5 actions to boost workplace inclusion
As the conversation and sentiments around initiatives to foster more equitable workplaces evolve quickly, and alarming news stories drop on a regular basis, many HR and inclusion practitioners are eager for support picking out what’s relevant and true — and what’s not — so they can steer their organizations through these tumultuous times. Many are reaching out to Catalyst as a leading voice on gender equity and culture change initiatives in the workplace.
At Catalyst, we see our global Supporter organizations as a unique source of insights, ideas, and collaboration on the most pressing workplace inclusion issues. Our recent conversations with thought leaders and decision makers, including from our Expert Community of highly engaged Supporters, provide direction for organizations looking for values- and strategy-aligned peers who are faced with the constantly changing landscape surrounding these issues.
Through these conversations we know that many news reports asserting that organizations are scaling back their work on creating more inclusive workplaces are misleading at best. Our Supporting organizations remain committed to strengthening initiatives that enable everyone to thrive at work.
What else have we learned from our Supporter organizations that we can share with you? We recommend the following five actions.
1. Show employees that inclusion is for everyone
Catalyst Supporter organizations are working hard to reinforce the idea that inclusion is about bringing everyone together and giving everyone in the organization a place at the table. No two people are alike so there will always be differences in perspectives, opinions, expertise, and backgrounds — and that is a good thing. An inclusive environment enables teams to take advantage of these differences to find the most effective solutions to the challenges and opportunities they face.
When people have misperceptions about what inclusion is, how it is attained, or how it benefits the organization, they need to be heard. Reach out to them to address concerns and highlight the risks of not creating a workplace where everyone can contribute their full potential.
Action: Deconstruct what it means to be inclusive so employees can understand what behaviors drive inclusion and what experiences reflect inclusion. The core message is that inclusion is about creating an atmosphere that enables employees, and businesses, to thrive.
Catalyst Supporter-only resources:
Knowledge Bursts: From Ally to Advocate and Leading Your Hybrid Team Inclusively
2. Demonstrate CEO commitment
Leadership and communication on culture initiatives need to come from the top. Employees are hungry to hear directly from CEOs at town halls and other gatherings of large groups. When CEOs demonstrate that they are committed to an inclusive culture with personal stories that tie into corporate values and business goals, they show that this work isn’t just a nice-to-have, it’s a must-have. In fact, Catalyst research shows that organizations whose leaders embrace inclusion outpace their global peers when it comes to representation of women in senior leadership and on corporate boards.
If CEOs do not talk about strengthening the culture, employees will sense hesitation, inconsistency, or fear. Employees are aware of the negative media narratives and threats to some work in these areas, and they want their organizational leaders to show resilience for something as important as strategic culture initiatives.
Action: Make sure your CEO and other top leaders are talking about inclusion and linking it to organizational values with all levels of employees, whether at a town hall, in a regularly scheduled email, or at external events. Equip them with resources to help deepen their capacity to lead inclusion efforts with credibility and authenticity.
Catalyst Supporter-only resources:
3. Align on values and share examples of real-life scenarios
Be clear on your corporate values, how they connect to inclusion, and how they guide all decision-making and scenario-planning. Senior leaders, HR business partners, and others should make this explicit with real-world examples that speak to different functions, roles, and levels and demographics of employees. If everyone in the organization is aligned to the values and has line of sight into how their own actions and decisions contribute to the wider organizational expression of these values, teams can make decisions more efficiently and operate more inclusively.
Clarity in expectations also removes ambiguity around what behaviors do and don’t align with values, drives consistency across the organization, and simplifies business decision-making conversations. As companies game out opportunities and threats looming on the horizon, value-based rubrics are key.
Action: Develop and share resources to help leaders, managers, and all employees understand how they are expected to demonstrate corporate values in their day-to-day work, at the interpersonal, project, and strategic level.
Catalyst Supporter-only resources:
4. Refresh communications materials and tools
Many Catalyst Supporters are updating the materials they use to talk about inclusion and other culture initiatives to ensure that they reflect current priorities and positioning. Communications professionals can provide critical support since they are attuned to the nuances of how words, phrases, and ideas are resonating in the moment with internal and external audiences. For example, when describing your reasoning for creating a more inclusive workplace, use both the fairness case and business case to reinforce that inclusion is critical for healthy, well-functioning organizations.
In addition, auditing your intranet and website will help you see how your initiatives have evolved and reveal places where outdated programs or content need to be removed or refreshed. It also provides the opportunity for teams responsible for those pages to consider what is most important to share today. The same is true for social media platforms, which are external facing but may also be how some employees find out about corporate initiatives.
Action: Partner with your communications team to create messaging toolkits that contain talking points for different audiences, such as internal or external, senior leaders or individual contributors, North America or EMEA, etc.
Catalyst Supporter-only resources:
5. Ensure initiatives are regionally relevant
Supporter organizations with significant operations around the world are focusing on setting high-level strategies for workplace culture that apply globally, and at the same time providing regional offices with the flexibility to implement objectives in the way that best suits local norms and laws. For example, while the overall global focus might be on increasing gender equity, specific initiatives related to closing gender gaps may vary depending on what issues are salient in a particular country due to the legal and regulatory landscape, demographic trends, and local sentiment. This is especially important in regions where conversations about inclusion are just emerging.
Scenario planning can be crucial because of political, legal, and social unrest in many parts of the world. Assessing risks related to the changing landscape is an iterative process that must be conducted with a lens toward how employee experiences of inclusion will be affected. In other words, embedding a focus on inclusion into the business also means embedding this focus into scenario-planning exercises.
Action: If most leaders are based in one headquarters country, make sure that they are not unduly swayed by their own environment as they make decisions related to strategic inclusion goals for the global organization.
Catalyst Supporter-only resources:
Scenario-planning worksheet (forthcoming)