Cardinal Health's Commitment to Diversity in the Workplace and Supplier Development
Cardinal Health has a strong commitment to diversity and views diversity as a part of how we do business. We integrate diversity into every system and process within our organization including, recruiting, performance management, training, customer service, purchasing, and supplier development.
Cardinal recognizes that having diversity in our business is not only the right thing to do, but makes good business sense for us as well. At Cardinal Health we have identified our four strategies for the business, which are growth; operational excellence; customer focus and leadership development. Our diversity initiatives support these drivers. We know that if we are going to continue to grow, especially in our service business that broad access to talent will drive our growth. With the changes in the demographics and increased competition for talent, Cardinal Health needs to hire the best and the brightest and we will continue to recruit broadly for this talent.
Our operational excellence strategic driver requires innovation, which we believe, comes from diverse thinking. Likewise the demographics of the decision makers for our customer are changing and we pride ourselves on finding creative solutions for our customers. This requires us to look at our customers’ businesses as they do and look not only internally for answers, but also to our supplier community. As we look for and develop future leaders, we recognize that need to provide an environment of inclusion as well as balance for our employees.
To lead us in this regard, Cardinal Health formed a Diversity Council made up of senior executives (Executive Vice President of Human Resources, Executive Vice President of Information Technology, Senior Vice President of Diversity and Leadership Development, Chief General Counsel, etc.). The council is a permanent working council with rotating positions. It is responsible for developing the strategies to support the Diversity business case and to measuring our company’s progress and results. Members of the Cardinal Diversity Council also serve as the corporate spokespeople for diversity. Cardinal Health’s current initiatives that underline our commitment to diversity include:
- Annual AAP planning;
- Active national and local recruiting focused on diversity hiring;
- Undergraduate and graduate level intern programs focused on diversity;
- Associate Development Planning;
- Internal mentoring program focused on minorities and females;
- Associates survey incorporating diversity and management accountability for results;
- A Learning Map focused on diversity;
- A Diversity website; and
- Supplier Development Program.
The Diversity Council provides the direction for the diversity initiative for all of Cardinal Health and works with the individual business units to operationalize these initiatives within their own businesses. This work includes setting out the objectives as well as the metrics that we hold ourselves accountable for. The fact that Cardinal Health is a diverse collection of businesses, approaching diversity from both the corporate level as well as in each of our business units allows us to integrate diversity at all possible points.
One of our diversity initiatives is the enterprise-wide Supplier Diversity Program. This program is managed by the Vice President of Supplier Diversity, the Director of Small Business Development, Senior Business Analyst, and the Corporate Director of Supplier Diversity, who is responsible for designing, developing, implementing and communicating Cardinal’s overall Supplier Diversity program. The team works closely with each of Cardinal’s domestic business units to use Supplier Diversity as an innovative solution to customer issues. Some of the successes of our Supplier Diversity Program include:
- Creation of a Supplier Diversity Council with representatives from each of Cardinal’s businesses
- Launched Supplier Diversity website (http://www.cardinal.com/us/en/aboutus/what/diversity/index.asp)
- Launched online Supplier Registration via the usage of supplierdiversity@cardinal.com.
- DoD/VA approved/recognized Mentor/Protégé program
- Quarterly Supplier Diversity newsletter
- Implementation of Supplier Diversity management software (DivTRAK)
- A formal RFP process that addresses the inclusion of SMWBE’s
- Cardinal Health Opportunity Fair for SMWBE’s
- SMWBE sourced catalog.
Other significant activities to note is Cardinal Health is an active member of the Healthcare Supplier Diversity Alliance (HSDA), the National Minority Supplier Development Council, Inc. (NMSDC) and its affiliate councils; a corporate member of the Chicago Chapter of Women’s Business Development Center (WBNC); a board member of the South Central Ohio Minority Business Council, Wisconsin Minority Supplier Development Council, Chicago Minority Business Development Council, Center for Veterans Enterprise, and several other nationally recognized organizations.
Cardinal Health remains committed to diversity as a way of business and we continue to strive to achieve and surpass our goals. We support our employees as they work on diverse community projects. We welcome open honest feedback on our diversity initiatives and continually measure our progress.
