GUEST EDITOR
George Clayton
As we move into 2025, there has been a lot of conversation on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). Governments, corporations and many other organizations have become engaged in the conversation and forced to reexamine their positions. For the life sciences industry, this could present a crossroads.
Life sciences has made significant progress on workplace inclusion and promoting equitable access to healthcare for everyone. How will the life sciences industry work to sustain this progress in a challenging environment?
In this time of change with limited clarity and direction, the life sciences industry will need to decide how to sustain critical efforts on three distinct priorities:
Clinical trial diversity – giving patients confidence that the innovation in medicines applies to all.
Health equity – ensuring patients with limited access to innovative medicines gain the access they need.
Workplace inclusion – giving employers the opportunity to energize their workforce with inclusive practices that ensure employees bring the best version of themselves to work.
To continue to deliver the benefits on medical innovation, life sciences companies will need to sustain these commitments to clinical trial diversity, health equity and workplace inclusion.
Many years ago, I found the courage to become the co-founder of a faith-based employee resource group (ERG) at a life sciences company. It was a pivotal time in our nation when many people did not feel that faith had a place in the workplace. Many today still don’t understand how religious belief is part of the DEI narrative to build an inclusive workplace.
Fast-forward years later and that faith-based ERG became an engine for many needed gaps in workplace inclusion, such as an annual calendar of festivals to guide scheduling company meetings, multi-faith prayer rooms at all sites and lunch-and-learns on different religions that fostered a more inclusive workplace.
Life sciences companies will attract new hires based on the health of the company’s culture. A company’s culture is the engine that drives employee motivation and keeps customers happy.
A healthy culture can drive innovation, collaboration and conflict resolution to unleash solutions that will further advance patient health. An unhealthy culture can lead to a lack of employee engagement, a lack of teamwork and the inability to handle conflict.
During the onboarding process, life sciences companies have an opportunity to jump-start new hires into building and sustaining a healthy culture. Within the first 90 days, a new hire will get an impression of the company’s culture, the culture of the business unit/division and the culture of the team. Life sciences trainers need to take the initiative to move beyond learning by experience or casual self-directed learning to proactively teach new hires the company’s position on workplace inclusion, clinical trial diversity and health equity.
In my experience, taking a proactive approach to teaching aspects of the company culture when onboarding new hires is of great benefit. In today’s climate on DEI, trainers in the life sciences community need to avoid the urge to not proactively engage on this topic. Training teams must take the opportunity to help new hires understand their company’s inclusive culture within the first 90 days of employment.
To engage on this topic proactively within the first 90 days of employment, trainers need to identify the following resources:
Members of the business unit/division inclusion team who would be willing to connect with new hires monthly or quarterly during an existing live touchpoint.
Company-approved content on the company’s position on inclusion. It may or may be labeled as DEI. In general, you should find content on health equity, clinical trial diversity and workplace inclusion.
Resources to energize the new hires. “I am, but I am not” is an ideal activity with little needed prep time that helps minimize stereotypes. You can find other ideas from WellSteps.
Track completion of new hires through this section of training. Add this component to any existing survey to measure the effectiveness of new hire onboarding. Keep it within the context of an existing tool so it’s not an extra survey.
With the right people and the right content from the company, new hires will be energized by an inclusive culture and learn ways they can begin contributing immediately to a great organization.
Feedback on this specific activity at onboarding should be gathered within the existing survey that measures the impact of onboarding. For the broader evaluation of success, trainers must learn about their respective companies’ environmental, sustainability and governance (ESG) progress. Annual ESG reports typically measure inclusion at the workplace. Each division will get a breakdown of the report.
Take a look at the annual report to assess gaps and opportunities for workplace inclusion to determine how to modify and adjust training at the onboarding phase. This feedback loop will help trainers continue refining their actions to optimize the experience for new hires.
As the life sciences industry faces a time of uncertainty on inclusive practices, let’s take the time to strategically and proactively train new hires on how company practices on inclusion are designed to support patient health. While we can’t totally avoid the challenges and misalignment surrounding DEI, we can focus on how we show up as the best version of ourselves to help patients.
George Clayton is a life sciences learning leader with 22 years in field medical affairs leadership and medical affairs excellence. Email George at geclayton3@yahoo.com or connect through www.linkedin.com/in/george-clayton-pharm-d.
