Health and Safety Topic – Fostering an Inclusive Environment in the Workplace

Health and Safety Topic – Fostering an Inclusive Environment in the Workplace

Many events have led up to increased focus on Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) as a general topic. Social unrest has led to widespread public demonstrations and protests. Recent years have even been referred to as a social justice crisis.

As a fallout many companies are now asking how they should embrace the subjects of D&I in their workplace — to lead to an inclusive environment for all.

But D&I initiatives can be challenging to design. Leaders and managers must establish a foundation in their companies for the desired culture to establish and flourish. They cannot do it alone though. Managers and employees must play their part in the co-creation of this environment. Enhancing engagement, well-being and performance.

In many companies ensuring diversity and inclusion will come under the responsibility of the Human Resources Department and become an important pillar of their recruitment process. It is however a useful topic for health and safety professionals to be aware of as there can be overlap with ensuring the psychosocial health of employees.

Lets start with the basics….

Why is Diversity and Inclusion important ?

So what do the terms mean ?

Diversity – Is the representation of employees with different background within a company. This can include genders, races and nationalities

Inclusion – Is how well the contributions, presence and perspectives of those different groups of people are valued and integrated into the company. It also includes how these groups are valued and carry authority within the company

A diverse and inclusive workplace is one where everyone feels equally involved in and supported in all areas of the workplace.

Ensuring diversity and inclusion brings many benefits. These can include and the same as a positive health and safety culture will bring. Such as:

Increased employee productivity

Increased employee retention

Reduced absenteeism rates

Sounds good. So how do I go about creating an Inclusive Workplace Environment ?

Before you start talking about D&I initiatives, you need to have a clear purpose behind your actions. Underpinning this is an understanding of why diversity and inclusion is important to your company.

Take a step back and understand the current D&I climate of your company

Where are you now ?

Where does your company stand with D&I initiatives ?

What information is currently available ?

What additional information do you need to have ?

Collect data to help build the holistic picture of your companies current D&I position. Examples include; employee demographics, employee opinion surveys, talent management data, focus groups surveys, etc.

Then think about:

What are the cultural norms and expectations of your organization ?

Are there any known tensions ?

Find out what’s going on within your organization to enable you to address those items head on.

Communicate the precise inclusive criteria to help your employees understand your inclusion principles

Be transparent about what inclusion means to your entity.

Continuously and consistently implement and emphasize inclusion standards

Do this by facilitating and guiding employees’ behavior.

Send strong signals to employees about D&I behaviors so that they understand the importance of engaging in such actions

Help them develop a clear understanding of their role in aiding inclusion in the company

How about Providing Diversity and Inclusion Training or Workshops ?

Educate managers on the impacts their decisions have on employees across the organization. In addition to the challenges those employees face.

Use real-life feedback and opinions gathered in focus groups and/or surveys from employees across the organization to fuel these conversations and build team morale.

Look at Implementing Diversity and Inclusion Activities

Help managers become aware of their own biases to help them better focus on and improve employee matters. Coach managers that when a thought concerning diversity enters their mind to stop and think:

Do I know this ? Or do I think I know this about my employee ?

If I am saying that I know it, is there evidence or data to support it ?

Could that evidence or data be interpreted in another way ?

Individualize the Employee Experience

You don’t need to implement a full scale company wide initiative to begin making an impact on D&I.

If you’re not sure where to start, begin at an individual level. Start by asking your employees questions to get to know them better. Uncover personality traits, behaviors, expectations, and experiences to understand why we aren’t all the same.

Model Inclusive Behaviors from the Top Down

If top management lead by example, people are more likely to follow in their footsteps. Demonstrate inclusivity by:

Asking employees to share their opinions, and actually listening

Encouraging feedback from all levels of the organization

Expressing recognition for meaningful, personal success

Admitting to own faults and mistakes

Acknowledge that Improving D&I takes Time

Improving diversity and inclusion in your organization is not an overnight occurrence. D&I is a complex topic that impacts every individual. It may not feel like you are making immediate progress in your efforts, but it’s important to take the time to slow down and think on the topic.