Creating a Culture of Inclusion

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It’s been a busy few weeks for employers!

Alongside all the employment law and legislation updates, HR teams have been supporting team members celebrating Ramadan and Eid, running events for Neurodiversity Celebration Week in March and now it’s World Autism Month!

All of which have raised important questions about inclusivity in the workplace.

Although it should be a focus all year round, campaigns like Neurodiversity Celebration Week and Autism month shine a light on the progress still needed to create a culture of inclusion across all businesses.

This goes beyond ticking a checkbox or paying lip service.

If you want to create a truly inclusive business where everybody thrives, then you need to take action.

Starting with (but not limited to):

• Establishing clear inclusion policies: This doesn’t just mean writing down some notes and sharing it around with your team. These policies need to be lived, breathed and carried out every day. 

• Providing diversity training, unconscious bias training, listening training: You need to equip your people with the tools, training and knowledge to understand and appreciate the perspectives of others so they can tackle their own biases.

• Creating a safe environment: Share your experiences, don't make anything taboo. Creating safety will encourage open communication.

• Celebrating differences: Encourage people to share their experiences at lunch & learns and embrace opportunities to help the team learn about each other.

• Being wary of banter: What may seem like innocent teasing could not only be impacting that person but may be showing others it isn't a safe environment to be themself.

• Reviewing recruitment: Are you using inclusive language, offering reasonable adjustments, ensuring you are accessible?

• Leading by example: If you show it is a priority the team will follow.

The most important thing to remember? Inclusion is a journey.

It's an ongoing process of growth, learning, and adaptation that takes commitment and meaningful action from everybody in the business.

It's about continually striving to do better, to challenge biases, and to create spaces where everyone feels valued and respected.

If you need some help or guidance on making your company more inclusive, then just hit reply to this email.

Latest News…

1. How are you supporting your team to manage and reduce stress?

April is Stress Awareness Month, a campaign run by the Stress Management Society to help people and businesses recognise and manage stress. This year’s theme is #LittleByLittle and emphasises how even the smallest steps taken each day towards self-care and stress reduction can have a big impact on mental health over time.

2. Are you providing benefits that your employees actually want?

A recent study found that 65% of employees are dissatisfied with their current benefit programmes. This shows a huge disconnect and highlights the need for businesses to rethink their current schemes; otherwise you risk unhappy staff and wasting valuable resources!

3. What should HR do if an employee has a second job?

With the cost of living crisis continuing to take its toll, more and more employees are setting up businesses or getting another job on top of their current role. In fact, data shows more than one in three adults in the UK, or 20 million people, now have multiple incomes. From a business point of view, it’s worth reviewing and updating any relevant contracts to include clauses regarding conflicts of interest, confidentiality, and intellectual property rights to ensure everybody’s interests are protected.

If you need any help ensuring your workplace is inclusive  - or with any other HR and people needs - then just hit reply to this email.

Fiona