Inclusion, Diversity & Equity

A Culture of Possibilities

We are the makers of possible. And we welcome diverse people with the imagination and drive to help us reinvent the future of health.

Akiva’s Story

Our associates embody our Purpose and values, foster our culture of inclusion and innovation, and contribute diverse ideas and perspectives to our organization. Across the globe, our associates are driven by a passion and commitment to improve the health and well-being of our global society by reinventing the future of healthcare through transformative solutions.

Infographic of BD associate percentages by region and country

Attracting and Securing the Right Talent for BD

Embracing continuous improvement and altering our approach to hiring requires a growth mindset — and growth mindset, by definition, means learning and growing every day. That’s the core of #HireDifferently.

Everyone at BD plays a role in attracting talent by building our brand, from associate engagement and interactions to the stories shared with family and friends. After all, recruiting, hiring and supporting talent is all about making and maintaining connections.

three diverse females sitting with computer and conversing

We understand the advantages that diversity of experience and perspective can bring to help us advance the world of health. Our #HireDifferently initiative enables us to bring diverse perspectives to the table to fuel the innovation that’s needed to solve complex health challenges. Differences in leadership style and work experience are what make us a stronger team.

#HireDifferently also encourages the use of panel interviews comprised of diverse BD associates – including diversity of thought, experiences and skills. Panel interviews provide a more robust opportunity to discern candidates’ strengths and potential through a broader lens of perspectives.

This approach also allows us to identify where a candidate can make their strongest contributions within BD. Additionally, it supports the career development and aspirations of our existing BD associates to make, find and explore opportunities for internal growth.

The First of Many Talent Successes in Columbus, NE

The BD WAY guides the decisions our associates make and governs how we lead ourselves at work every day. Being bold, strategic and exercising the courage to try unconventional approaches to solve complex problems is how we win as one BD.

hispanic female smiling standing into front of manufacturing equipment

In that spirit and operating with a growth mindset, a cross-collaborative team, spanning multiple disciplines at our Columbus, Nebraska facilities, partnered to develop the English as a Second Language (ESL) Program – providing career opportunities for non-English, Spanish-speaking people from the local communities and creating a robust talent pipeline to successfully fill open roles.

“The ‘war for talent’ is real, particularly in Columbus where the unemployment rate is extremely low,” shared Shawna Hilbert, Associate Director - HR. “A significant part of the area’s population are transplants from Spanish-speaking countries. Once we identified positions where English was not a requirement for success, we knew we had the opportunity to create value for our sites, BD, and most importantly, our new associates.”

As part of the program, candidates interviewed in their native language and human resources, quality and safety procedures, and training materials were translated into Spanish. This created a foundation of understanding and sense of inclusion and belonging on day one. Additionally, onsite English classes were offered to Spanish-speaking associates and facility leaders participated in Spanish classes – all to remove barriers, facilitate effective communication and enable a more efficient onboarding experience.

“At BD, we welcome and empower people with different backgrounds and various abilities to contribute fully and be equitably rewarded for their contributions,” said Edmundo Ramirez Lara, OPEX Leader. “Through our ESL program, we’ve successfully onboarded approximately 150 new associates with low turnover. I’m excited to continue our inclusion and diversity journey - advancing our associates while advancing the world of health™.”

BD earns three Professional Awards from the Society of Women Engineers

diverse group of BD associates attending SWE conference

Diverse representation has long been a core value of BD. We believe that having associates of all genders, backgrounds, skills, and perspectives drive infinite possibilities to advancing the world of health™. BD recognizes this as a strength and is committed to fostering an equitable and inclusive environment within our organization and externally throughout the engineering community.

To that end, the BD Women’s Initiative Network Associate Resource Group (WIN ARG) and WIN+STEM, a sub-group of WIN, focuses on empowering, elevating and advancing equity in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). BD partners globally with the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), a non-profit organization, to celebrate and promote the contributions of women in STEM at all stages of their careers.

We are honored that our ongoing efforts to foster an inclusive culture where all associates can thrive has earned BD a Gold Professional Mission award – an improvement from last year’s silver award. This is the fifth consecutive SWE Professional Mission award that BD has earned.

The Gold Professional Mission award recognizes SWE groups that embody SWE’s core values and demonstrate continuous improvement and growth as they work to achieve the Society’s strategic goals of advocacy and collaboration, diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging, global community and growth. Key efforts that helped earn this prestigious award were focused in the areas of policy improvements, mentoring, outreach, membership growth and policy enhancement.

Mentoring

WIN+STEM partners closely with the BD Global Mentoring Advisory Council to lead and support global mentoring programs across North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia. This year, WIN+STEM focused on developing and mentoring STEM associates in India through two distinct program offerings: WIN+STEM Student Mentoring, pairing university students with WIN+STEM members to develop capabilities and accelerate their personal and professional growth; and a STEM initiative, pairing India and U.S.-based associates together to create global connections and gain exposure to career opportunities.

Outreach and Membership

Expanding the reach, impact and opportunities for women engineers and technologists across the globe, is critically important to creating inclusive workplaces. This year, WIN+STEM leaders and more than 50 global chapters provided SWE memberships to hundreds of BD associates around the world and became a SWE Global Champion and co-founding member of the European Corporate Council.

Policy Enhancements

WIN, in partnership with the Total Rewards and Global Travel and Expense teams, led efforts to enhance BD’s U.S. Travel and Expense Policy to cover the expenses related to shipping breast milk when associates are on business travel. This is another opportunity for BD to provide care, support and alleviate some of the stress and burden caregivers face when traveling.

Each of these achievements will be recognized at WE23, the world’s largest conference for women engineers and technologists, taking place October 26-28. If you are attending WE23, we encourage you to join several BD associates who will lead sessions and be featured on panel discussions focused on innovation and being an influenceHER; health and well-being; the power and courage of speaking up; human factors engineering and diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging; and engineering’s impact on women’s health.

BD is incredibly proud to be a part of the SWE Annual Conference and of our contributions to the collective efforts in promoting inclusion and diverse representation of all genders, experiences, and backgrounds, including those who are underrepresented, in STEM.

BD Helps Hometown Health Clinic Expand Comprehensive Women’s Health Program

Community health is one of the four pillars in our environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategy, Together We Advance.

Through this work, we collaborate with communities and NGOs throughout the world to invest our resources to do what’s right – especially when it comes to serving the most vulnerable. While many of these social investments focus on programs that are national or international in scope, we also focus philanthropic dollars on local programs that seek to strengthen communities where our associates live and work.

A great example is our long-term partnership with the BVMI Healthcare Center in Bergen County, N.J., where our U.S. headquarters is located. At BVMI, a team of more than 75 volunteer healthcare professionals provides quality care to a diverse population of more than 1,200 patients – many of whom may not otherwise have healthcare access. BD has donated more than $715,000 to BVMI over the past 11 years.

“Long-term partners can be hard to come by in the nonprofit world. When a major donor stands by you and really listens to your needs, it’s special. For the last 11 years, BD’s support to BVMI has spanned our operations, fundraising events, Women’s Health Initiative, and Diabetes Prevention, Care and Education Program,” said Amanda Missey, BVMI’s President and CEO. “They even donate medical supplies to us. Not a day goes by that we don’t think of BD’s generosity as we serve our patients.”

Community Health Centers like BVMI are a perfect match to our philanthropic giving strategy, which focuses on advancing health equity and supporting our communities.

Earning a Living While Making a Difference Shapes Career

“Two of my big priorities are earning a living in a way that makes a difference and having the opportunity to grow,” says Julius Mitchell, who originally joined BD as part of the C. R. Bard acquisition. For him, BD’s size and diverse portfolio create opportunities to not only grow professionally, but also to explore multiple career paths. “BD truly encourages people to try different roles and move across the organization,” he explains.

“I’d like others to know that they have these same opportunities, regardless of prior exposure or familiarity with other BD business units. You can literally start a new career within BD,” he says. Julius also recently participated in BOOST, a sponsorship program in its pilot phase designed to identify talent within BD’s leadership pipeline, giving visibility to their work and providing career-shaping experiences to support internal career advancement.

Julius appreciates the company’s ARGs, which he says create a safe and inclusive space for associates to connect, to “share our experiences and truly get to know one another.” He also sees ARGs as enablers of BD’s Strong Teams model of leveraging fellow associates’ abilities to achieve common goals. “ARGs facilitate that process by opening up lines of communication where there might have been walls or barriers,” Julius says. “ARGs also help foster career growth within BD, which positively impacts associate satisfaction and retention.”

“I chose to join the African-Americans at BD (AABD) ARG after some really warm interactions with several of its members,” says Julius. “And it has benefited me in a multitude of ways, ranging from leveraging members’ experiences or their networks, to help solve business challenges, to just making some new friends and connecting with folks in different ways,” he says. “I have also worked with AABD to foster career growth and identify movement opportunities for other BD associates,” Julius adds, noting that AABD members had a real impact on his own journey within BD.

Julius Mitchell, Vice President, New Care Settings and Innovation and AABD Global Co-Lead

Passion for Healthcare Runs in the Family

Akiva Kirschner is surrounded by those working in the healthcare industry. His mom is a cancer survivorship nurse practitioner, his twin sister and sister-in-law are oncology nurses, and his brother is a medical device engineer.

So, it should come as no surprise then that Akiva applied to the BD Engineering Development Program (EDP) in 2020 after graduating from the University of Cincinnati with a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering.

Akiva works on the Peripheral Intervention Oncology team, which helps patients manage certain health issues at home — work that interests him personally after watching his grandfather suffer an unexpected health emergency, which included the need for a ventilator. “I saw how critical the medical devices were that were keeping him alive, and realized how I could apply engineering skills to help with quality of life.”

“It’s really interesting to look back and consider our company’s history and where we are heading with so much research, development, and innovation taking place. It’s amazing to work here and the impact you can have is very exciting and rewarding,” said Akiva. “There is a lot of forward momentum at BD, you can feel it working here.”

Culture, Keys to Success and Belonging at BD

Akiva describes the BD culture as centered on The BD WAY, but also collegial and collaborative, helping to build a connection to each other that’s more than surface deep.

“Naturally, The BD WAY unites all of us …. I especially love that we help each other be great because I’ve experienced this throughout my rotations whether in Franklin Lakes, San Diego, or here in Vernon Hills – the sentiment is carried throughout the organization. We are all very committed to helping each other,” explained Akiva.

When asked about what he has found are keys to being successful working at the company, he quickly calls out being curious, agile, and flexible and most important – continue learning and expanding your skills.

Akiva also appreciates opportunities to connect with others through the company’s Associate Resource Groups (ARGs) and is a Global Careers Co-Lead for the Out & Proud Employee Network (OPEN) ARG. The OPEN ARG embraces and inspires the LGBTQIA+ community both within and outside of BD through increased visibility, opportunity, development, education, and corporate advocacy.

“I feel like I belong and am accepted for who I am. I love being able to share my story and listen to others and grow my network at BD,” said Akiva.

Akiva Kirschner, R&D Engineer III