Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Begins at Home

There is much work ahead to strengthen our DEI strategy within CZI. This includes building a diverse workforce, prioritizing an ongoing racial equity learning journey, offering employee resource groups that build community among our staff, and fostering a safe and inclusive environment for personal and professional growth.

CZI’s PRICZM employee resource group aims to educate the CZI community on LGBTQAI+ issues and foster a diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace.
CZI’s PRICZM employee resource group aims to educate the CZI community on LGBTQAI+ issues and foster a diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace.
CZI’s PRICZM employee resource group aims to educate the CZI community on LGBTQAI+ issues and foster a diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace.

Recruiting and Representation at CZI

We believe a diverse workforce is necessary to be successful in our mission. We work to ensure we have considered candidates from a wide range of backgrounds before making a hiring decision.

In 2020, we launched a robust DEI program embedded into our recruiting and hiring practices known as the Diverse Slate Practice. This practice requires managers to consider a wide range of candidates for every position, including female applicants and candidates from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s underrepresented minority or protected categories for our technology and operational roles. We identify if someone is a particular demographic through voluntary self-identification.

Here is a snapshot of what representation at CZI looks like.

A series of circle graphs displaying the CZI workplace demographic as of December 2023
CZI Science team members share insights about the importance of representation in genomics research at an organization-wide Lunch-and-Learn.
CZI Science team members share insights about the importance of representation in genomics research at an organization-wide Lunch-and-Learn.

Our DEI Learning Journey

We’re committed to a learning journey to build more trust, transparency, and accountability in our work to make CZI a more diverse, equitable and inclusive organization. Our DEI team provides opportunities for everyone in the organization to grow in their DEI learning journey. We offer diversity, equity and inclusion training by experts in the field and host an ongoing learning series to integrate DEI into our mission.

Our learning series focuses on the intersection of DEI and areas of our work in science and education through book clubs, digital courses, and lunch-and-learns with both internal and external experts. For example, we explored the history, narratives, and barriers confronting the scientific community after the sequencing and initial decoding of the human genome. Learning together as an organization helps us connect our DEI values with concrete steps to make a difference in how we work.