Building a diverse and inclusive workforce matters — particularly in healthcare.

Yet in today’s political landscape, organizations across industries are beginning to distance themselves from diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Some companies are removing requirements and opening up specific DEI programs to everyone. Others are jettisoning DEI teams as part of cost-cutting efforts. Across the country, many lawmakers are aiming to restrict or regulate DEI initiatives.

But despite the turning tide, the truth is clear: diverse teams drive better outcomes, including:

• Better company performance: Companies that are more gender and racially diverse outperform their peers in innovation, effectiveness, and see improved financial performance.

• Higher patient experience scores: Patients prefer doctors who share their race/ethnicity.

• Stronger innovation capabilities: Organizations that prioritize diversity and inclusion report a 4x multiplier effect on their ability to innovate.

A diverse workforce is crucial because patient populations are diverse. And when people see themselves reflected in their healthcare providers, they are more likely to trust and engage with the health system. They receive more culturally competent care, which improves patient satisfaction, adherence to treatment plans, and overall health outcomes.

To share best practices and proven strategies to enhance diversity in healthcare, we brought together DEI leaders from UCHealth and AdventHealth for a discussion on how they’re building a workforce that reflects the communities they serve, leading to more equitable and patient-centered care.

Keep reading for the top insights from the conversation — or watch the full on-demand webinar.

Why career mobility is a core strategy to enhance diversity

Organizations already have a workforce of individuals from a variety of backgrounds — but diversity tends to be most concentrated in entry-level roles.

From a race, ethnicity, and gender perspective, there’s more diversity in entry-level jobs — but it declines as career levels progress.

Despite some gains in recent years, McKinsey research shows that women make up 48% of entry level roles, but only 28% of the C-suite. For women of color, that's 18% of entry-level roles and 6% of the C-suite.

Meanwhile, Mercer reports that Black employees make up 12% of support staff and operation employees but only 2% of executives.

Helping entry-level employees grow into higher level roles means everyone wins. When organizations focus on career mobility programs designed for their entire workforce, they build more diverse teams at every level — helping employees advance their careers and move into higher paying jobs while improving patient care in the process.

Building talent internally also helps healthcare organizations meet the nursing and clinical talent shortages head-on, whether it’s through training nurses or upleveling the care team so that everyone is practicing at the top of their license.

“We see people ideating about becoming nurses, radiation and MRI techs who want to become respiratory therapists. And they can do that...we've been able to supercharge our ability to grow our staff.”

David Mafe, Chief DEI Officer, UCHealth

David Mafe, Chief Diversity Officer & Vice President Human Resources at UCHealth, talked about how a core tenet of their DEI strategy is around growing their workforce. That includes career mobility programs as well as work redesign to ensure nurses were doing jobs that only nurses can do — while hiring unlicensed professional staff to do additional support work, such as changing bedsheets, fixing computers, and more.

Mafe noted, "It used to be that … you might be able to get a job in a hospital, but it was going to be lower down the rung if you didn't have education. Now we can provide pathways for those folks to grow their careers. Now we see people ideating about becoming nurses, radiation and MRI techs who want to become respiratory therapists. And they can do that...we've been able to supercharge our ability to grow our staff.”

Measuring patient outcomes to ensure better care for all

Jessica Brazier, VP and Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer at AdventHealth, discussed her organization’s intentional, data-driven approach to DEI. “It's about equitable outcomes for everyone,” she pointed out, “we want inclusivity to be a term everyone can see themselves in.”

To achieve that, AdventHealth first implemented DEI councils at every hospital facility. Then they looked at the data to see where patient outcomes differed by race, ethnicity, gender, or payer status.

“We have diverse teams collaborating on how to make care better for everyone.”

Jessica Brazier, VP and Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer, AdventHealth

From there, every hospital was tasked with creating a health equity plan to address those disparities. Brazier noted, "We have diverse teams collaborating on how to make care better for everyone."

AdventHealth was also recently recognized by Newsweek as one of America's Greatest Workplaces for Diversity, an award determined by anonymous survey feedback from employees across the US.

Policy impacts equity: Making career growth accessible to all

At AdventHealth, focusing on DEI also means soliciting employee feedback to see if the organization is delivering on its mission.

Through extensive surveys and focus groups, the health system landed on six employee promises. One of those promises is “lighted career paths” to promote internal growth. Understanding that it’s sometimes easier to see career options outside your organization, AdventHealth leaders set out to reverse that trend and enable all employees to see a future for themselves at the organization.

Part of that meant rethinking their tuition reimbursement program. Team members were clear about wanting additional financial support, and when HR leaders looked more closely at the data, they found that the people taking advantage of tuition reimbursement already had bachelor’s degrees. These individuals already earned enough to pay for tuition upfront and wait for the payback later.

When AdventHealth moved from tuition reimbursement to tuition-free education, 60% of employees who took advantage of the new program were from historically underrepresented groups and entry-level positions.

Not everyone is able to afford that. Brazier noted that when they removed those financial barriers, new team members showed up to participate: 60% of employees who took advantage of the new program were from historically underrepresented groups and entry-level positions.