Anti-Racism Pledge
It’s time for healthcare to change
Research shows that Black individuals receive worse care and less dedicated health resources than the general population, which leads to poorer health outcomes. Racism continues to negatively affect every step of the healthcare journey. Additionally, Black Americans face greater financial burdens from the healthcare system—including higher out-of-pocket spending, greater medical debt and more contact with collections agencies. These issues need to be addressed immediately with deliberate action.
Cedar commits to making a difference
To lead the way for a more equitable healthcare system, we also need to build a more diverse Cedar. We have a long way to go and can’t solve these problems overnight. But we can take the necessary steps to improve key parts of the company.
This starts with hiring.
Our goal is to:
- Attract: Black candidates who view Cedar as a place they can thrive
- Identify: Talented people who believe in our mission, regardless of where they reside
- Empower: Black employees so they feel safe, included and supported at work
- Promote: Employees fairly based on their contributions
Our plan also encompasses:
Product development
We seek to understand the impact our products have on racial inequality in healthcare finance and correct it, while assembling a more diverse product team.
Business relationships
We expect our vendors—including agencies, consultants, tech partners and other business support functions—to show a commitment to DE&I through their policies and staffing models.
Phase I: Goals & milestones
Progress is already underway. Last year, we launched an employee mentorship program, gathered and reported employee representation data and launched our first comprehensive product accessibility audit and Inclusive Copy Guidelines. We also rolled out a comprehensive compensation strategy and education program to ensure our pay practices and processes are not only fair, but transparent to all Cedarians. To continue our efforts, here are the next steps we’re working toward in the coming months:
- Introduce attrition data by demographics for internal reporting
- Report pay equity audit results for increased transparency
- Require all senior leadership team members to mentor at least one Cedarian outside of their own department
- Maintain diverse hiring funnels, targeting at least 40% underrepresented candidates across all open roles
- Improve curated content for candidates to receive through targeted role-specific campaigns and through personalized Talent Community outreach
Lastly:
Our initial focus on Black Americans does not dilute our commitment and ongoing efforts to support others (such as LGBTQIA+ individuals). Rather, this is a recognition of the unique harm of anti-Black racism and what can be done to eradicate it. While this is just the first part of our journey to build a more equitable and inclusive healthcare system, we favor progress over perfection. We’ll hold ourselves accountable by sharing updates on our plan throughout 2023, so stay tuned for more.
From our founder
Buy-in starts at the top. That’s why it’s so important our executive team supports this pledge. To learn more about Cedar’s stand against racism, read this message from our co-founder and CEO Florian Otto.
DE&I at Cedar
Cedarians have been laying the groundwork to help this pledge become a reality. Find out more about all of Cedar’s DE&I programs, including our employee resource groups like Cedar-versity, Be@Cedar and Pridecones.