10 Ways to Make Your Business More Inclusive
Insights from Jane Fisher
This Disability History Month, we caught up with Jane Fisher (Founder and Director of Jane Fisher Associates) to get her insights on diversity and inclusivity in the workplace.
“Diversity and inclusivity are inter-connected concepts reflecting the uniqueness of all individuals that make up our world. In a work context, it reflects that uniqueness within a team or a whole organisation, allowing every member of staff to be recognised and allowing them to be valued as an equal contributor.
Many businesses today embrace diversity in the workplace but still have work to do regarding inclusivity.
Diversity reflects the differences in any aspect of an individual – be this race, ethnicity, socioeconomic class, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, physicality/disability or even whether you have children.
Inclusion is the actual practice of ensuring that people feel a sense of belonging where every employee feels comfortable and supported by the organisation when it comes to being their authentic selves.
Research from The Josh Bersin Company showed that only 32% of organisations mandate diversity training, and 76% have no diversity or inclusion goals at all.
Yet, greater inclusivity can:
Create a sense of belonging in the workplace.
Promote a better understanding of customers/clients.
Enhance employee engagement.
Help attract key talent to the business.
So, building an inclusive culture is more than a ‘nice-to-have’ – it has real strategic value.
So what steps can your business take to build a more diverse and inclusive workplace?
1. Develop strong leaders.
Start with recruiting and developing strong leadership around Diversity, Equity and Inclusivity (DEI). Everything starts at the top! C-suite execs and Company Directors must drive DEI.
2. Identify gaps.
Understand your organisation’s DEI blind spots through a culture audit. Speak to your team through small group discussions and feedback forums to gain deep insight.
3. Create policies.
From discussions with your teams, develop a strong DEI policy together. It’s essential that this policy doesn’t come from a top-down approach.
4. Educate!
Educate everyone in the business as to why DEI is important. Help them recognise DEI’s importance in all aspects of the company.
5. Make the most of middle leaders.
It’s not only your senior leadership team that can make a difference when it comes to DEI. Empower your middle managers and team leaders to make their own impact.
6. Nurture diversity.
Recognise and support your current diverse workforce to unlock their potential.
7. Slow and steady.
Don’t try to revolutionise your business overnight! Take small steps, starting with one or two initiatives that promote DEI in the workplace.
8. Develop your company culture.
Create a culture that enables employees to be their true, authentic selves and provide a platform for employees’ views.
9. Recruit inclusively.
Align your recruitment and talent management strategy to include DEI. Collect and monitor key data to track your impact.
10. Don’t treat DEI as an afterthought.
Embed DEI throughout the business. Make it a way of life and core to the business to allow the power of DEI to emerge.
It can feel overwhelming trying to understand where to start in all of this. Luckily, there are experts out there who can work with you to understand your business and help develop bespoke plans to get you started. At Jane Fisher Associates, we can support you to make small but powerful steps towards becoming a more diverse and inclusive employer.
Feel free to contact me directly for an informal chat!
Tel: 07837 024 374
Email: [email protected]”
Inclusivity is an essential aspect of any business, regardless of sector or size. Enormous thanks to Jane Fisher for providing her expert insight into such an important topic.