West Michigan Sustainable Business Forum will feature one of West Michigan’s most successful diversity and inclusion programs at its monthly forum on Monday, September 10 at Mercy Health Saint Mary’s. The event will also feature a town hall discussion for local organizations impacted by the rapidly emerging recycling markets crisis created by international trade policies.

This month’s featured speaker is Shana Welch, Executive Director of Talent Acquisition, Trinity Health Michigan Region. Mercy Health fills 3,200 positions per year, including 2,100 external hires. When the healthcare system developed an Evidence Based Selection Process (EBSP), the goal was to reduce turnover and improve job performance. After its launch in 2010, the EBSP strategy successfully accomplished those goals, in part, by eliminating biases that traditionally hamper the hiring process.

Mercy Health has increased its diverse hiring from 18 to 38% over a period of three years. Other data derived from the new system reflecting decreased turnover, improved customer satisfaction, and improved employee morale could be interpreted as showing racial discrimination is simply not good for business.

After the featured presentation, representatives from the WMSBF Solid Waste Task Force will share ways in which their organizations have been forced to respond to China Sword, both positive and negative, including pricing adjustments, operational improvements, and material restrictions, among others. This will be an open forum for participants to discuss their challenges and gain insights from mutual perspectives. The Solid Waste Task Force is a the forum’s leadership committee for commercial recycling.

Lunch is $15 for members and $20 for non-members if paid online prior to the event here.