People and Culture
The Continuing Pursuit of Inclusion and Diversity
Jyoti Mehra - February 10, 2020 - 3 min read
This week, I’m excited to join colleagues from Gilead at the Workplace Summit of the Watermark Conference for Women – Silicon Valley, an annual event that draws thousands of professionals from across the Bay Area to focus on achieving equity and increasing the influence of women in the workplace.
Gilead is a main sponsor of the conference and I will have the honor and privilege of introducing one of the event’s keynote speakers: Verna Myers, Vice President of Inclusion Strategy at Netflix. We are also sponsoring the event’s Career Pavilion, where a resume workshop will provide attendees with an opportunity to get tips from members of our team, as well as talent acquisition professionals from other leading companies in the Bay Area.
Our annual support of and participation in the Watermark Conference is just one of the many ways we strive to support inclusion and diversity as an organization. Inclusion is one of our company’s core values and we are deeply committed to fostering a culture at Gilead where all employees feel empowered to bring their full, authentic selves to work. There is perhaps nothing more empowering than feeling that you are seen, heard, and that you truly belong, regardless of – inclusive of – your sexual orientation, gender identity, race, sex or any other personal characteristic.
Our employee resource groups – including Women at Gilead, our global network of female employees – help us strengthen our inclusive culture every day, and play a key role in influencing our company policies and practices. Beyond being the right thing to do, we believe focusing on inclusion and diversity is also good for business – that having teams made up of people with different experiences and backgrounds increases diversity of thought, drives innovation and helps achieve our mission. It also helps us reach more people who could benefit from our medicines, who themselves are an infinitely diverse group with equally diverse needs.
Throughout my career working in different countries, environments and cultures, I learned the importance of encouraging and supporting diversity of thought. In my leadership journey, I have benefitted from having mentors, allies and professional development opportunities. I am proud of the work we do at Gilead as we strive to make these types of growth opportunities available to employees of all backgrounds while working to clear barriers and address unconscious biases.
Most importantly, we know our work in these areas will never be done. That’s why we feel it’s important to continue partnering with organizations such as Watermark to promote inclusive work environments at Gilead and beyond, and why we are committed to continuing to work hand-in-hand with employees to be an employer of choice for people of all backgrounds.
Jyoti Mehra is the Executive Vice President, Human Resources at Gilead.
