6 Steps for an Inclusive Organisation

 

Inclusion and Diversity is an essential aspect of good people management. Over the past number of decades, organisations have increasingly recognised the importance of an inclusive and diverse workforce, and making this a priority have reaped the benefits of boosting employee morale, contributing to employee wellbeing and greater creativity amongst the workforce.

There are many disadvantages of a non-inclusive working environment that can deeply impact employee wellbeing and the overall reputation of the organisation.

According to the 2022 Diversity and Inclusivity in the Workplace Survey, 20% of employees do not view their workplace as one that is inclusive.

Below, we have outlined some practical advice that employers can implement within the workplace to support inclusion and diversity:

• Review of Policies and Procedures– undertake a review of all HR policies and procedures, not solely focussed on legal compliance, but review through the lens of inclusion and diversity. For example, ensure the policies contain gender neutral language, consider implementing additional policies such as health and wellbeing, menopause, review flexible working and putting pronoun guidance in place.
• Promote an inclusive calendar – acknowledge holidays and significant dates from minority cultures. Organisations do not need to add further companywide holidays, but the impact of acknowledging significant dates on the work calendar to raise awareness can provide a feeling of support from the organisation. There are endless simple ways organisations can acknowledge significant days to make them more inclusive, including decorating the office to celebrate Pride Month and hosting a disability awareness workshop during National Disability Employment Awareness Month.
• Undertake training – awareness training to support all employees to understand inclusion and diversity and how this relates to their jobs and working with colleagues.
• Focus Groups – focus groups empower employee voice and can enable organisations to gain understanding of employee viewpoints, and their lived experience of how inclusive your organisation is. Not only will this provide the organisation with the accurate data and help them make changes where necessary, but this also informs the employees that their organisation is eager to become more inclusive and have an interest in who they are and how they can best be supported and represented
• Segment Engagement Survey Data – organisations can utilise their Employee Engagement surveys to work to become more inclusive by asking employees to fill out details such as gender, sexual orientation and ethnicity. Through the collected data, organisations can assess if there are trends in answers between different backgrounds, or if there are groups that are underrepresented that require the organisation to consider positive action.
• Diversity Mark Accreditation – this is the ‘Mark of Progress’ that allows Organisations to demonstrate to employees stakeholders and publicly that the Organisation is committed to creating an inclusive and diverse workforce. Working towards a Diversity Mark Accreditation is setting the foundation that will help build a better workplace environment, by setting realistic targets and offering continual support on the journey.

Becoming an Inclusive Organisation (Webinar)

To hear more about how your organisation can become more inclusive, join us on Thursday 9^th February 2023 as Ruth Curran of Think People and Emma Lyttle of Diversity Mark deliver a seminar on “Becoming an Inclusive Organisation.” They will be joined by Kerri Bradley, HR Director of Cleaver Fulton Rankin. Kerri chairs the Diversity & Inclusion Committee at the firm, which has retained the Bronze Diversity Mark since 2021.

Interested? You can click here to register for the event, we would love to see you there!