by Bright Ewuru | Nov 4, 2022 | Articles
“Society is unity in diversity.” – George Herbert Mead
We are all different. From age group, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, religion and physical capabilities, our differences are worth celebrating.
Creating a human-centred organisation is important, and that means creating a diverse and inclusive work environment.
An inclusive work environment is one where people with all forms of differences feel welcome and recognised for being themselves and also feel valued for their contributions to the organisation. Such a workplace acknowledges and celebrates diversity across the organisation.
An inclusive workplace culture is characterised by fairness, equitable access to resources, collaboration, accountability, respect and a sense of uniqueness and belonging.
There are multiple upsides to creating a diverse and inclusive work environment. These can include
Here are practices for creating a more inclusive workplace culture.
To nurture an inclusive workplace culture, company leaders should lead the charge. Though inclusive practices need to be implemented by employees at all levels, it’s easier for the team to follow suit if the managers and C-suite embody the principles.
Since the experience the leaders create determines the success of the organisation’s inclusion ambitions, it behoves them to set the pace. To make this a reality, it’s essential to train your organisation’s leaders.
Training sessions on inclusion highlight its importance and teach inclusive behaviours. Furthermore, the training sessions expose how they can be prejudiced against people without noticing it. These sessions could be unconscious bias training, cultural training and/or diversity workshops.
Beyond educating the company’s leaders on inclusion, it’s crucial to hold them accountable for results and evidence of inclusiveness. Concrete proof of efforts toward building an inclusive work environment indicates seriousness. Eventually, the culture will gradually extend to the rest of the organisation.
After sensitising your company leaders to the essence of inclusion, it’s vital to set up a panel committed to inclusion. It should be made up of a handful of persons who are committed to diversity. The functions of this body could include
Come up with clear-cut goals for your company to achieve. These targets will serve as indicators of your progress towards nurturing inclusion in your organisation.
To determine your goals, take a look at your organisation’s processes. The appraisal will uncover what’s lacking and give a better idea of what to do.
Additionally, meetings should be held regularly to collaborate on how best to foster inclusion in the company. Such meetings are suitable forums to deliberate on how to make everyone comfortable in the workplace.
Creating an inclusive work environment requires that you understand the experiences of your employees. To make sense of their journey and perspectives, you need to hear from them. Engage in conversations with your workers and pay whole-hearted attention as they share their stories with you.
Such genuine connections give birth to authentic relationships, vulnerability and transparency.
With a better understanding of their ordeal, you can make efforts to ensure that the workplace culture is accepting of their differences. If their circumstances prevent them from accessing promotion opportunities and excelling in the industry, take note of how those obstacles operate and dismantle them in your organisation.
In that same vein, it’s important to praise and recognise them when they perform remarkable feats in the company.
To foster an inclusive environment at work, efforts to welcome diversity should literally be seen both in words and deeds. Your company’s processes should show that the differences are recognised and very much appreciated.
One way to ace this is by insisting on using inclusive language. Give employees the latitude to choose their pronouns and be sure that they’re addressed by such during communication. Also, use words that are more encompassing like “spouse” and “partner” instead of restrictive and assumptive words. Similarly, steer clear of words that are denigrating or disparaging in any form.
It’s also important to prioritise accessibility. Your company’s office and website should be ADA-compliant, making it easy for employees who are abled differently to use them.
Creating an inclusive environment at work calls for spaces designated for special needs such as prayers, meditation, quiet times, breastfeeding for nursing mothers and unisex restrooms.
It’s important to adjust the company’s calendar to accommodate lesser-known holidays. Whether they’re religious or cultural, recognising these special days and raising awareness gives employees who practise them a sense of belonging. While it may not be practical for the entire company to take such days off, give those who belong to such religions and cultures the freedom to do so.
Your recruitment strategy equally needs to be tailored to nurture inclusion. A recruitment formula which ensures that the demography of the society is well-represented among your workforce will go a long way.
Generally, your company should have unrelenting anti-discrimination policies. These policies should be comprehensive enough to tackle bias in every shape or form. According to 75% of respondents to a Harvard Business Review study, shallow policies do not bring about real change.
It’s almost unrealistic to keep up with the daily interactions and encounters of your workers. Also, since inclusion is a delicate issue, your employees might not be bold enough to voice their concerns.
It’s imperative to avail your employees with a communication channel for them to voice their concerns and invite their opinions. They deserve an outlet to share their encounters and suggestions on how the workplace culture can be adjusted to suit everyone. Use surveys, emails and other means to collect feedback from them.
Encouraging them to share their thoughts on the structure instils them with a sense of psychological safety and comfort to share their ideas. It further guarantees that their concerns will be attended to.
Having set goals to foster inclusion in your workplace, it’s crucial to constantly evaluate how well those expectations have been met.
Gauging your company’s progress towards a more inclusive culture matters. It proves whether or not your efforts have been worthwhile. Also, it points out areas of your company culture that are plagued by prejudice.
Ultimately, the assessment demonstrates a real commitment to diversity and inclusion as opposed to merely throwing the words about. As you measure the advancement, recognise that failing in one area is not the end of the road. Readjust accordingly and forge ahead.
The road towards inclusion is a never-ending one and organisations need to constantly evolve in a bid to better attract diversity and foster inclusivity. These steps will help you build a workplace culture that embraces and celebrates a diverse workforce.
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