Maximus Celebrates Its 2023 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Accomplishments

Originally published in Maximus' 2023 diversity, equity and inclusion report.

The Greater Impact Experience

In 2023, we launched the Greater Impact Experience, Maximus’ premier local university and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) collaborative. We partnered with Talent Acquisition’s Early Careers team, our Legal Department, and the Public Health team to increase access to and generate awareness of meaningful career experiences and pathways for local university and HBCU students and alumni, similar to existing programs for all university students and alumni. The 2023 Maximus summer internship cohort had 64 students in one of its most diverse classes yet, with 55% (35) being women, 75% (48) being POC, and 16% (10) representing HBCUs.

In celebration of HBCU week, we hosted our inaugural Let’s Talk about Greatness HBCU Corporate Industry Day Mixer which hosted over 100 HBCU students and alumni to learn more about careers at Maximus and why we are an employer of choice. Participants were able to connect with Maximus’ HBCU alumni network and learn directly from leading industry professionals from across the business about desired career fields. HBCU faculty and staff received direct insight on industry trends and helpful tips to best prepare students for the future workforce. The following departments support this event and continue to be important partners in this work:

• Business Development
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
• Finance and Accounting
• Human Resources
• Information Technology
• Legal
• Marketing/Communications
• Office of the President and CEO
• Public Health
• Talent Acquisition

Maximus Legal Fellowship Program

At the event, we announced an exciting opportunity that will be available in 2024 - the Maximus Legal Fellowship Program will support HBCU and Washington, D.C.-area law students who have taken the bar exam and passed or are awaiting their results with a structured opportunity to gain training and on-the-job experience with a corporate entity, as well as with our federal, state, and local government contracts. These positions offer a rare and exciting opportunity to gain real-world experience in legal compliance, contract law, employment law, and privacy law within a publicly traded, global, government services corporation. The selected fellows will rotate in all areas of the legal department to gain knowledge of general business principles, corporate organizational structure, and government procurements. They will have the opportunity to learn, grow, and collaborate among various project teams, consultants, vendors, and senior management.

MentorU Expansion

In FY23, Maximus piloted its inaugural mentorship program, MentorU, through our three chartering employee resource groups (ERGs). MentorU is a six-month program designed to connect our ERG members with experienced professionals at Maximus. The mentoring relationship allows for meaningful topical engagement with the suggested curriculum to inspire holistic interaction and conversations amongst the paired participants. MentorU uses a one-to-one mentoring structure and matches are determined using a S.M.A.R.T. Matching system that analyzes every combination of every available participant to generate the best possible outcome.

Our first cohort collectively recorded over 1300 hours amongst the 155 employees who participated in the program, yielding an 86% satisfaction rate. With three new ERGs emerging, we were able to launch the second cohort in June with 175 active participants and over 1200 hours recorded within the first four months.

Gender Neutral Bathrooms

The Maximus Facilities team, HR Compliance, and the DE&I team partnered to do an assessment of restroom facilities and have implemented gender-neutral restrooms (single-use) for more than 50% of our Federal employees under the leadership of the facilities team.

Supplier Diversity

At Maximus, we believe that a diverse supplier base provides us with unique perspectives and solutions while helping grow the communities in which we live and work. Our commitment to supplier diversity focuses on increasing fair and equitable opportunities for all.

• In 2022, our program spent 16.1% with diverse suppliers and, YTD in 2023, has grown to 22.2%.
• This puts Maximus in the top 20% of companies per the 2023 Supplier Diversity Benchmarking Report.
• Maximus spending with African American-owned companies increased 7.4% since 2022.

DE&I Innovation Lab Competition

During the summer of 2023, we hosted our inaugural DE&I Innovation Lab Competition with our summer interns. Interns were randomly placed into small cohorts and were invited to pitch innovative DE&I initiatives, project ideas, or expansions of existing ones that could benefit the company and its employees. The goal of the competition was to promote awareness and engagement around diversity, equity, and inclusion among new talent and to leverage their fresh perspectives and innovative ideas to advance DE&I initiatives within the organization. It also provided an opportunity for interns to gain valuable skills and experience in DE&I, leadership, project management, cross-collaboration, and public speaking.

As part of the competition, interns were provided with resources, support, and guidance to develop and present their ideas. The interns were encouraged to engage with the DE&I team and senior leaders within the organization. The competition culminated in a final pitch event, where the intern cohorts had the opportunity to present their proposals to a panel of internal judges at a designated virtual event. Proposals presented may have the chance to be implemented or further developed by the business in the future.

Read more about Maximus' commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion in its 2023 DE&I Report.