Diversity in the workplace has many benefits. Having a wide mix of people in your workforce gives your business a wide mix of skills, backgrounds, and experiences. All of these diverse perspectives can give your business a better pool of ideas to draw on.
Inclusion goes further than diversity. Having an inclusive workplace means everybody in it feels they’re an important part of the business and are able to contribute. Diversity is the mix of your workforce and inclusion helps them all to work well together.
Developing an inclusive culture is one of the more difficult aspects of running a successful business. Diversity is relatively easy to achieve and comes down to making sure you’re not discriminating against anyone in your workplace. Inclusion is more of an art. Getting everybody to work together happily, and feel they can contribute to the success of the company is what being a truly inclusive employer is all about.
There are several ways to help generate an inclusive culture in your workplace and it starts with taking note of how the people in your business are currently acting. In meetings and training sessions does everyone feel included, or are there some employees who still feel they can’t contribute? If you can spot the issues then you can start to address them.
Are You an Inclusive Employer?
It’s all very well to have policies in place that ensure you can tick the boxes and say you aren’t discriminating but being an inclusive employer is more than simply applying the law.
Everybody within your company must be comfortable in their working environment. For many, particularly in the older generation there is still some discrimination, even if it’s a casual discrimination such as not being included in social circles or being overlooked for certain projects.
Increasing Inclusion
You need to understand your workforce to help them feel included. Regular one-on-one meetings can help employees to feel that they’re contributing and shaping the business. And they can help you to better understand your employee's backgrounds, skills, and expectations. Having a better understanding of your employees can help to bring teams closer together.
A better education is needed for employees and employers to teach them how important it is to have not only and inclusive workplace, but an inclusive society. By 2050 there will be no race majority or minority at all. Much needs to be done still to make sure that businesses are ready for this.