Laboratory Director & Directorate: At the helm is Laboratory Director Mike Witherell. He serves as the Executive Champion to influence, endorse, promote, and ensure accountability for Labwide strategy and outcomes.
IDEA Senior Leadership Council: Director Witherell appointed 17 members to the IDEA Senior Leadership Council. The SLC is responsible for developing the Lab’s overall integrated IDEA strategy; defining initiatives and priorities; and evaluating and providing guidance on implementation of IDEA action plan.
IDEA Community of Practice: Area and Lab diversity groups have representatives on the IDEA Chairs Council. Council members serve as change agents to implement initiatives and solutions at the local level, monitor impact and effectiveness, and serve as a liaison for their communities.
IDEA Office: This structure and its members are supported by the IDEA Office in the Laboratory Directorate. This group ensures coordination with Human Resources and other Lab partners to operationalize IDEA at the process and institutional level, and ensure an integrated approach for our IDEA pillars. The Chief DEI Officer reports directly to the Laboratory Director, giving additional visibility and responsibility for IDEA at the Lab.
IDEA Work Streams: Area/Division IDEA Committees, Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), and IDEA Working Groups
Lab Supervisors: Maximize impact and serve as a role model for IDEA:
- Communicate the value and importance of IDEA at Berkeley Lab
- Ensure personal behaviors and actions are consistent with IDEA values
- Integrate IDEA and operationalize within business processes and practices
Each Lab Employee: Integrate and advance IDEA within everyday behaviors/actions
Metrics & Impact Evaluation
A key 2022-2025 strategic priority for Berkeley Lab is to measure the impact of our many IDEA efforts. To achieve progress around this priority, we must integrate existing channels of community feedback and cultural assessments to understand the Lab’s longitudinal progress towards the institutional goals of ever-greater inclusion & belonging, diverse representation, and equitable access to career advancement opportunities. Key performance indicators include measures such as employee engagement, psychological safety, belonging, burnout, etc.
UC Systemwide Employee Engagement/CUCSA Survey:
Every alternate year, beginning in 2012, a sample of approximately 1400 non-represented Berkeley Lab staff are invited to participate in the UC Staff Engagement Survey, created by the Council of UC Staff Assemblies (CUCSA). Roughly 20,000 staff across UC are invited to participate in the survey, which is completely confidential, so that any personally identifiable information is not shared with LBNL or UC. The administrator for this survey is Willis Towers Watson, who provide high-level summaries to each respective UC institution, including the Lab.
Read the IDEA Office’s synthesis and analysis of the 2021 survey results for Berkeley Lab here.
For more information about the survey and to review previous survey overviews, visit the LBNL CUCSA website here.
Berkeley Lab Culture Survey (upcoming in FY2023): Please stay tuned for more information in early 2023.
