Health workforce equity, diversity and inclusion

Many healthcare organizations have begun to enhance equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) within the workforce. To instill lasting change, organizations must bring an unwavering commitment and take deliberate actions towards to the development of inclusive and equitable workplace cultures.

There is a strong connection between an inclusive and diverse healthcare workforce and improved quality of care and health equity outcomes for patients.
Advancing EDI in the workforce provides healthcare organizations a competitive advantage, helping them attract and retain the best talent, improving workforce well-being and safety, as well as elevating organizational brand and reputation.
The last few years of the COVID-19 pandemic have adversely impacted the healthcare workforce resulting in shortages across professions, retention challenges, and increasing employee burnout. The pandemic has ignited a health human resources crisis and, consequently, created a call to action for health care environments that better support and retain our current health workforce and attract new entrants to fill large vacancies.
A critically important element to address the crisis is to advance EDI in the workplace, ensuring that an organization’s leadership, culture, programs, and processes support an inclusive and diverse environment.

To foster a sense of belonging within their workplace cultures, healthcare organizations commit to the following principles and undertake deliberate actions to support them:

• Understanding of the demographics that compose their health workforce to ensure it is reflective of the communities they serve
• Being intentional about developing cultural competence to facilitate provision of care in a way that is sensitive to diverse needs and emphasizes patient centricity
• Supporting the psychological and physical safety of care providers
• Fostering accountability to drive forward an inclusive culture where differences are valued, and diversity is embraced
• Embracing an open environment for all employees regardless of race, gender identity, orientation, or preferred spoken language to be seen, heard and feel valued at every level of the organization.

Our approach to EDI work is evidence-based, highly consultative, and structured. It is centered around our proven and practical methodology, which has been described by clients as insightful, rigorous, and participatory. Our proprietary EDI advisory methodology, KPMG Inclusion IQ™ 2.0 has been tailored to the unique environment and considerations of healthcare organizations, including how they interact with, and support, both internal and external stakeholder groups.

It outlines the different elements that contribute to building a sense of belonging for everyone – an environment where healthcare providers, patients and other community members feel safe, welcome and respected. It further emphasizes “nothing about me without me”, focusing on incorporating the voices and perspectives of key stakeholders into all activities.

We use this structure with our clients to undertake comprehensive assessments, including benchmarking along the 8 dimensions shown in the 8 Dimensions of KPMG Inclusion IQ™ 2.0 for Healthcare diagram. We then develop tailored strategies for our clients that further foster a culture of inclusion and equip employees to serve the diversity of their communities. Typical outputs of the assessment include:

Current state assessment: Gain an understanding of current organizational EDI capabilities, and identify gaps and opportunities in order to move towards ideal future state of patient care and healthcare workplace culture.

EDI strategy and roadmap: Define what EDI means to the organization in the long-term, and design a strategic roadmap of initiatives that will support long-term ambitions to make EDI a pillar of the organization’s workplace culture.

Data analytics and success metrics: Gain a clear understanding of EDI progress on an individual and organizational level. Identify which EDI initiatives are driving the most opportunity across the business or hindering success.

Health and wellness: Analyze connections between employee health and well-being and organizational success. Identify inclusive initiatives with the potential to deliver positive impacts on productivity, collaboration, morale, and psychological safety.

Our team leverages their unique experiences, deep expertise, and knowledge in both healthcare and EDI work to enable our clients to foster an inclusive, equitable and diverse workplace that supports enhanced engagement, delivery of exceptional care, and better outcomes for patients, families, and communities.

KPMG is proud to be proactive in our own employee EDI initiatives and to support our clients to embrace and advance equity, inclusion and diversity. We are honoured to have won the the Canada’s Best Diversity Employers Award 15 years in a row, since its inception. We look forward to sharing our experience in how we have applied the KPMG Inclusion IQ™ 2.0 with health care organizations across Canada and introduce you to our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion advisory service offerings.