Eli Lilly & Co’s mission is simple: “making medicines that help people live longer, healthier, more active lives.”
Another mission that is very important to the company is their diversity and inclusion workforce. In early November, Black Enterprise named Lilly as one of the 50 Best Companies for Diversity
DIVERGE talked to Janice Chavers, the Director of diversity and HR communications at Lilly to discuss their diversity initiatives:
What makes your company stand out in terms of your diversity initiatives?
We focus our efforts in three key areas: marketplace, workplace, supplier diversity.
In the marketplace, Lilly has taken a leadership role on increasing diversity in clinical trials. We’ve done this through:
- Our partnership with the National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care at Tuskegee University to better understand the lack of diversity in clinical trials today.
- Expanded clinical trials in Saudi Arabia to help accelerate the development of new medicines in general and bring innovative medications more quickly to Saudi Arabia, among other initiatives around the world.
- Continued efforts to train minority clinical trial investigators to help increase the diversity of clinical trial participants and improve clinical research.
In addition, we take many progressive steps to encourage a diverse and inclusive workforce at Lilly. For example, several employee resource and other groups at Lilly (African American Network [AAN], Lilly Africa, Middle East, and Central Asia [Lilly AMECA] and the European Diversity champions) present a discussion series titled “Can We Talk? Navigating Hot Topics in the Workplace.” This series features a respectful discourse on racial and cultural relations. The honest conversation is a breakthrough for many employees about what it means to be authentic at work and better connect with colleagues at all levels of the company on a daily basis.
Which one are you most proud of?
We are proud of a lot of our initiatives but if I must select one I will pick our efforts to increase diversity in clinical trials. Unfortunately, minority populations have historically and consistently been underrepresented in clinical trials. As a result, important information about how medicines work in minority populations is not always available. We’ve developed a clinical trial diversity strategy to better understand patient differences that may affect clinical outcomes and to help increase the enrollment of racially and ethnically diverse populations in U.S. clinical trials. The ultimate goal of our clinical trial diversity strategy is to improve health outcomes for individual patients.
One way we’re working to increase the diversity of clinical trials is by increasing the diversity of the physicians who conduct the trials (called “investigators”). Minority physicians are more likely to care for minority and non- English speaking patients. We partner with The Center for Drug Development and Clinical Trials at Roswell Park Cancer Institute to conduct workshops that train minority physicians to become clinical trial investigators. Our hope is that by increasing minority physicians’ participation, we will be able to increase the diversity of clinical trial participants and improve clinical research.
In addition, two of Lilly’s employee resource groups (ERGs) have recently played significant roles in programs that are helping to increase the diversity of our clinical trials. AAN proposed a collaboration between Lilly and the National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care at Tuskegee University. The focus of the collaboration is to work together to build a better understanding of the lack of diversity in clinical trials today and the need for greater African American representation in the clinical trial population to help ensure that African Americans benefit equitably from advances in health research.
The Lilly AMECA ERG worked in 2015 to establish key connections between our emerging markets business area and our global clinical operations group. Late in 2015, our Global Clinical Sourcing Committee endorsed the elevation of Saudi Arabia as a Tier 1 country for Lilly clinical trials, which will result in an expansion of clinical research in the area through partnerships with local investigators, medical schools and health care centers. This policy ultimately will accelerate the development of new medicines in general and result in bringing innovative medications more quickly to Saudi Arabia.
Why is diversity so important to your company?
Diversity is an imperative for our business. We need all employees to feel included, empowered, and valued so they can do their best work for the people we serve. At Lilly, we understand that an inclusive culture derives scientific, clinical, and customer insights which in turn fuels innovation. And innovation, ultimately, leads to business success.
How do you create an inclusive environment?
We set the tone from the top of the organization with our leaders focused on fostering a diverse culture and creating an inclusive environment. We also weave diversity into every aspect of our business—from how we hire our employees to our clinical trial and marketing practices. The Global Diversity & Inclusion Office is a partner and advocate for diversity at Lilly. Our focus is to engage employees and enhance diversity capabilities. We enhance Lilly’s diversity capabilities by providing training, best practices and consultation to help the business units integrate diversity and inclusion into everything they do.
Why should companies focus on diversity?
A significant amount of research has shown that diversity and inclusion (D&I) have positive influences on companies’ performance. Companies who embrace D&I tend to outperform their competitors. In addition, diverse workgroups have been linked to higher rates of task performance and creativity and reduced turnover/absenteeism. Diversity and inclusion is a business imperative for Lilly and will continue to be a top priority in the coming years.
