Diversity and inclusion

To deliver the care, education and research of today and tomorrow, it is essential for UMC Utrecht to be diverse and inclusive, so that everyone will feel accepted, appreciated and stimulated, and so that we will be able to attract and retain a variety of talent, reinforce our teams, and make optimum use of skills. In short, so that UMC Utrecht will be a good place to work. This is the basis on which our research, education and patient care can further be improved.

In previous years, the focus of our diversity and inclusion policy was mainly on gender and work capacity (Participation-law jobs). In 2021, we extended our focus towards other aspects of diversity, such as cultural or social background, orientation, and world views. For example in 2021, in line with our strategy, we developed a vision paper and an integral approach to further give shape to a diverse and inclusive organization. We also made diversity and inclusion an explicit component of our talent policy, our leadership program Connecting Leaders, and our recruitment and selection process. We further defined steps to increase diversity and inclusion in our education.

Bias training

All of us have unconscious associations (biases). By becoming aware of it, we can turn them around and in fact benefit from underlying differences in our work. In 2021, we gave bias training courses to our teaching staff. More than 200 people in total took part in these groups. We therefore reached our goal in 2021. Besides teaching staff, another 250+ colleagues from other job categories received bias training. In addition, we organize tailored courses for divisions and teams who want to do bias training. Bias training courses explain what bias is, what forms of bias there are, and how these can affect us and our work.

Specific moments that drew attention

In 2021 we took a number of days as an opportunity to draw extra attention to diversity and inclusion. For example on International Day of Women and Girls in Science (11 February), we put a number of female researchers in the spotlight. On International Women’s Day (8 March) we showed the digital presentation ‘We’re all equal, aren’t we?’ to colleagues and people from outside who were interested. More than 100 people attended. During Diversity Day (1^st Tuesday in October) colleagues and students played the ‘all inclusive’ game online, where they play with dilemma cards to think about the question of how one can create an inclusive work environment. And, on Coming Out Day (11 October), we looked at the opening of the longest rainbow cycle path at Utrecht Science Park , which was attended among others by a member of the Executive Board and the head of P&O.

Female talent

UMC Utrecht actively pursues a policy on female talent, both in healthcare and in research and education. The total number of female colleagues remained very high in 2021. In 2021, just as in 2020, 72% of our colleagues were female. In 2021 the percentage of women at management level and diversity management (incl. the Executive Board) rose to 39.5%% (38% in 2020). The number of female professors also went up in 2021 to 71, compared to 60 in 2020. This brought the percentage up from 29% in 2020 to 31% in 2021.

Participation-law colleagues

To promote the integration and inclusion of people with (occupational) disabilities or (mental) vulnerabilities and strengthen their position in Utrecht Science Park (USP) organizations, we established the USP Inclusive network in 2021, together with Utrecht University. In this employee network, taboos and prejudices about working with (occupational) disabilities or (mental) vulnerabilities can be discussed and tackled.

At the end of 2021, we had 71 colleagues who fall under the Participation-law target group working with us. Between them, they perform 67 jobs. In 2020, this amounted to 64.8 jobs filled by 67 colleagues.