Corewell Health Named a Leading Inclusion Index Company
Corewell Health is recognized as a national leader in inclusive recruitment, culture and diversity in demographics.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Embracing diversity, equity and inclusion
Achieving our best health means embracing who we are, the things that make us unique and exceptional. At Corewell Health, we lead the way by celebrating all that is us, supporting diversity and inclusion, enhancing equity and prioritizing belonging for our teams, patients and families, health plan members and communities.
What is DEI?
“Diversity.” “Equity.” “Inclusion.” These terms mean different things in different spaces. Here’s how we understand them at Corewell Health:
Diversity refers to the many ways in which people differ, including race, ethnicity and sex as well as age, national origin, language, physical and cognitive ability, religion, sexual orientation and gender identity, socioeconomic and marital status, education level, geographic residence and physical appearance.
Equity is the absence of unfair, avoidable and fixable differences in the allocation of resources and opportunities among groups of people, whether those groups are defined socially, economically, demographically, geographically or in other ways.
Inclusion is the process of creating environments in which all individuals feel welcomed, respected, supported and valued. Inclusion is not assimilation. An inclusive environment recognizes, celebrates and honors differences, and appreciates, integrates and welcomes all individuals as inherently valuable.
Why ‘equity?’ Why not ‘equality?’
Equality refers to the identical treatment of individuals and communities without regard to need or circumstance. The pursuit of equality in a context where individuals and communities have different needs reinforces and entrenches unequal access to care, quality of care and health outcomes.
Where’s the ‘B’?
Organizations use the acronym ‘DEIB’ rather than ‘DEI,’ in order to emphasize the importance of belonging. At Corewell Health, we believe that belonging flows from a culture that values, strives for and lives diversity, equity and inclusion. In some ways, belonging is the whole point of DEI—making sure everyone not only has a seat at the table and a chance to be part of the conversation, but also feels comfortable contributing and valued by those around them.
Our approach
Our vision is to have diversity, equity and inclusion at the core of everything we do. To get there, we know we need to:
Increase workforce representation
Improve workplace inclusion
Engage and involve ourselves in the lives of our communities
Increase workforce representation
Improve workplace inclusion
Engage and involve ourselves in the lives of our communities
What we’re chasing
As we work to achieve a more diverse team, more inclusive system of care and coverage and more connectivity with our communities, we are focusing our efforts on the following four areas:
Women in leadership
Racial/ethic diversity within leadership
Diverse slates and panels for leadership positions
Supplier diversity spend
Women in leadership
Racial/ethic diversity within leadership
Diverse slates and panels for leadership positions
Supplier diversity spend
A note about ‘Equal Opportunity’
Corewell Health is an equal opportunity employer. This means that we comply with local, state and federal employment laws, and grant equal employment opportunity to all qualified persons without regard to race, color, national origin and other legally protected categories.
But as an organization, we felt we should be doing more than refraining from discrimination. We wanted to actively address the legacy of past discrimination that we saw negatively affecting health and lives in our communities.
As part of our DEI commitment, one of our goals is to have diverse candidate slates for open leadership positions. It’s just one example of how we’re going above and beyond what’s legally required to live our mission and achieve our vision. This legally accepted strategy is part of how we’re addressing underrepresentation and lack of inclusion in the workplace—and it’s working.
How we’re moving forward
When our team reflects the vibrant diversity of our communities, we can serve our patients, health plan members and communities better. Here’s a few ways we are increasing workforce representation across our system.
Business resource groups
Corewell Health’s BRGs (business resource groups) are spaces for team members to coalesce around shared demographics, characteristics or interests, and to connect across people groups. These team member-led affinity groups are becoming a powerful platform for advancing the careers and professional development of all Corewell Health team members.
Implicit bias training
Research shows diverse teams make better decisions, are more productive and have higher engagement—as long as the culture they are part of is inclusive. Corewell Health is committed to improving workplace inclusion using a variety of strategies, including implicit bias training.
Implicit bias training—for everyone—helps Corewell Health team members identify the unconscious assumptions that may be holding them back from providing greater equity or achieving full inclusion. By mandating implicit bias training for all employees, Corewell Health is signaling its commitment to creating psychological safety at work and equity of care and coverage.
Increasing our annual spend with diverse vendors and suppliers
Most of health is made in our homes, schools and neighborhoods. By engaging and involving ourselves in the lives of our communities, we are positioning ourselves for growing our impact and living our mission to improve health, instill humanity and inspire hope.
Increasing our annual spend with diverse vendors and suppliers is one direct way Corewell Health is working to reduce economic inequality, which research shows is a big driver of health inequities. In 2020, we announced our commitment to double our spend with women- and minority-owned business enterprises (WMBEs), and businesses at least 51% owned, controlled or managed by Veterans, people with disabilities and LGBT individuals, by 2025. With one year left, we’ve already exceeded our goal.
Awards
Our efforts to create a more diverse, equitable, inclusive and sustainable organization are driven by our desire to better serve our patients, health plan members and communities—not by a desire for external recognition. Yet we are grateful for the awards and honors we have received, as objective indicators of our progress.
Corewell Health Named a Leading Inclusion Index Company
Corewell Health is recognized as a national leader in inclusive recruitment, culture and diversity in demographics.
Corewell Health Recognized as a Top Company for Women in Leadership
Corewell Health is at the forefront of gender-pay parity and championing support and flexibility programs for women team members.
Corewell Health Among Best Places to Work in IT
Foundry’s Computerworld listed Corewell Health as a top workplace for IT based on advancements to onboarding new team members and collaboration.
Corewell Health Named a Leading Inclusion Index Company
Corewell Health is recognized as a national leader in inclusive recruitment, culture and diversity in demographics.
Corewell Health Recognized as a Top Company for Women in Leadership
Corewell Health is at the forefront of gender-pay parity and championing support and flexibility programs for women team members.
Corewell Health Among Best Places to Work in IT
Foundry’s Computerworld listed Corewell Health as a top workplace for IT based on advancements to onboarding new team members and collaboration.