Across J&J, different teams collaborate with external organizations to augment development and leadership skill opportunities. These collaborations enrich our learning and offer a broader range of possibilities to employees, often with a specific focus on DEI.
Our Women’s Leadership & Inclusion (WLI) ERG maintains a strategic partnership with The Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association (HBA), a global nonprofit comprising individuals and organizations in healthcare committed to achieving gender parity in leadership positions and enabling organizations to realize the full potential of women. J&J engages with HBA across the healthcare industry to enhance employees’ careers through a global cross-healthcare industry platform.
In 2023, we significantly boosted our HBA membership, going from 300 members at the end of 2022 to 5,000 at the end of 2023. Members are encouraged to participate in many HBA educational and networking events held in different countries and regions or to take volunteering and leadership roles in HBA chapters. In addition, members in select locations are eligible to participate in the yearlong HBA Ambassador Program which helps individuals reach their greatest potential in the areas of personal and professional growth and leadership accountability while learning from external HBA advisors and J&J senior leadership sponsors.
Impact in 2023
960
J&J women and men have graduated from the HBA Ambassador year-long leadership program to date, aiding the development of early to mid-career employees. Of this total, 360 graduated in 2023.
5,000
HBA members across J&J, participating in 3,700 individual engagements across 308 events.
80
WLI members took on leadership roles in HBA chapters and boards globally, and 125 WLI members joined as mentors and mentees.
It matters to me
Ashton Jacoby, Manager, New Product Procurement, Johnson & Johnson
How has becoming an HBA Ambassador helped you?
“I have gained more confidence since becoming an Ambassador in 2021. I naturally developed a more self-directed mindset, finetuning skills such as networking and influencing without authority. I also became more comfortable with expressing new ideas more often.”
What other benefits have you experienced?
“I was initially interested in applying to the program to meet colleagues across various J&J departments with whom I may not typically interact on a day-to-day basis, and I walked away from the program with wonderful new relationships and perspectives. This continues in my role as a Global J&J HBA Ambassador Program Champion. Now in 2024, I have transitioned into the J&J HBA Corporate Relationship Co-Lead role, further driving leadership development and exposure across J&J.”
HOLA ERG’s collaboration with the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility (HACR) enables us to offer development opportunities to HOLA members in a unique environment for professional growth. This partnership underscores J&J’s commitment to promoting Hispanic inclusion. Additionally, the collaboration provides an avenue for J&J to contribute and learn from HACR’s research on Hispanic inclusion via the Corporate Inclusion Index, which benchmarks DEI practices in participating U.S. companies.
In Belgium, J&J’s Innovative Medicine organization is a founding member of Business Uniting Talents 2030 (BUT2030), an initiative of CSR Europe that brings together several of Belgium’s top employers to foster multicultural diversity and inclusion in our business and reduce barriers to employment opportunities for all. J&J signed BUT2030’s Ethnic Diversity Pledge, in which we committed to assess our current practices, develop action plans for improvement, monitor and report on our progress and share best practices. To support this commitment, J&J Innovative Medicine held eight outreach events in 2023 for recruitment and joined roundtables and other events to share experiences with industry organizations and academic partners.
