Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Overview

“Treating each other with respect goes a long way toward creating an experience that is inclusive for all of us—our fellow caregivers, our patients, and their families. Patient care is why we are here. When patients choose us, they're entrusting us with their most precious possession—their health, no matter where we serve them. We value a diverse and inclusive organization. Our diverse perspectives contribute to better experiences for all.”
—Tomislav Mihaljevic, MD, CEO and President

“At Cleveland Clinic, I believe we are better together. I believe we are more than the sum of our parts; we serve a purpose greater than ourselves. I believe that we can make space for others in ways that are supportive and caring. I believe by doing so, people will bring their best selves to work each and every day and contribute in ways that are both measurable and immeasurable to the success and future of this great enterprise.”
—Jacqui Robertson, Chief of Diversity & Inclusion

Diversity & Inclusion statement, strategy and vision

Cleveland Clinic values a culture where caregivers integrate diversity and inclusion throughout the enterprise. We are a global healthcare leader focused on creating and sustaining a culture aligned with our values of inclusion and belonging.

In 2022, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI) developed an enterprise-wide and locally relevant diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) strategy. The strategy was approved by the Cleveland Clinic Executive Team and will focus on:

• Achieving our aspirational vision: Cleveland Clinic is a Place for a person like me.
• Aligning strategically focused pillars—Health Equity, Recruitment & Retention, Leadership Humility and Community Engagement.
• Ensuring that DE&I activities are aligned and integrated into enterprise business strategies through the ODI; Diversity, Inclusion and Racial Equity Council (DIREC); Regional Diversity Councils and Business Resource Groups.
• Leveraging data, insights and research to address areas of opportunity around how we recruit, develop and retain talent.
• Collaborating with internal partners to increase the recruitment and retention of our people leaders.
• Embedding inclusive concepts in our policies, practices and our programs designed to help our caregivers learn, develop and grow.

Inclusion as a Cleveland Clinic value

Cleveland Clinic has a longstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion. Inclusion is one of the six core values that drives our work. Defined as “intentionally creating an environment of compassionate belonging where all are valued and respected,” practicing inclusion across our system ensures the best care and outcomes for our patients, and cultivates the best work experience for our caregivers.

To fulfill this vision, we promote the following key commitments to inclusion:

• I seek to learn, understand and respect difference with a curious heart and an open mind.
• I achieve better outcomes through a diversity of perspectives and experience.
• I hold myself and others accountable for demonstrating the values of inclusion and respect.
• I support an inclusion-driven culture through my compassionate interactions with all others.

Addressing Racism as a Public Health Crisis

Cleveland Clinic continues to take action to address and end long-standing structural racism after supporting the City of Cleveland’s 2020 resolution declaring racism a public health crisis. We established an Executive Diversity, Inclusion and Racial Equity Council to examine and promote policies to eliminate racism, bias and health disparities. In 2022, the council met with over 50 thought partners and leaders across the organization and consulted over 100 benchmarking data sources to develop new initiatives in the DE&I space. The council’s main priorities are:

• Mirror the communities we service with better communication and representation in their languages.
• Create better access to care and scheduling.
• Partner with diverse educational programs for recruitment.
• Ensure career growth opportunities for underrepresented minorities.
• Develop programs in under-resourced communities.

Enterprise Demographics

Cleveland Clinic’s Office of Diversity & Inclusion provides strategic leadership for cultivating a culture that embraces diversity, inclusion and equity. These efforts include hiring, developing and advancing a more diverse workforce.

Additionally, Cleveland Clinic had 1,080 active volunteers in 2022 that provided services to enhance the patient experience.

Community Health Partnerships

As one of Northeast Ohio’s anchor institutions, Cleveland Clinic wants our communities to be safe, vibrant, healthy and stable. Our goal is to create the healthiest community for everyone through actions and programs to heal, hire and invest for the future. In 2022, Community Health and Partnerships served 1,239 patients and connected patients with 2,095 resources. Some highlights of this work include:

• Pledged $50 million to help remove sources of lead exposure from Cleveland homes.
• Hired 168 community members into jobs with sustainable wages and career pathways.
• Began construction on a Meijer grocery market and apartment complex to address food insecurity and help revitalize a local neighborhood.
• Assessed the social determinants of health of residents on a street neighboring Cleveland Clinic’s main campus (95% of those screened reported a social services need, and 47% of needs were addressed).

Learn more about our Community Health Strategy.

Hiring and Pathways for Advancement

At Cleveland Clinic, our goal is to create the healthiest community for everyone. Employment is an important social determinant of health, and our community commitment includes a local hiring strategy. Our Talent Acquisition Workforce Diversity team delivers on this strategy by being embedded in our surrounding neighborhoods and forming partnerships with City Council members, various community groups and local residents. Through the successful efforts of our Talent Acquisition Workforce Diversity team, we hired 1,748 residents from the City of Cleveland in 2022, exceeding our goal of hiring 1,200 residents by 46% and increasing our local hires by 62% year over year.

In support of the OneTen Initiative, Cleveland Clinic is one of many organizations that made a commitment in 2020 to hire, upskill or promote one million Black Americans within ten years, as well as create apprenticeship programs to serve as a talent pipeline. To fulfill its commitment, Cleveland Clinic has focused on skills-first hiring, identifying middle-skills jobs with a minimum salary of $48,000, creating career paths and development guides for entry level positions and developing paid apprenticeship programs. In 2022, Cleveland Clinic hired or promoted 1,019 individuals, exceeding our goal of 900 hires or promotions.

The Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI) also partners with other internal departments to develop career opportunities. In 2021, ODI collaborated with Mandel Global Leadership and Learning Institute, Workforce Diversity, Pharmacy and members of the Black Heritage Employee Resource Group to refresh the current Pharmacy tech program and align it with the requirements and guidelines of OneTen. In addition, ODI created an apprenticeship program guide to be used enterprise-wide by departments interested in starting their own apprenticeship.

Our Pharmacy Tech, Epilepsy, Polysomnographic and Ophthalmology programs are all branded as OneTen Apprenticeships. More than 60 apprentices have participated in these programs since 2021. Shortly after the Pharmacy Tech program launched at main campus, six other regional pharmacy locations—Fairview, Medina, Avon, Euclid, Marymount and South Pointe Hospitals—joined this initiative and began actively recruiting apprentices at their locations.

Education and Training

In 2022, we continued Inclusion Café 2.0 R.E.E.L. (Race, Ethnicity, Equity and Language) Talk training. These sessions allowed caregivers to learn more about individual perspectives and values related to race, ethnicity, equity and language. Caregivers who attend Inclusion Café are empowered to engage in healthy dialogue about these topics. Through this training, we support caregivers in building their inclusion capacity and their ability to connect with each other through inclusive listening and sharing.

To engage caregivers in learning more about DE&I topics, we launched a Diversity Dialogue series in 2022. We also continued offering an additional multi-session training in 2022 focused on understanding and challenging microaggressions. These courses complement our Inclusive Leadership training, LGBTQ+ Diversity & Inclusion training and five self-paced modules on: Disability Etiquette, Building Caregiver Inclusion and Upstander Culture, Unconscious Bias in the Workplace, How to be an Upstander in the Face of Racism and Transgender Inclusion.

Employee Resource Groups and Diversity Councils

Caregiver-led initiatives

In 2022, our nine Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) and 13 Diversity Councils (DCs) developed innovative programs and activities to support all caregivers.

Some highlights include:

ClinicPride

• Participated in Pride March and Festival in Cleveland and Akron, and collaborated with Kent State University to spread awareness of LGBTQIA resources in Summit County.
• Hosted a Lunch and Learn on LGBTQ policy and General Election in August 2022 with Equality Ohio.
• Continued successful fundraising for Cleveland Clinic’s Center for LGBT+ Care through a T-shirt fundraiser.
• ClinicPride Akron hosted a National Coming Out Day resource table and engaged over 50 caregivers and patients during the event.

Black Heritage ERG

• Continued to grow the Black Male Mentoring Program and hosted first graduation event to celebrate program completion.
• Led Caregiver Development Series workshops in partnership with SALUD to support 100 entry-level caregivers with career development skills, including resume writing, interviewing, communication and more.
• Provided professional development and mentoring to caregivers through the Community of Mentors Mobilizing and Inspiring Talent (COMMIT) Program, which has increased rates of retention and promotion in previous cohorts.

SALUD Hispanic/Latinx ERG

• Offered community health screenings and COVID-19 vaccination clinics in both English and Spanish in underserved neighboring communities in Northeast Ohio.
• Further developed the Tu Salud campaign, which highlights numerous physicians and nurse practitioners who are bilingual and fluent in Spanish to further support the needs of the Hispanic/Latinx community.

Women Inspiring & Sustaining Excellence (WISE)

• Developed a four-part professional development series to foster career advancement, networking and a sense of ‘belonging’, with over 800 caregiver participants.

DiverseAbility

• Provided National Disability Employment Awareness Month programming and communications.

Interfaith Network ERG

• Offered an interfaith panel on patient care with more than 100 caregiver attendees.

Hillcrest Hospital DE&I Council

• Hosted the first annual Community Baby Shower to support families with babies in the neonatal intensive care unit.

Recognition

In 2022, we received the following third-party acknowledgements for our diversity, equity and inclusion programs, efforts and accomplishments:

• Named the #2 Hospital and Health System by DiversityInc for diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the areas of talent pipeline and development, leadership accountability and supplier diversity efforts.
• Named “Best in Class for Workforce Diversity” for progress in creating, enhancing and sustaining diversity and inclusion strategies, and inducted into the Best in Class Hall of Fame by The Greater Cleveland Partnership Commission on Economic Inclusion.
• Recognized as a top Ohio Inclusive Employer with the Governor’s Inclusive Employer Award for Individuals with Disabilities.