Development of a Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging Council

Challenge

In 2018, we significantly enhanced our focus on diversity, inclusion, and belonging and the importance of continuous improvement in these areas. This focus led to the need for a Hillrom Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Council, which would provide oversight and governance, and establish initiatives that would seamlessly integrate into the company’s three-year business plan.

Actions

In 2018, we organized an advisory board that includes our CEO, Chief Human Resources Officer, VP of Talent Acquisition and Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging, a business unit president and high-performing, high-potential leaders from all business units and multiple geographies around the world.

We developed a Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging (DIB) council to serve as a think tank, set policy and be a conduit to leadership in enhancing our diversity practices.

Our first action as DIB Council was to create the Hillrom Diversity strategy that was commissioned by our CEO. We established an objective to integrate diversity and inclusion values and practices into corporate processes and enable progress and results to be measured. From that objective, we established five pillars with supporting initiatives that align with the organization’s three-year business plan. Our CEO created visibility with our Board of Directors, and we present to them yearly.

Outcomes

We improved recruiting and hiring practices to increase diverse representation throughout the organization.

We enhanced our policies and benefits to include inclusive benefits such as including paternal leave as part of our paid parental leave policy, flexible time off, MilkStork travel solutions for nursing moms and transgender medical coverage.

Over the past two years, we expanded from one Employee Resource Group (ERG) to six: Professional Women’s Group (PWG), Embrace, Veteran Employee Team (VET), Pride Partnership, Hillrom Organization for Latino Advancement (HOLA), and Individuals with Disabilities Empowered to Achieve.

In 2019, we hosted a global broadcast, entitled “Open Space,” to discuss authenticity and bringing our authentic selves to work. Also, we established our yearly Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging (DIB) award to recognize an individual for his or her contributions to maintaining a culture that respects people, creates an inclusive workplace and celebrates diversity.

In 2020, we launched the Growth Action Team (GAT) initiative which pulls together a diverse group of high-potential leaders from various regions and functional areas to problem solve real-world, business-specific challenges.

DIB efforts have resulted in Hillrom receiving numerous recognitions and awards, including recognition as a “W” company by 2020 Women on Boards for 2019, Newsweek’s 2020 list of America’s Most Responsible Companies, the Dave Thomas Foundation Adoption-Friendly Workplace Award, and the American Heart Association Workplace Health Achievement Gold Level Award.

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