their Whole, Authentic Selves to Work
Prioritizing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) and is critical for an organization’s success and a company culture that creates a sense of belonging.
When I joined HealthEdge in June 2020, I knew the company valued DE&I, and I was excited to build on and formalize our existing efforts.
We started by looking at our organization’s makeup in terms of diversity and our representation across gender, ethnic, social, economic, religious, and personal backgrounds. As a company with a multigenerational, multicultural workforce, we know everyone has different experiences that may impact how we relate to one another. This summer, we launched the iBelong group to allow everyone to continue learning and growing by sharing their unique perspectives through regular conversations.
Every iBelong meeting is different; we have watched and discussed Ted Talks, reacted to articles, and invited internal or external guest speakers to present. The goal is to create a space where everyone can feel like they are a part of a bigger, broader community and included in the work we are doing.
In just six months, the iBelong group has grown across the organization to nearly 200 members, who all agree that DE&I is essential, and they want to be part of the path forward.
With the support of iBelong, we’ve made significant strides as an organization. We added Juneteenth as a company holiday and sponsored programs for LGBT awareness. We signed on to MassTLC Compact for Social Justice, making the commitment to improve our self-reporting of demographic data, increase racial diversity in talent pipeline development programs, and introduce educational programming, including a company-wide DE&I training series that launched in October. And, VentureFizz’s Lead(H)er series, which spotlights impressive women leaders in the Tech Industry, featured Laura Tomaino, HealthEdge’s VP of People and Culture.
Although I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished so far, the work is far from done. We actively ask for input and feedback from our employees to ensure we deliver relevant programming and opportunities that resonate with our workforce, as well as address any issues that may impact the employee experience.
The combined efforts, enthusiasm, and commitment to DE&I from colleagues at all levels across the organization ensured we could build on this momentum, be proactive, and work toward creating an environment and culture that allows our employees to feel comfortable and proudly bring their authentic selves to work.
