Creating a Diverse and Inclusive Culture Impacts Employee’s Health

As a recap from last month’s newsletter, cases of Cardiovascular Disease (CVD), Coronary Heart Disease (CHD), high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes is skyrocketing. Studies show a stressful work environment increases these diseases and more. We discussed Mistrustful Work Environments and how companies can avoid stressful workplaces in our August newsletter. This month, we will be taking a look at another potential workplace stressor and how companies can avoid making their employees sick by promoting or allowing a non-diverse/non-inclusive environment to persist.

Courageous Leadership

We are now presented with a great opportunity for courageous leadership by making a meaningful commitment to Diversity and Inclusion within the organization. Leadership now more than ever, needs to accelerate creativity and innovation to effectively address the issues of cost, quality, consumer-centric care and organizational sustainability. Effective leaders know that many problems are best solved by the frontline staff who are doing the work on a day to day basis. These solutions are often hampered by senior leaders getting in the way or implementing unworkable solutions they developed without frontline staff input. It takes courage for the CEO to empower a “human resource group” or “affinity group” within the organization to take on tough problems plaguing the organization. The effectiveness of these groups is highly dependent on having the groups led by the CEO/COO without interference by other senior leadership or the usual organizational politics, and they must be appropriately resourced. By empowering these groups of frontline staff, supervisors, and middle management; the organization is sending the following messages:

• Your opinion counts.

• You have a voice in the mission, vision, and values of the organization.

• Employee engagement is important.

• The organization needs your creativity and innovation to better serve our customers.

• The organization respects all employees regardless of their race, age, gender, ethnicity, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, and disabilities.

• Embracing diversity and inclusion is essential for financial sustainability.

Many organizations have started these initiatives and then due to organizational politics, lack of support from the CEO or not appropriately resourcing the group, the initiative just lost momentum and faded away. This is very demoralizing to the group and sends a message to the organization, it is business as usual and our voice does not matter. These usually do more harm than not undertaking the initiative in the first place.

Getting Started

Key recommendations for getting started with diversity and inclusion initiatives:

• Have the CEO communicate to the organization, this is an organizational priority,

• Form a Human Resource Group/Affinity Group that reports to the CEO or COO,

• Identify an organizational problem of high visibility that needs resolution,

• Appropriately resource the group to accomplish the goal,

• CEO/COO meets with the group on a regular basis to discuss progress and remove barriers that impede progress, and

• Communicate progress and celebrate milestones frequently throughout the organization.

We are clearly in unprecedented times in our country and healthcare is facing enormous challenges with access to care, financial pressures, new consumer expectations, workforce shortages and engagement issues. Embracing diversity and inclusion as a Strategic initiative will accelerate much needed innovation and creativity in the organization, as well as alleviate rising tensions and stress.