Inclusion In The Workplace
As social beings, we experience the need to feel included and an accepted member in a group. Inclusivity is very essential in our lives: without it, we are vulnerable to having poor mental health and experiencing feelings of loneliness and isolation.
Our healthy self-worth and self-esteem are tied to feeling included in a group or community. When we feel like we don’t belong anywhere, it can lead to stress, anxiety, and depression.
Let’s First Define Inclusion & Belongingness…
The sense of belonging is defined as experiencing the feeling of being accepted for authentic self and the feeling of being included in social circles. Inclusion is defined as the practice of providing equal opportunities and resources for people who might otherwise be excluded or marginalized.
Inclusivity & Our Health
Studies show that social environment profoundly shapes our personalities and impacts our health. We tend to suffer when our social bonds are threatened or severed. Particularly, our mental and emotional health are at risk the most when we feel we are being excluded. Let us take the workplace environment as an example of social environment. We spend a minimum of eight hours a day at our workplaces, interacting and communicating with colleagues, managers and clients (both in person and virtually).
Experiencing the need to be heard, seen and recognized in that small (or big) community is essential to make us feel we are part of that community (we belong to that community).
A study in this field was conducted to uncover how employed adults define belonging and what makes them feel like they belong at work and what makes them feel excluded in the workplace. The study data was categorized per generations: millennials, Gen Xers, & Baby Boomers.
When excluded, 38% of millennial respondents felt they are being ignored, 30% of them felt stressed, and 34% felt lonely.
Whereas for Gen Xers, when feeling excluded, 41% of them felt ignored, 27% felt stressed, and 26% experienced the feeling of sadness.
Meanwhile, for baby boomers, when excluded at work, 45% of them feel ignored, 26% feel angry, 21% feel stressed, and 21% feel lonely.
The numbers and the feelings varied from one generation to another but mostly all have indicated feeling stressed, anxious, sad or ignored at some level.
Inclusivity & Language
We use languages to communicate with each other and establish relationships. Choosing to use inclusive language with people you communicate with will means that you are less likely to make someone feel like they don’t belong. Train yourself to become more conscious of your language and the expression you use around others. It is important to remember that words have strong impact on others and when used carelessly, can deeply hurt people; leaving an impact that might not be easily forgotten.
Here are seven tips to consider as you try to use more inclusive language in your speech:
- Don’t complain about or express that you are struggling to be inclusive.
- Don’t over apologize if you make a mistake. Your apology forces the other person to discount their feelings to make you feel better.
- When someone corrects you, acknowledge them with thanks.
- Reinforce your learning when you need to make a correction by practicing the correct approach three times.
- Consider meeting up with someone else who is working on using inclusive language to practice.
- If you observe a mistake, offer a quick correction. It helps the person become more aware, demonstrates respect and commitment and shows empathy and understanding.
- Be respectful of the person and their situation (ex: if you are speaking with someone who lives with a disability, “speak directly to them rather than through a companion, support person [or] interpreter.”)
Inclusivity In The Workplace
Being inclusive starts with little everyday things. For example, the choice of words you choose and how you interact in social settings. People can determine if you are being authentically inclusive or pretending to be.
For managers who aim to build an inclusive environment for their employees, start by making them feel heard, valued and recognized for their effort and unique abilities. Ultimately, when inclusivity exists in a workplace, organizations can experience game-changing insights, super-charged creativity and attract the most talented people to join a group of happy and satisfied employees.
Inclusivity In The Workplace
Being inclusive starts with little everyday things. For example, the choice of words you choose and how you interact in social settings. People can determine if you are being authentically inclusive or pretending to be.
For managers who aim to build an inclusive environment for their employees, start by making them feel heard, valued and recognized for their effort and unique abilities. Ultimately, when inclusivity exists in a workplace, organizations can experience game-changing insights, super-charged creativity and attract the most talented people to join a group of happy and satisfied employees.
If workers feel like they belong and included to their small work circles, companies reap substantial bottom-line benefits. High belonging was linked to a whopping 56% increase in job performance, a 50% drop in turnover risk, and 75% reduction in sick days.
Belonging is beneficial for your business on many levels. Employees with higher workplace belonging also showed a 167% increase in their willingness to recommend their company to others.
On the other hand, exclusion leads to team and self-sabotage. To further explore this concept, a study that was conducted to note the difference in behavior between included and excluded teammates in experiment. The study showed that when excluded participants were told that their pay would be shared with the team, they worked less hard than included ones even if it meant sacrificing earnings. However, when excluded participants were told their pay will only benefit them (alone), excluded team members worked just as included ones did. This study showed that feeling excluded causes employee to give less effort to the team. Ultimately, impacting the business negatively.
Inclusive Leadership
Creating inclusive workplace could be challenging mission to accomplish when the right strategy and practice are not applied. In order to create inclusive environment for employees, an inclusive leadership should be practiced.
For managers who are aiming to create inclusive workplace for your employee, studies recommend practicing three important behaviors: empowerment, accountability, & humility. When applied appropriately, you will build teams that feel valued, appreciated, and recognized for their efforts.
Here is a list of recommendations when practicing the three behaviors:
Empowerment
- Ensure that all team members have what they need to succeed and flourish at work and that they can bring their full selves to work by expressing and sharing their cultures.
- Model your own learning, vulnerabilities and challenges related to tracking inequities and moving out of your comfort zone.
Accountability
- Hold all team members responsible for their behaviors, development and work processes.
- Openly discuss how to demonstrate that a wide variety of perspectives, identities and cultures are valued.
Humility
- Practice humble listening by setting aside preconceived notions of how the world works, and truly hear what another person’s experience of the world is like.
- Be willing to admit your mistakes; find grace for coworkers to make mistakes and take risks without being penalized.
For the full list of recommendations, click Here
Our social interactions can heavily impact our emotional wellbeing. When we experience exclusion, especially at social entities like workplace, we tend to feel sad, unmotivated, depressed and we underperform. Therefore, employers should embed inclusive leadership into their business strategy, taking care of the health and wellbeing of their employees.