EDI recognizes that delivering quality customer service is not a one size fits all approach. Our Customer Outreach Model promotes positive customer experiences by understanding the unique needs of each NIH Institute and Center (IC), and delivering customized service addressing those needs. With this personalized approach, not only does EDI have the opportunity to better understand each of the ICs, but ICs take an active role as well in determining how EDI can best offer our support.

EDI Customer Outreach Model: 5 Strategies

1. Quarterly Meetings
   The EDI Director and Deputy Director meet quarterly with each IC Executive Officer to foster collaborative relationships, address EEO- and diversity-related matters, obtain IC feedback on EDI services, and solicit IC suggestions for future programs and services.
2. EDI Manager and Liaison Teams
   Each IC has a designated EDI manager and IC liaison to address their EDI-related needs. The EDI manager’s primary function in the Customer Outreach Model is to deliver consultation services to ICs. EDI managers provide expertise on senior-level management issues and engage with IC senior staff. IC liaisons are EEO specialists who ensure that ICs receive quality customer service from EDI. IC liaisons are available to IC managers and employees on a day-to-day basis and serve as a bridge between the ICs and EDI’s technical experts. ICs have the flexibility to customize how they utilize the EDI manager and IC liaison, and to define the distinct roles of each. Get to know the technical expert assigned to your IC.
3. Technical Team
   Each IC has a technical expert for formal complaints, workforce demographic data, and strategic diversity and inclusion. Technical experts are highly-skilled subject matter experts who provide our customers a depth of technical assistance in a variety of program specialty areas. View our entire team of technical experts.
4. Standard Reports
   EDI provides biannual demographic workforce reports, and quarterly complaints data and EEO training reports. These reports depict IC workforce composition and trends in personnel actions; IC complaints activity; and the number of employees that have completed EDI-related training.
5. Active Communication and Consultation
   Each EDI Division maintains active communication with the NIH ICs. All EDI employees take responsibility for being actively engaged. This involves reaching out to the ICs to assess their needs, talking with IC representatives to provide requested information, and following up to determine if additional needs exist. Each IC has a technical expert for formal complaints, workforce demographic data, and strategic diversity and inclusion.