Home / Blog Posts / Why Inclusiveness Matters In The Workplace
When you think of inclusion, perhaps you remember your parents telling you to include the kid at school who always seemed lonely. Or maybe you remember when you were excluded on occasions. These aren’t pleasant feelings – they often leave us feeling singled out, neglected,
and, more often than not, pretty sad.
Believe it or not, these same feelings can occur in the workplace as well. Although work inclusion may leave the same feelings, the definition is a little different than the one we gave above. Although it’s similar to including the kid at school, there’s more to it then people simply feeling left out.
So, you may ask, what is work inclusion and how does it differ from your personal life inclusion. Let’s take a look.
Work inclusion, in the sense, is not so much about feeling left out as feeling as if everyone is being treated as an equal. Work inclusion ensures that each employee, regardless of who they are, is treated as an equal and presented with the same opportunities as others.
Work inclusion ensures that everybody is presented with the same resources and has the same opportunity of success. Work inclusion ensures that nobody is treated differently based on their race, gender, sexual orientation or background. The goal of work inclusion is to avoid any bias towards employees or co-workers and for there to be discrimination within the workplace.
Workplace inclusion matters much more then you would expect it to when it comes to
employees’ productivity and overall work success. You may be surprised to find that when it comes to how hard employees work and how great their results are matter greatly depending on the level of workplace inclusion.
When there is diversity and team building within the office, you would be shocked at what your team can accomplish and how effectively they can get tasks done. A great part of getting jobs done fast and well is having everyone feel safe and needed at the office; inclusion and diversity
within the workplace help both of these.
The end goal, and the bottom line with work inclusion, is that employees thrive and will be more apt to work with a happy attitude and be more productive and successful at their job if valued and treated the same as others.
So, how do you know if your work industry is inclusive? What are the signs for ensuring that each of your employees feels included and as if they are equal to their co-workers? Here are a few of the top signs that you should look out for to get the answers to these questions.
Confident Employees. Employees who feel as if they’re being treated as equals and feel empowered will often tend to have a confident and strong attitude. Employees thrive off of feeling needed, valued, and appreciated. When they feel this, they’ll also often feel more empowered and confident within their workspace.
Growing Within Their Personal Lives. If an employee is struggling in their personal life, they’ll often have difficulty within their workspace life as well. The same goes for vice versa; if employees are thriving in their work-life, it’ll shine through to their personal life as well. Ever seen a family member come home shining after a promotion or praise from their boss? That’s how you know that their workplace is inclusive and that it’s affecting their personal life in a positive way.
Engaging With Co-workers. Valued and equal employees are more apt to do their job not only while smiling but also while conversing with their co-workers. If they come into work expecting more then to simply make a paycheck at the end of the day and make effort to form
relationships with other employees then it’s safe to say that your efforts towards work inclusiveness have worked.