Diversity In Action

Cardinal Health: committed to creating a culture of inclusion

Company leadership considers inclusion a key corporate value, and critical to its ability to create innovative solutions for customers

Cardinal Health is a global healthcare company that delivers products and services to help hospitals, physicians’ offices and pharmacies improve cost effectiveness and deliver better care to patients.

The company touches nearly every part of the U.S. healthcare system. It distributes one out of three pharmaceutical products in the U.S.; the medical products it manufactures and distributes are used by 90 percent of all hospitals in the U.S. The company employs IT pros in a wide range of disciplines, from ERP systems management to QA.

Aida Sabo, VP of diversity and inclusion, says that when the company’s senior leaders recently took a look at its corporate values, they decided it was critical to incorporate a statement of the company’s commitment to an inclusive work environment. The added statement reads, “We are inclusive and work together in confidence and trust.”

“Our value statements embody how we think, act and speak. They describe the best of what we are today, and the possibility of who we can be tomorrow,” says Sabo.

“Our senior leaders believe that Cardinal Health is best able to create innovative solutions for its customers when we leverage the differences of our employees. Working collaboratively with people with different backgrounds, different skills and different points of view can be our greatest strength.”

The company employs a multi-pronged diversity strategy that includes diversity recruiting, career planning and talent management, employee resource groups, diversity training and sponsorship of external organizations that promote the professional advancement of underserved populations.

Cardinal Health’s diversity recruiting begins early. The company runs a formal high school student mentoring program as well as a college-level intern program. It has participated in Inroads, an internship placement program for underserved populations, for more than a decade, and serves as a corporate partner for Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (SEO),
a nonprofit organization that ran one of New York City’s first mentoring and internship placement programs for high school and college students of color, Sabo says.

Cardinal Health recruits at historically black and Hispanic universities and works with organizations that can help the company identify and recruit diverse talent, including the National Association of Black MBAs, the National Hispanic Leadership Institute, Hispanics in Boston, the Human Rights Campaign and more.

The company also encourages its senior leaders to get involved in organizations that promote the development of professionals from underserved populations, including the Executive Leadership Council and Partnership, Inc.

The company funds several employee resource groups: for African Americans, Asians, Hispanics, gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgendered employees and their advocates, people with disabilities and women, each with an executive sponsor who reports to the CEO. Cardinal Health also has a corporate-level diversity council, headed by chair and CEO George Barrett.

Sabo adds that while diversity programs have been in place for years at Cardinal Health, she was brought in last year to strengthen the company’s diversity initiative. “I’ve been working with a cross-functional, diverse team of Cardinal Health executives to develop our new three-year diversity strategy, and CEO George Barrett has also been involved in the plan’s development,” she says.

Diversity education is a top priority at Cardinal Health. Sabo recently introduced a training course to show managers how to build inclusive teams; the pilot training received a 98 percent favorable rating from its participants. The goal is to have at least 30 percent of managers complete the course by the end of the next fiscal year.

The company recently introduced backup childcare and dependent care programs for employees, and corporate HQ in Dublin, OH also features an onsite lactation room, a new employee fitness center and a meditation room.

“It’s an exciting time be working at Cardinal Health,” says Sabo. “We’ve laid the foundation for a strong diversity program, and we know that creating an inclusive work environment is key to both our short-term and long-term success. We’re committed to strengthening our diversity and inclusion programs every year.”

D/C