Inclusion

Our value of Respect for People, originally articulated by Eli Lilly as “compassion for others,” has guided us for 150 years. This principle embodies our enduring approach to Inclusion, by fostering a culture where everyone feels valued and empowered. Our strategy is grounded in two areas:

Empowering a culture of inclusion for all: Inclusion, to us, means everyone is respected and valued for their unique perspectives, feels they belong, and has access to the opportunities and resources needed to contribute their best. We embed this in our daily work, rather than separate initiatives.

Building an Accessible and Supportive Workplace for All: Our approach to disability inclusion and accessibility is built on intentional design, continuous learning, and shared accountability — creating an environment where everyone can fully contribute. Because employees may choose not to disclose their disability status due to privacy concerns or stigma, our approach is grounded in trust, respect, disability-confidence, and an ongoing effort to embed accessibility into how we work.

Our Workforce

Our workforce is a global community, with employees contributing to our success around the world.

We employ a recruiting process focused on finding qualified individuals with the skills, experience, and passion to drive innovation. We recognize the importance of proactive outreach and casting a wide net to find top talent, and we believe that recruiting in this way ensures we build an inclusive and high-performing workforce that strives to understand and meet the needs of the diverse patients we serve.

Building an inclusive culture through learning and connection

The Lilly Inclusion Office plays a central role in shaping an inclusive culture through global learning experiences designed to foster belonging, allyship, and inclusive leadership.

In 2025, we accelerated our efforts to make inclusion and accessibility a more visible and sustained part of how we operate across the enterprise.

We elevated accessibility as an enterprise-wide priority to proactively foster and sustain a disability-confident culture by embedding best practices into large events, communications, and leadership forums. We amplified employee and community voices and increased awareness of inclusive design and disability inclusion. In parallel, we strengthened our accessibility infrastructure by advancing barrier removal across both digital and physical spaces, enhancing governance through stronger digital accessibility standards, and proactively embedding accessibility considerations into enterprise planning and design processes.

We also expanded education and upskilling efforts to equip employees, leaders, and partners with the tools needed to champion accessibility in daily work. We advanced inclusive hiring, development, and retention practices and through participation in global disability and accessibility forums, we contributed to broader ecosystem learning and strengthened the disability talent pipeline.

Employees worldwide participated in the fourth annual Level Up Conference, our largest employee development summit. The conference drew strong engagement across in-person, virtual, and watch party experiences with broad use of accessibility features reflecting our focus on building a disability-confident culture. To sustain that momentum, we launched the Level Up Masterclass Series, a yearlong initiative extending inclusion learning throughout the year and embedding it into ongoing development.

These efforts were recognized externally as well. In 2025, we earned top scores and distinctions from respected external organizations for disability inclusion reflecting sustained progress and a growing reputation as a company that takes accessibility seriously.

Looking ahead, we plan to continue working to embed accessibility by design, sustain continuous learning, and ensure every employee is supported in contributing their best. Our focus remains on making inclusion an everyday practice across the enterprise, strengthening the connection between inclusive behaviors, innovation, and impact.

Resources

• Inclusion on Purpose

• Lilly Position Statement on Inclusion

Related Topics

• Employee Engagement

• Employee Learning and Development

• Community Engagement

• Human Rights

• Corporate Governance