National Inclusion Week – Celebrate Diversity with IoSCM
National Inclusion Week is back for 2023, from Monday 25th September – Monday 1st October. Created by Inclusive Employers, NIW encourages organisations to consider the ways in which they can enhance inclusion within their workplaces.
What Is Inclusion?
Cambridge Dictionary’s official definition for inclusion is “The act of including someone or something as part of a group, list, etc., or a person or thing that is included.”
Essentially, inclusion is about ensuring everyone feels like they are a part of the team.
Why is Inclusion in the Workplace Important?
When employers prioritise inclusion in the workplace, the entire organisation sees the benefits. This is because the more included employees feel, the more comfortable they are to express themselves, contribute to ideas and make decisions. It also leads to higher engagement, which results in better work output.
An inclusive working environment also leads to teams that are more diverse. Research carried out by Forbes has shown decisions made by a diverse team of people delivers 60% better results than teams which don’t have diversity. It also shows that diverse teams make better business decisions 87% of the time.
Diverse groups or teams bring a wide-range of perspectives, skills and experiences. This brings more opportunity for better ideas to be brought to the table, and a better ability to solve problems too.
How to Take Part
National Inclusion Week is the perfect opportunity to consider ways to enhance inclusion in the workplace. Follow the three steps below to help you get started:
- Consider areas for improvement
- Decide how you’re going to improve
- Make a plan
Consider areas for improvement
There are different elements to inclusion that your workplace may need to consider when looking to improve. For example, there may be biases or discrimination affecting some employees, making them feel uncomfortable at work. This is a red flag for inclusivity in the workplace and would need to be addressed as priority. As well as feeling comfortable in the workplace, inclusion also means employees should feel important and valued. To ensure employees feel like valued members of the team it is beneficial to consider if there needs are being met within their role. For example, are they given enough responsibility? Do they want to progress further within their career?
Make a plan on how you’re going to improve
When you have found out what areas need improving to enhance inclusion, decide how you are going to go about achieving this. For example, if there is discrimination in the workplace, could you introduce some equality and diversity training? If your employees want support with their professional development, are there any suitable training courses available for them?
You will also need to consider who will manage the inclusion enhancement project. Depending on how many employees you have, you may need to delegate responsibilities to other managers or team leaders.
Set timeframes and deadlines
When you have set up a plan of how you are going to enhance inclusion, you need to decide on some timeframes to ensure your plan turns into action. For example, if you are looking into diversity training, set a date when you are going to look into this and a deadline for when you want it in place by.
Join an event for National Inclusion Week
There are webinar events taking place throughout National Inclusion Week with Inclusive Employers. From recruiting inclusively to cultural awareness, there is something interesting to suit all workplace requirements.
You can also access a wide range of additional webinar programmes after NIW. You can find the full list and register your interest here.
IoSCM is proud to be an inclusive employer, we value people as individuals with diverse opinions, cultures, lifestyles and circumstances
The terms equality, inclusion and diversity are at the heart of everything we do. ‘Equality’ means ensuring everyone has the same opportunities to fulfil their potential free from
discrimination. ‘Inclusion’ means ensuring everyone feels comfortable to be themselves at work and feels the worth of their contribution. ‘Diversity’ means the celebration of individual differences amongst the workforce. We will actively support diversity and inclusion and ensure that all our employees are valued and treated with dignity and respect. We want to encourage everyone in our business to reach their potential.
If you need to find ways to attract and retain a diverse talent pool to your team, visit The Sustain Chain today. With articles, guides, expertise and support to guide you every step of the way, the Sustain Chain will help you achieve your aims.