Inclusion in the Workplace: How to Foster Inclusion at Your Job

Inclusion in the workplace means ensuring every employee—from vastly different backgrounds and demographics—feels a sense of belonging and appreciation. People of all different races, ethnicities, gender identities, sexual orientations, and so on commonly work together.

An inclusive workplace makes space for the people who make up your workforce to celebrate who they are. This means providing training about unconscious bias and celebrating diversity, offering equal access to opportunities, and highlighting what makes each employee special.

Diversity refers to the existence of different people groups, whereas inclusion refers to ensuring all of these people feel a sense of togetherness and acceptance for who they are. In other words, inclusion means celebrating the benefits of diversity in the workplace.

Workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion (or DEI) initiatives raise awareness about how to build a diverse staff, treat everyone equitably, and include every person in the company’s culture equally.

Fostering an inclusive culture at work is a worthwhile cause in and of itself, but it also comes with additional benefits. Here are just three to consider:

1. 1. Greater employee satisfaction: When you ensure your diverse workforce experiences a strong sense of inclusion, it leads to a greater degree of employee engagement and satisfaction. The more your staff feels an abiding sense of well-being and appreciation at work, the more likely they are to remain productive (potentially leading to higher revenue and profitability).
2. 2. Improved retention: An inclusive and diverse company culture can boost employee retention. When people feel appreciated and included, they’re more prone to staying put where they work. On the flip side, if a person feels disregarded and excluded, it’s a far greater possibility they’ll seek out an environment in which they feel more comfortable and celebrated for who they are and what they can bring to the table.
3. 3. Increased awareness: As you seek to recruit a diverse talent pool, keep in mind inclusion efforts will help raise awareness about how to celebrate that diversity appropriately in the workplace. This helps improve the overall employee experience and makes your company a great place to work for people of all backgrounds and demographics.

Inclusion is essential to making everyone feel appreciated to the fullest possible extent in the workplace. Keep these seven tips in mind as you work on solidifying your company’s distinct workplace inclusion strategy:

• Ask for feedback. Reach out directly to employees to see how they feel about your inclusion efforts. Request their feedback to learn whether or not you’re adequately addressing any inequalities in the treatment people receive. Ask if they might suggest any specific metrics you could work on to gauge what it will take to make them feel uniquely included and celebrated.
• Celebrate differences between employees. Inclusion initiatives highlight and celebrate what makes everyone unique. Still, make sure to refrain from singling anyone out if they might prefer to receive less attention due to their personality. Create a work culture in which people can feel comfortable sharing who they are at their own pace. Offer everyone opportunities to celebrate their identity, too.
• Communicate regularly. Employees feel included when they feel heard. As part of your inclusion initiatives, encourage all your team members to talk and engage with one another. Create a workplace culture of collaboration and mutual respect. The more people communicate with each other, the easier it is to build relationships and a sense of belonging.
• Form an inclusion council. See if you can form a diverse team of willing employees to serve as an inclusion council to guide your company’s initiatives. Ensure this is a purely voluntary position, as it’s unlikely this was part of anyone’s initial job description. This employee resource group can work with your human resources team to develop inclusion initiatives specific to your organization.
• Give people a voice. Allow everyone an opportunity to influence the decision-making process at your company. If you hope to create a truly inclusive environment, prove it by showing you truly value the input of everyone on your staff. When people see tangible results coming from their feedback, they’ll feel more like part of the team than ever.
• Offer opportunities to all staff. Everyone deserves equal access to the opportunities your company provides. This means creating a hiring process to encourage a diverse group of job seekers to apply for positions at your company as well as protocols to ensure everyone can succeed without prejudice.
• Provide training. Everyone—from the CEO to the most recent hire—should undergo unconscious bias training and similar sessions to make sure everyone’s on the same page about your company’s diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. This fosters an educated and inclusive work environment.

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