IPF HR accepts diversity award

Feb. 25, 2019

From the IPF Spartans Will Celebrate Diversity award event program:

IPF is one of the largest units on campus: their work supports every facet of MSU’s mission in teaching, research, and outreach. And yet, leaders within the organization recognized they could do more to empower their team to ensure that the unit was a place that actively sought diverse experiences and where all employees feel valued for their contributions.

In 2016, IPF leaders embarked on a path of critical self-reflection, specifically to examine its effectiveness in creating a diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment. With input from internal stakeholders, an external review team, and fair bit of courage, the IPF leadership team examined every policy and practice that governs their work. They worked to improve the culture in the unit with changes that impacted leadership, engagement practices, supplier and partner diversity, and the recruitment, hiring, retention, and promotion of staff. Every aspect of the operation was scrutinized. This resulted in a Strategic Framework that serves as a guiding document to convey IPF’s values and identify opportunities for individuals to connect with goals around diversity, equity, and inclusion.

The results from IPF’s visioning have been widespread: policy changes have been communicated to all employees and emphasize transparency in human resource practices. IPF employees provide mentoring to new employees through an “Employee Buddy System,” and actively seek out a diverse new generation of people excited to build upon the work of IPF. These efforts evidence an ongoing commitment to hiring, training, retaining, and promoting from within, a generation of IPF leaders who embrace and promote best practices in support of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

IPF leaders also recognize the need for leadership to model these values. The leaders use data from a recently deployed workforce engagement survey to inform their practices, offer training in areas such as implicit bias, and empower the unit’s diversity and workforce engagement committees. These strategies are only a few ways in which IPF is changing its culture from within by embracing the challenges laid out for them in the Strategic Framework.

For its innovations in using data, internal and external review, and inclusive practices at all levels to meaningfully change the culture, IPF is awarded a Unit – Excellent Progress toward Diversity Collaboration award.