PBN Diversity Equity & Inclusion 2023 Awards
Health Care – Enterprise Company: CVS Health Corp.
CVS HEALTH CORP. has been focused on diversity, equity and inclusion the last few decades, and its Strategies for Success – Multicultural Women Program is a prime example of the work’s personal and professional impact, as well as its potent business value.
For Erneshia Pinder, executive director and chief of staff for diversity, equity and inclusion at the Woonsocket-based health conglomerate, and a member of the program’s second cohort in 2017, the initiative helped identify beliefs and self-imposed barriers that led her to dismiss her own diverse background. CVS’ Multicultural Women program is one of 16 colleague resource groups engaging the talent and time of more than 28,000 co-workers companywide. The colleague-led groups encourage personal and professional development, promote diversity and serve as a resource for the business.
The groups provide CVS employees opportunities to connect and network with each other through a particular affinity, culture, or interest. There are 80 local group chapters, with each group sponsored by a senior leader.
Pinder said she found value in the mentorship and sponsorship of more experienced members of the group.
The group also encourages members to fully express themselves among their peers. Pinder said a peer introduced her to a book, “Expect to Win.” In the book, a woman, a singer in her personal life, holds back that detail among her fellow volunteers.
“She never showed that part of herself,” Pinder said, until one day she decides to reveal that personal facet to her co-workers. It made me feel that CVS gave me permission to show up as my whole self.
That inspired her to bring all her experience to bear within her business career, and to not hold back, which has helped her be a more effective worker and advance her career, she said.
Tangela Garvin-Young, a senior program manager at CVS and fellow member of the Multicultural Women program group, says the initiative provided a path to improved self-confidence and inspiration to lead.
Prior to participating in the program, Garvin-Young said she questioned her strengths and capabilities at a time when it seemed her career had stalled. She says the program’s teachings, resources and community of support helped ratify her “power and ownership of my career trajectory and its success.
“As a result, I’ve since been promoted, which I attribute to the strategies I learned, as well as the importance of self-advocation,” Garvin-Young said. “The program not only provided me with direction but it also reignited the leader in me, which I once thought I had lost.”
While the Strategies for Success – Multicultural Women group isn’t the only element of CVS’ DEI efforts, it’s a powerful one. More than 70% of new hires identify as women, and more than 60% identify as ethnically diverse.
CVS has sought to recruit, train and retain those diverse women candidates. In the company’s initiative to develop a diverse workforce, CVS’ recruitment and talent management outreach encompasses a variety of resources.
These include recruitment-related relationships with organizations that connect with diverse applicants, such as virtual and in-person career fairs; partnerships with professional organizations; internships; community outreach activities; internal training and development; and internal talent reviews. The company also posts open positions to job boards and sites focusing on women, people of color, veterans and individuals with disabilities.
“We have established goals to continue improving our hiring, development and retention of diverse employees, and our overall diversity representation, including within our executive management team, in an effort to be socially responsible community members,” said Hadori Bukleh, manager of CVS diversity solutions management.
The success that Pinder, Garvin-Young and their peers have realized, and the company’s focus on DEI in general, comes down to company leadership’s investment in the initiatives.
“I think it’s important to emphasize that as one of the largest health solutions companies, it’s CVS’ leadership that reinforces that diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging is at the core of the company’s purpose of bringing our heart to our members, patients and customers’ health,” Pinder said.
