How inclusive is your organisation?

Practical inclusion

Psychology suggests that individuals measure their social setting for fit. In the workplace, it is inclusive when employees are respected and included in their group and organisation without feeling compelled to conform.

These organisations generally support their employees regardless of any other factor or condition because they want them to succeed at work. Successful firms have to put mechanisms in place that eliminate hindrances towards integration and above all embrace variety.

Rather than being a universal solution, these companies need to be aware of their industry’s status quo as well as highlight good practice and respond to grievances.

Evaluating Inclusion

Inclusion is different from diversity even though they tend to go together. Organisations must consider employee perceptions of inclusion besides evaluating people management practices and line management capability if they are going to get a true picture of workplace inclusion.

Here are some possible ways on how organisations can comprehensively measure inclusion:

• Develop custom survey questionnaire for collection of data concerning inclusion by measuring individual-level perception multiple levels.
• Integrate questions about inclusion into existing organisational surveys addressing key areas in relation to this subject matter.
• Use already available figures such as cultural surveys that touch on related activities about inclusion within the organisation.
• Organisations should also run focus groups or employee feedback sessions so as to obtain an employee perspective regarding organisational norms, policies and practices.

Analysis of existing workforce data can help identify barriers to inclusion such comparing promotion rates between demographic groups or 360-degree feedback data for understanding employee behaviors and those of line managers linked with inclusiveness.

Building inclusive workplaces through action

Research has shown that being more inclusive benefits both employers and employees due to the fact there is a positive correlation between these two variables including increased job satisfaction among workers, enhanced creativity as well as reduced absenteeism. For this reason, organisations must align D&I strategies with a recognition that every single staff member in the company is affected by changes made towards its inclusivity. In fact, five areas where action needs taking have been identified by studies:

• Employee behaviour
• Line manager capability
• Senior leadership
• Policies and wider people management practices
• Prganisational culture, climate and values

In addition to that, organisations should have a wider view on inclusion than inclusion of diversity alone. This means creating an environment that allows individuals to be themselves at work and enables them to share ideas from their different experiences.

For businesses in the long-term, using the collective knowledge and perspectives of every employee can only improve decision making quality as well as customer understanding, both of which are crucial.

Always ensure you do this, regardless of which approach you take:

• Explain why data collection is taking place clearly and what will happen in response.
• Offer different ways for employees to give comments (e.g., online or through other means if employees cannot access work devices).
• Use the information gathered as guidance on how to deal with challenges towards integration within your organisation.