Skip to main content
Diversity

Diversity & Inclusion

At Highmark Health, we are committed to being open, inclusive, and supportive to all. Our workforce includes talented people from every background. We welcome and value new ideas, different experiences, and fresh perspectives.

For us, supporting a diverse and inclusive workforce is more than the right thing to do. It makes us stronger as a business and more innovative as a group — positioning us to be highly effective at serving our customers and communities.

Companies that are diverse in age, gender and gender identity, race, sexual orientation, physical or mental ability, ethnicity, veteran status, and perspective are proven to be better companies. Creating an environment where everyone, from any background, can do their best work is the right thing to do.

Read on to learn more about our comprehensive efforts including our Business Resource Groups (BRGs), executive sponsorship, programs, commitment to supplier diversity, awards and recognition and other resources.

Executive Sponsorship

At Highmark Health, executives sponsor diversity and inclusion at three distinct levels: within the board of directors, through an inclusion advisory council and through sponsorship of our BRGs.

CEO Roundtable

The Roundtable, which includes employees from across Highmark Health, is designed to advise our leadership and provide continuous feedback on our progress to implement the DEI enterprise wide strategy and health equity plan. The group members also serve as our internal advocates for our five year DEI Journey.

DEI Committee

These Champions and Equity Officers represent every business unit, health institute and hospital within the Highmark Health enterprise. They serve as educators of inclusion (Inclusivity Resets and DEI micro sessions) and creators of initiatives to advance the DEI culture and community for their distinct business lines.

Diversity and Inclusion Committee of the Board of Directors of Highmark Inc.

This committee includes board members and executive leaders who oversee the work of our corporate diversity and inclusion team, assist in the development of goals and strategy and establish accountability for results related to those efforts.

Enterprise Equitable Health Institute (EEHI) Advisory Council

Highmark Health/Allegheny Health Network’s Enterprise Equitable Health Institute has recruited a panel of nationally-recognized experts in diversity, equity and inclusion, who serve as the Institute’s inaugural NAC. These noted national thought leaders share their experience and expertise related to advancing health equity, improving the climate of inclusion in the workplace, strengthening the growth of a diverse workforce and supplier base, and improving community partnerships.

Executive Champions and Coaches

Executive champions and coaches from across our company guide and support our business resource groups in order for their initiatives to have maximum impact all areas of our business, workplace and community.

Military Advisory Council (MAC)

This executive council of military and veteran employees guides our enterprise strategy for the employment, retention, development, and community sponsorship of veterans, military personnel, and their families in the communities that we serve.

Transformation Team

Convenes corporate and hospital leadership, team members, practitioners, researchers, and caregivers from various disciplines to identify practical and novel ways to understand, explain, and solve problems of inequality that challenge our minoritized communities. We are fostering research, research-based policy, innovation, data driven education, advocacy campaigns, and narrative-change initiatives.

Business Resource Groups (BRGs)

BRGs serve and operate as an inclusive network of employees. Led through executive sponsorship, mentoring, and engagement, our BRGs share personal knowledge and experiences to enhance professional growth, promote cultural competency and multicultural awareness, and positively impact our company's bottom line. BRGs contribute to our competitive strength in the health care industry by enhancing our enterprise capability through targeted market intelligence, development of human capital, diverse leadership development, and community outreach programs.

Abilities BRG

The Abilities BRG raises awareness about the needs of, and offers support to, people with disabilities and their caregivers in the workplace, marketplace and community. The Abilities BRG encourages workplace inclusion, equality of opportunity and best practices in recruitment. Its members also build community partnerships through educational-to-career experiences for students with disabilities, advocate accessibility to Highmark Health facilities, act as a champion for customers with disabilities, and serve as a voice for those who care for or support people with disabilities.

BOLD BRG (Black Organization for Leadership and Development)

BOLD supports the strategic initiative to empower black employees in achieving great business results for the workplace, marketplace, and community. BOLD supports and inspires employees through its activities, relationships, leadership development, unique perspectives, and commitment to advancing corporate goals while creating an environment that celebrates diversity within the organization and throughout the community.

EAST BRG (Exploring Asian Societies and Traditions)

EAST is Highmark Health's newest business resource group, launched in 2018. A central focus for EAST is to engage and connect global communities from Asian, Middle Eastern, North African, Asian-American and Pacific Islander backgrounds. Its purpose is to enhance professional growth for employees, promote cultural humility, learning and multicultural awareness across the organization, and also provide insights that will help Highmark Health companies to better understand and meet the needs of their customers.

Next!

Next! Is a Business Resource Group that fosters an environment of growth and professional development and aims to connect with, engage, and retain organizational talent by highlighting corporate developments, promoting opportunities to engage and explore our organization, and connecting leadership and enterprise talent. Next! Is agnostic to where members are in their career journey and supports all levels and tenure of team members who want to grow their career, by helping them create connections with people and resources to be successful.

PRIDE BRG (People Respecting Inclusion Diversity & Equity)

The PRIDE BRG leverages diverse LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) experiences to help promote inclusion among employees, enrich community outreach efforts, and foster marketplace excellence. The PRIDE BRG brings together LGBTQ employees and their allies to cultivate openness and encourage different and inclusive thinking. The PRIDE BRG is instrumental in ensuring that our enterprise is the most LGBTQ friendly employer that it can be by building community partnerships, partnering with human resources to educate leaders and the workforce about the LGBTQ community and marketplace, and acting as a focus group for our companies in offering the right insurance products and services to LGBTQ communities and our employees.

SALUD BRG (Strengthening Awareness of Latino culture Using and understanding Diversity; Latino/Hispanic)

The SALUD BRG leverages our Latino and Hispanic talent to develop business opportunities in the workplace, marketplace and community. SALUD collaborates and partners with the Latino and Hispanic community to support customer needs and enterprise efforts to recruit and retain diverse talent. The group promotes personal accountability and equitable opportunity of diverse talent through professional development programs and supports marketplace excellence through education of multicultural business and language capabilities.

Seasoned BRG

Seasoned leverages the extensive workplace experiences of 60-plus employees (and our valuable allies and their unique perspectives) to extend Highmark Health's DEI mission. On an individual level, Seasoned strengthens members' sense of belonging and value. Seasoned does this through serving the communities within our markets, representing our customer cohort, promoting collaboration, advocating for one another, and investing in ongoing educational opportunities.

V.E.T.S. BRG (Voices of Employees That have Served; Military/Veterans)

The V.E.T.S. BRG provides a platform for the communication and sharing of common challenges and opportunities, and establishes a network for promoting the professional development of employees. The V.E.T.S. BRG partners closely with business leaders to leverage the viewpoints of military personnel and veterans in areas such as recruitment, retention and professional development, and it served as a fundamental resource in developing an enterprise-wide military and veteran talent strategy. The group also fosters community partnerships through volunteer opportunities and fundraisers to help military and veteran families.

Women of Highmark Health BRG

The Women of Highmark Health BRG leverages the perspectives of women within the diverse markets and partners with senior leadership across the enterprise to develop campaigns, products and services that empower women through all walks of life. The Women of Highmark Health BRG also develops strategic initiatives to retain, develop and attract high-performing women in leadership roles through a series of personal and professional development programs and initiatives in which members share information, volunteer, mentor, and learn from peers and women executives within our organization. The Women of Highmark Health BRG champions workplace benefits that support women in their careers and strives to equip women with tools and resources to make successful decisions in health care, finances and professional development.


Programs

At Highmark Health, we are committed to living out our best practices, and being a leader in diversity and inclusion.

Access and Inclusion Advisory Committee

This Committee addresses matters related to "facilities and inclusion," implementing accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act, gender-neutral policies, religious accommodations, and other inclusion needs.

Communications Support

It's not just what we communicate, but how we communicate that is critical to the engagement of our employees, customers, patients and communities. Our Enterprise Equitable Health Institute and Business Resource Groups, offer communications support in language, accessibility and culture. "We hear you, We see you" is our internal campaign, which works to continuing to promote an inclusive workplace and business practices.

First Steps & Beyond

First Steps & Beyond's vision is that every baby born in Allegheny County will celebrate their first birthday. We are working to reduce Black infant mortality through an interdisciplinary approach. We are intentionally collaborating with Pittsburgh's community members, doulas, community-based organizations, healthcare systems, and government to create a unified strategy that will address both medical and social needs through an equity and justice-centered lens. Our goals are to reduce racial disparities, reduce preterm birth rates, eliminate sleep-related deaths, and expand fourth trimester support. We are first prioritizing dismantling systemic racism, building reciprocal relationships with all partners, and creating new ways of communicating, sharing information, and feedback. We are blending lived experiences, evidence-based interventions and practices, and the knowledge and skills of all involved to make sure that our approach is multi-faceted.

We are currently working on:

  1. Creating a multi-session training on obstetrical racism, trauma-informed care, and respectful maternity care
  2. Implementing CenteringPregnancy in all our birthing hospitals
  3. Participating in multiple coalitions, initiatives and working groups to ensure that we are supporting the programs that already exist
  4. Fostering relationships with, and investing in, programs that address social determinants of health
  5. Building out subcommittees to address our co-authored priorities and our Executive Committee
  6. Working within our own healthcare system to address racism, improve patient experience, and create balanced, positive relationships between our healthcare teams and birthing families

Workforce education

Educating our workforce is key for our social justice, diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at Highmark Health. We provide educational opportunities to teach fundamental concepts such as unconscious bias and the business case for diversity, and we offer training for all employees such as the Military Toolkit and iDisability. Through these key learnings, our diversity and inclusion team works to equip employees and leaders with the tools and best practices to build, engage and work in a diverse workforce.

The Inclusivity Reset session enhances collegiality in efforts to create inclusion for all employees. During this session, employees learn how to create inclusive habits that will lead to meaningful conversations, engagement and improved productivity. In addition, the four Micro-Sessions (Unconscious Bias, Trim Tab, What is Inclusion, and a Class Divided) provide an enhanced learning opportunity for employees through discussion, videos and exercises.

  • Our diversity and inclusion team designs and sustains strategies that attract, retain and elevate diverse talent. One such strategy, the Business Resource Groups (BRG's), offers a number of developmental opportunities for our workforce including mentoring, professional workshops and networking. One key element for every BRG event is our EEHI Voices Sessions. The sessions provide a safe space to express opinions on relevant topics centered on DEI, thereby enabling a culture of inclusion and belonging resulting from trust-building and being heard and valued.

Communications support

It's not just what we communicate, but how we communicate that is critical to the engagement of our employees, customers and communities. Our diversity and inclusion team and BRGs offer communications support in language, accessibility and culture. "Inclusion Begins with You" is our internal campaign which works in continuing to promote an inclusive workplace and business practices.

Supplier Diversity

Highmark requests that all diverse suppliers register in Highmark's diverse supplier database so that supplier information is readily available when business opportunities arise.

Awards & Recognition

Best Places to Work for LGBT Equality (2017-2022)

In recognition of Highmark Inc.'s supportive and inclusive culture for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer or questioning employees, the company has earned distinction in Pa., W.Va., and Del. as a "Best Place to Work for LGBT Equality" from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. Highmark qualified for the award by receiving the top score of 100 points since 2017 in this annual Corporate Equality Index, which benchmarks corporate policies and practices pertinent to LGBT employees, helping businesses to compare themselves to those that are leaders in diversity and inclusion.

Best Place to Work for People with Disabilities (2014-2023)

Highmark Health is recognized as a "Best Place to Work for Disability Inclusion" through the Disability Equality Index®, a leading national benchmark established jointly by the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) and Disability:IN. Points are awarded on the basis of four criteria, including culture and leadership, enterprise-wide access, employment practices, and community engagement and support services. Our organization has participated in this important benchmark since its inception in 2014, earning 100 percent on the index each year.

Military Friendly® Employer (2019-2024)

Highmark Health is a bronze-designated Military Friendly® Employer. This elite designation is achieved by exceeding Military Friendly® standards in hiring and onboarding, opportunity and advancement, culture and commitment, support and retention, policies and compliance, and recruiting and sourcing. Highmark Health proudly exceeded all categories by at least 32 percent and as high as 52 percent.

Corporate Warrior Leadership Award (2018)

Highmark Health was the 2018 recipient of the Fort Pitt Chapter's Corporate Warrior Leader Award for our leadership in the Pittsburgh Military Community, our commitment to supporting and empowering our veteran employees, and our support and service to the local military community.

Tony Coelho Award (2018)

Bender Consulting awarded Highmark Health president and CEO, David Holmberg, with the Tony Coelho Award. Named after the Honorable Tony Coelho, author of the Americans with Disabilities Act, this award is presented to a CEO, president, or government leader who has demonstrated a significant commitment to employ people with disabilities in competitive positions, and worked to influence other businesses or government leaders.

Vibrant Pittsburgh's Regional Economic Inclusion Summit Marketplace ERG/BRG Award (2017)

In 2017, our SALUD BRG was awarded Vibrant Pittsburgh's ERG/BRG Marketplace Award for its efforts in helping our organization cultivate marketplace opportunities for the organization through culturally competent sales and customer service, and for creating innovative, marketplace-focused business solutions in the Hispanic and Latino community.

Pennsylvania Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) Above and Beyond Award (2017)

Highmark Health is one of three Pennsylvania businesses to be recognized by the Pennsylvania Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR), a Department of Defense office, with the Above and Beyond Award for extraordinary support of its employees who serve in the Guard and Reserve. The ESGR Above and Beyond Award was created to publicly recognize American employers who provide extraordinary patriotic support and cooperation to their employees.

Awards & Partnerships

Learn more about diversity and inclusion at Highmark Health.

Learn more about diversity and inclusion at Highmark Health.

Contact us

VISIT US ON SOCIAL MEDIA:

Highlights from our Diversity and Inclusion program

Highmark Health is named Military Friendly Employer for sixth consecutive year.

Highmark Health is named Military Friendly Employer for sixth consecutive year.

From military leader to corporate champion, learn how this veteran is helping others.

From military leader to corporate champion, learn how this veteran is helping others.

Margaret Larkins-Pettigrew discusses black maternal mortality rates in Pittsburgh.

Margaret Larkins-Pettigrew discusses black maternal mortality rates in Pittsburgh.

>Highmark is working to end racial disparities in birth.

Highmark is working to end racial disparities in birth.

>Highmark focuses on women's health.

Highmark focuses on women's health.

African American woman pregnant.

Pregnant Black women disproportionately tested for drug use at hospitals.

Highmark Health's recent successess in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and the importance of mental health access for members.

Highmark Health's recent successess in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and the importance of mental health access for members.