In this section:

Embracing Our Uniqueness

For Texas Health:

• Diversity represents unique individual characteristics and traits, both visible and invisible, in which people are different and alike.
• Equity creates a work environment where everyone has equal opportunity to do their life's best work, and no one is disadvantaged because of their unique characteristics and traits.
• Inclusion creates a work environment where everyone has an opportunity to fully participate in contributing to business success and where each person's contribution is valued for their distinctive skills, experiences and perspectives.

Priorities and Goals

Texas Health has set six strategic priorities to align initiatives across the entire Texas Health ecosystem and advance our work around driving diversity, equity and inclusion.

Our goals are to:

• Develop a diverse workforce and leadership pipeline that reflects the demographic composition of the communities we are privileged to serve.
• Create a work environment where everyone can participate in contributing to business success — a place where:
  • Each person's contributions are valued for their distinctive skills, experiences and perspectives.
  • Everyone has a voice and all voices are heard.
  • Everyone can be their authentic selves, feel they belong and reach their full potential.

Our Approach

Our policies, hiring practices and training programs reinforce our commitment to creating a workplace where diversity is celebrated and inclusion exists at all levels. Key strategies include:

DE&I Advisory Group

We formed an advisory group of nearly 400 employees to gather recommendations and insights on various improvement opportunities. For example, they provided feedback on:

• Cultural holidays we should celebrate and honor, such as Juneteenth.
• Ways to provide equitable growth opportunities for nurses.
• How we can take a more inclusive approach to helping consumers navigate our healthcare system.

Diversity Action Teams

Each entity has a Diversity Action Team that inspires and brings our people together to educate, promote and celebrate their unique traits and experiences. Teams also build awareness of behaviors associated with inclusivity and culturally competent care.

Training and Resources

We deliver both leader and workforce training to illustrate how unconscious biases show up in the workplace and strategies to overcome these barriers. To support our managers and leaders in creating a more inclusive environment, we:

• Share important information about our priorities and initiatives.
• Offer tools and valuable resources, such as white papers, articles, webinars, research and case studies.
• Coach them to have courageous conversations with employees about their experiences and perspectives.

We also help employees navigate language differences by offering on-demand interpretation services and tapping our bilingual employees to help us communicate more effectively with limited-English-proficient consumers.

2021 Highlights

• Formalized our Advisory Group and began soliciting feedback on improvement opportunities.
• Recruited more than 150 employees to serve on Diversity Action Teams.
• Continued delivering conscious inclusion training across the system.

Please see our 2021 Social Purpose Summary Report for workplace diversity data.

Snapshot: Modeling Inclusive Behavior

Texas Health CEO Barclay Berdan models the inclusive mindset and behavior we want to see by speaking out against racism, discrimination and injustice. In March 2021, he sent a passionate email denouncing violence against members of the Asian-American community, stating that such acts run counter to our Values.

"Just as physicians take an oath to do no harm, we should all be committed to following that same moral code when at work and in our personal lives," he said. "We are in the business of healing and, to heal, we must both recognize and tend to the wounds that we can and cannot see. But we can go further — and we should — by doing our best to prevent these wounds from occurring."