Blog

June 2021 was a meaningful month for inclusion. We celebrated Pride Month with our LGBTQ+ colleagues and this year, Juneteenth became a national holiday. As I reflect on the past month, I’m encouraged by the progress Signify Health has made to become a more inclusive company by helping colleagues across the company become stronger, more committed and understanding allies.

This year Black History Month was especially significant for me. The 2020 social justice events—particularly those relating to Black Lives Matters--motivated so many of us to listen more closely to the personal stories of colleagues, friends and neighbors from diverse backgrounds. It opened the eyes of many people and made diversity, equity and inclusion personal.

Inclusion requires more than words stating a company’s commitment. It needs clear purpose, actionable goals and measurable progress. It is one of our core values at Signify Health and a key driver behind many of our internal initiatives and training programs. While our Inclusion Value recognizes the need to support our entire universe of diverse populations, today, I want to share what we are doing to uplift our women colleagues.

Today, we celebrate Martin Luther King Day. Today honors a great man—a once in a generation visionary—who inspires us to transcend race, come together, celebrate diversity and improve the lives of everyone.  

Earlier this year, I was asked to help lead our Corporate commitment to living our value “Inclusive, be one team” in a meaningful way by going beyond the expected and inspiring real change in the way we work. Between the Covid-19 pandemic, the Black Lives Matter movement and the country’s polarization over the November election, I thought this would be a challenging goal. But, as an African-American woman, I am passionate about Diversity & Inclusion and was honored that leadership gave me this opportunity.

It hasn’t been easy. There is so much to do, and we’ve just begun tackling this issue; however, I quickly realized that my colleagues truly want Signify Health to be a diverse and inclusive company. From Kyle Armbrester, our CEO, and the Executive Leadership Team to our entry-level new hires, everyone has been encouraging, they are eager to learn, and most importantly, they want change. They are adamant that a diverse and inclusive culture is a core strategic advantage. I had to help make it happen.

When you delve into diversity and inclusion, sticky questions pop up. What does diversity and inclusion mean in our daily work? Who needs to change and how? How do we monitor and enforce change? Where do we start? These are not easy questions to answer, but we always returned to our value, “Inclusive, be one team.”

This year we implemented a series of Diversity & Inclusion training programs for the entire company, including critical topics like unconscious bias. We also began hosting roundtable discussions, starting with one on allyship. In addition, we launched two Employee Resource Groups (ERGs):