IMD business school for management and leadership courses
Fostering inclusion at IMD
At IMD, we aim to build an inclusive, caring, high-performance work environment that attracts talented and engaged colleagues. We continuously adapt our practices to ensure we are a relevant, attractive, and competitive employer.
Our inclusive culture is underpinned by our diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) efforts. Our diverse employees reflect the international profiles of our participants, representing a wide range of experiences and identities.
Among our faculty and staff populations, 55 nationalities are represented, up from approximately 50 in 2022. We foster a welcoming culture that encourages open conversations based on compassion and respect. Our internal practices exemplify the world of work we are shaping, one that is diverse, inclusive, and fair.
Creating a supportive on-campus environment
We strive to ensure that IMD is free from discrimination and recognize that reaching this goal requires concerted and continued efforts. Our employees are required to complete mandatory unconscious bias training, focused on inclusive language and behaviors and awareness of unconscious bias during the hiring process, to promote inclusivity on campus. Our faculty, managers, and HR staff members also participate in additional training during the year.
We host a series of events throughout the year to promote inclusion and a supportive environment on campus. Monthly meetings are held to share important updates with all employees, providing them with a platform to raise questions, either directly or anonymously, with the Executive Committee and IMD’s President.
In 2023, we hosted a series of lunches to give employees the opportunity to provide feedback on how our DE&I progress on campus is progressing. The feedback indicated an appreciation for the progress being made; however, it also showed us that more remains to be done.
Championing important causes
We celebrate select international awareness days and use these as an opportunity to highlight important issues. On International Women’s Day, we celebrated employees who had demonstrated vocal advocacy for the advancement of women in leadership positions. We organized a cookie sale in support of the Centre Mallery-Prairie Association, which helps victims of domestic violence. Understanding the challenges new mothers may face, we provide a room for mothers to use when breastfeeding. We also ensure free female hygiene products are available in restrooms throughout the campus.
In support of the LGBTQ+ community, we celebrated Pride Month through various on-campus activities, including creating a rainbow flag on the campus lawn. We also fly the LGBTQ+ flag during Pride Month and display the LGBTQ+ “ally cow”, a piece of art, on campus. In November 2023, we sent a delegation of participants and staff to EurOut, an LGBTQ+ networking conference in London.
To celebrate Black History Month in 2023, our DE&I team provided theme-specific content to all employees throughout the month; for example, we shared a thought-provoking podcast from Mike Sealy, a recognized DE&I leader and the first Black manager at Hewlett Packard in the UK.
To create awareness of visible and invisible disabilities for the International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPWD), we promoted a photo exhibition from the Association Corps à Coeur on our campus. We also facilitated talks about how disability affects everyday life. Para-cyclist Silke Pan, the world’s first paraplegic circus artist and former hand bike champion, shared her life journey.
In addition to campus events and activities, our digital platform and magazine, I by IMD, is aligned to the same quarterly themes and features interviews with leaders, experts, and role models on DE&I-related topics.
“My highlight of the year was the cultural workshop, where all IMD departments worked together toward a common goal. That was the IMD synergy at its best.”
Giving younger employees a voice
The Youth@IMD Team (YMD) contributes to IMD’s caring, inclusive, and high-performance culture by sharing innovative ideas with the Executive Committee and rolling them out into the wider community. To help colleagues navigate their daily routines and achieve a greater impact at work, YMD previously identified five improvement areas: work pace intensity, workplace well-being, flexible workplace, digital proficiency, and career development.
The YMD team introduced the Collaboration Guidelines in 2022 to enhance teamwork across IMD, and we continued this focus in 2023. We gathered feedback on our efforts to understand the guidelines’ impact and further improve team collaboration.
In collaboration with our HR colleagues, the YMD team helped revamp the new employee onboarding process in 2023. Its aim is to streamline onboarding across diverse departments and help new employees understand IMD’s multifaceted functions. YMD also supported the All Ears Team in facilitating a series of cultural workshops to strengthen our commitment to a positive, open, and collaborative work environment.
