IMD business school for management and leadership courses
Our People
At IMD, we strive to build and foster a caring and daring environment where colleagues can create and thrive. We ensure that everyone understands their contribution to IMD’s success, provide learning opportunities, and ensure everyone has the means to do their work in a sustainable way.
A range of learning and development opportunities
At IMD, we foster a learning culture and provide all employees access to a wide array of internal and external learning and professional development opportunities.
In 2023, we revamped the new employees’ onboarding process to streamline onboarding across diverse departments and help new employees understand IMD’s multifaceted functions.
A new customized IMD program for our staff
The We@IMD program was developed and launched in 2023, with 100 colleagues participating. It is an eight-week training program that provides all employees with invaluable insights into leadership, high-performing teams, and self-awareness. Through experiential exercises, mentoring, and coaching, it provides them with the skills and knowledge to develop both an individual and collective leadership mindset.
We aim to promote an understanding of IMD and how each employee contributes to the organization’s success while encouraging collaboration across departments and mutual learning.
“The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of learning, growing, and connecting with incredible individuals. IMD is not just an educational institution; It’s a community of exciting ideas, vibrant talents, and one that inspires personal and professional growth.”
Living the IMD culture
The Youth@IMD Team (YMD) supported the IMD All Ears Team in facilitating cultural workshops to strengthen our commitment to a positive, open, collaborative work environment. Held in Lausanne, Singapore, and China with 120 colleagues, the workshops revisited how staff feel about and enact IMD’s caring, inclusive culture.
In 2023, we provided all employees with access to a range of professional development opportunities and training sessions.
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colleagues attended IMD Open Programs
colleagues participated in external training programs
colleagues participated in LinkedIn Learning courses
colleagues participated in the Leadership Development executive program
Lunch & Learn sessions
Our first Well-being Month
We strongly emphasize caring for our employees’ mental well-being and inaugurated our first Well-being Month in 2023. Colleagues had the opportunity to get involved in a variety of activities on campus, such as ‘lunch and learn’ sessions, workshops, and a mindfulness session.
Our wellness pages on the IMD intranet provided articles and videos to support and enhance our collective well-being, and we ran mindfulness programs regularly throughout the year.
Our inclusive community – made up of 55 nationalities – is committed to welcoming individuals from all backgrounds and strives to create a diverse workplace free from discrimination.
During the year, we hosted a number of events, meetings, and training sessions. These included a compulsory unconscious bias session to enhance inclusion and four lunches hosted by the DE&I council to gather feedback on IMD’s DE&I journey.
Additionally, we celebrated a selection of awareness days to promote inclusion and a supportive environment for all employees and participants. On International Women’s Day, we celebrated employees who had demonstrated vocal advocacy for the advancement of women in leadership positions.
During Pride Month, to support the LGBTQ+ community, we created a rainbow flag on the campus lawn and flew the rainbow flag for the whole month.
On the occasion of Black History Month in November, we took the opportunity to learn more. The DE&I team provided theme-specific content to all employees, including a podcast from Mike Sealy, a recognized DE&I leader and the first Black manager at Hewlett Packard in the UK.
To celebrate the 2023 International Day of Persons with Disabilities, our forum on disability featured Tania Emery, a socio-photographer whose subjects include individuals with visible disabilities, and Silke Pan, the world’s first paraplegic circus performer and former hand bike champion.
Read our Sustainability Report for all the details of Equity, Inclusion & Diversity at IMD.
Staying in touch
In 2023, we held monthly Community Meetings to update all employees on the institution’s operations, strategy, news, and achievements. This is a platform for our colleagues to raise questions directly or anonymously with the Executive Committee and IMD’s President. During the year, around 2,400 participants joined the meetings in person or remotely from across the globe.
Supporting our local and wider community
Our people actively seek opportunities to contribute, give back, and support our local communities. In 2023, we supported several initiatives focused on healthcare, humanitarian aid, and children.
We participated in Steps for Cancer, a 20-day fitness and fundraising challenge in which we collectively took 28,576,426 steps.
Our colleagues participated in the Movember movement, which helped to raise awareness of men’s health issues. We also hosted an annual blood drive donation day, enabling employees to donate blood on campus to support the local blood bank.
Once again, our colleagues participated in Samedi du Partage’s bi-annual drive to collect hygiene and food products for the less fortunate.
They also participated in Fondation Mère Sofia’s toy drive, collecting and wrapping new and secondhand toys for more than 300 families in need in and around Lausanne. Following the devastating earthquakes that affected Syria and Turkey in early 2023, our community donated clothes, bedding, and care packages for those displaced by the earthquakes.