3 actionable ways to increase inclusion in the workplace
Many business leaders in today’s day and age are well-aware of the importance of inclusion in the workplace. The current of diversity, equity, and inclusion is even strong enough to carry many leaders into declaring inclusion as a workplace priority; yet, leaders often set this priority without understanding what it actually means to be inclusive beyond simply naming and talking about it. This can cause vital energy that could actually help drive inclusive changes to lost, and worse reduce “inclusion” to buzzword status, leading to a generic DEI training that “checks the box” without leading to real changes.
To provide more clarity into what “being inclusive” actually means, here are 3 tangible ideas that you, as a leader, can try to increase inclusion in your organization.
Increase workplace inclusion of women
By now, nearly 80% of private workers in the US have access to paid sick leave – and thanks in large part to the FMLA act, it’s wonderful that 90% of private workers have unpaid parental leave; but parental leave without pay (only 27% of private employees have access to paid parental leave) can mean parents either can’t afford to take it, or downplay their interest in it, so as to avoid being discriminated against as an employment “risk.”
In the business world of quarterly growth statistics, it’s easy to focus on just the short-term problems and ignore the bigger, long-term needs. In this sense, businesses and managers may initially cite the problems of cost and business continuity when it comes to expanding and normalizing access to paid parental leave; but what if this challenge were reframed into an opportunity? What opportunities could welcoming maternity leave coverage more into the ongoing planning rhythm create? Perhaps it could offer new and rising company leadership a critical chance to gain more valuable exposure than would ordinarily be available. This could turn the problem of maternity leave into a solution to address one of the biggest challenges all businesses face (finding and training new leadership).
Even if your organization isn’t ready to scale up paid parental leave, don’t let this be the end of story of making your workplace more inclusive for women. Look for other ways to support women workers, too, such as providing free tampons in bathrooms or normalizing the reality of periods and the menstrual process, to lift the taboo from these real and important topics that affect 100% your workplace, not just those who they “happen to.”
Increase workplace inclusion of ethnic and racial minorities
One of the biggest blockers that ethnic and racial minorities face in recruiting, advancement and promotions is that of networks. Time and time again, who you know continues to be one of the most important ways to move forward in your career. Humans naturally tend to stick to the familiar, comfortable and known, which means that minorities of all kinds have challenges moving through majority gatekeepers, who overwhelmingly control access to recruiting, advancement and promotion opportunities.
Necessarily, much of expanding inclusion for ethnic and racial minorities involves widening the early career talent pipeline, by addressing inequities earlier in the education process or tackling the thorny topic of quotas and other equity-aimed procedures. Yet, we also shouldn’t treat getting into an organization as end of story; how do we focus on the ethnic and racial minorities who have already entered into our organizations, too?
To alleviate the blocker of networks that minorities face, companies might consider a new twist on the already-ubiquitous learning-exchange programs such as buddy systems, mentor programs, and other interpersonal connection programs. That twist is to make this process blind.
Again, the issue facing minorities is that people tend to stick to their groups, which can cause minorities to be shut out of networking opportunities, especially if they are unstructured and informal ones. Yet, people also develop relationships and even positive regard through the simple context of familiarity and repetition. Remember how many new friends you made in school when the teacher made you sit in teacher-assigned seats? Plus, familiarity also reduces uncertainty, which is the food that fear, anxiety, and division feed upon. More chances for interactions between majority and minority increase familiarity and consideration for minorities. If these happen in a personal, 1-1 setting, it can also lessen the risk of discrimination or resistance occurring because people feel they are being watched and observed by others, and are pressured to act in a certain way to maintain appearances.
The exchange idea can also be enhanced by establishing a known rhythm for the meeting times. Making space for these meetings at times and on days when most employees are able to attend (such as Friday afternoons) can increase accountability for these meetings to actually happen.
Increase workplace inclusion of people who work differently
Training is one of the most natural places for DEI discussions to orient towards; yet, training can often manifest as a short-lived meeting or workshop that informs, which don’t teach new and durable skills.
Many companies offer employees a learning and development budget; but how often do companies make recommendations to employees as to what they could apply this budget to? By recommending a disability skills-building training as an option for employees to use their L&D budget, companies could make progress on their inclusion goals, while also helping employees to build important new communication and empathy-building skills; and as a bonus, not only do these skills create more inclusion for disabilities, but they also pay back dividends through emotional intelligence.
For example, companies could consider promoting sign language training as an option for their employees to use their learning and development budgets!