KAISER PERMANENTE
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Five years ago, Kaiser Permanente was the best-kept secret in diversity manage- ment. This modest company’s long history of what it calls “diversity, inclusion, innovation and advocacy” was not well known in corporate America, despite an extremely diverse workforce and management, an emphasis on culturally competent patient care, and deep core values on equality.
PROFILES 11–20
INDUSTRY
Healthcare
MAIN
COMPETITORS
U.S.
HEADQUARTERS
Oakland, Calif.
U.S. EMPLOYEES
163,986
COMPAN Y FAC TS
PROFILES 21–30
38 percent Black, Latino and Asian and 25
percent women.
Kaiser has exceptionally strong diver-
sity leadership from its chairman and CEO,
George Halvorson, who leads the
National Diversity Council.
What makes Kaiser remarkable
is the consistency of its diversity-
management efforts, as well as
the alignment between diversity
in the workplace and diversity in
the customer base. For example,
the organization’s Institute for
Culturally Competent Care and
the nine Centers of Excellence
are making significant strides in eradi-
cating healthcare disparities for Blacks,
Latinos, Asians, people with disabilities and
immigrants.
Kaiser first participated in The
DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity
in 2005, when it was on the 25 Noteworthy
Companies list. It moved to No. 36 on the list
in 2006, No. 27 in 2007, No. 7 in 2009 and No.
4 last year. Kaiser’s diversity-management
initiatives have jelled in the last five years as a
clear reflection of its values and leadership.
PROFILES 31–40
NO.
4
The DiversityInc
Top 10 Companies
for Recruitment &
Retention
NO.
3
The DiversityInc
Top 10 Companies
for Blacks
NO.
2
The DiversityInc
Top 10 Companies
for Latinos
NO.
6
The DiversityInc
Top 10 Companies
for Asian
Americans
NO.
4
The DiversityInc
Top 10 Companies
for Executive
Women
NO.
3
The DiversityInc
Top 10 Companies
for People
With Disabilities
DIVERSITYINC LISTS
Those values have been part of Kaiser’s
history and lead directly to the major
diversity-management strides the company is taking today. Kaiser has always
stood up for equal opportunity.
The company’s founder, Henry
J. Kaiser, recruited more than
20,000 Blacks from the South
for his shipbuilding effort
during World War II, making
sure they had healthcare in a
racially integrated setting, which
was unique at the time. Kaiser
hired its first woman physician,
Chinese immigrant Beatrice Lei,
in 1946, and its first Black physician intern,
Wendell Lipscomb, in 1951, breaking barriers. The company and its leaders have
fought for affirmative action and equality,
including strong opposition to Proposition
209 in California.
Today, Kaiser Permanente has the most
diverse board of directors and management, especially the top three levels of
management, that DiversityInc has seen.
The company’s board of directors is half
Black, Latino and Asian and 36 percent
women, and its top level of management is
LEADERSHIP
GEORGE HALVORSON
• CHAIRMAN AND CEO
We consider our diversity to be a core
strength of our organization. We very
much appreciate being recognized for
our commitment to diversity.
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TOP COMPANY FOR
Executive
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• PRESIDENT & MEDICAL DIRECTOR OF
OHIO PERMANENTE MEDICAL GROUP
Our physicians and employees demonstrate
Kaiser Permanente’s commitment to
diversity and inclusion every day. Being
ranked in DiversityInc’s Top 50 Companies
for Diversity is a distinction that makes
Kaiser Permanente very proud.
ACCEPTING AWARD AT
OUR NOV.
9–10 EVENT
BERNARD TYSON,
PRESIDENT AND CHIEF
OPERATING OFFICER
FOR MORE INFORMA-
TION, GO TO
WWW.DIVERSITYINC.
