5 WAYS TO FOSTER INCLUSION AT WORK

Aside from being the right thing to do, an inclusive workplace improves the employee experience and facilitates foreign recruiting. Here are some tips for your organization to improve inclusion in the workplace!

1. Make sure every voice is heard and respected

Employees quit jobs when they feel their authentic selves are not appreciated or valued. It seems obvious, but we cannot emphasize it sufficiently: make sure everybody feels connected, included, and respected regardless of their age, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, physical conditions, cultural background, or country of origin. Employees need to feel safe to voice their concerns and opinions, without fear of victimization. This also allows companies to not only listen to different points of view but to actively embrace them.

2. Build a multilingual workforce

It’s impossible to feel included if you’re working in an environment where almost everyone else speaks a language you don’t fully understand. So, make sure you consider language barriers and preferences. International companies deal with this all the time. It’s okay to have different teams working in different countries speaking different languages, but you need an overarching corporate language as well. That language serves as a kind of default language and is also spoken at global events, for example. In smaller companies, it is equally important to ensure that employees feel secure and comfortable communicating in a language they can master at least as well as other colleagues.

3. Build a multigenerational workforce

Having a workforce that recognizes and accommodates multiple generations is essential in building an inclusive workforce. While millennials are generally quite tech-savvy, older employees might not have the same proficiency with tech tools as their younger counterparts. Invest in a communication platform where employees can easily and efficiently create and send messages through their preferred channels. This will appeal to all generations and encourage engagement. Oh, and make sure your team building activities are not too narrowly focused on younger employees. That mistake is often made!

4. Consider open-minded hiring

At House of HR, we are already acquainted with the principle of open-minded hiring, in which the personal data of job candidates are omitted from the resume. Accent’s Aurélie Debot, for example, has a lot of experience with it: "We fight against – sometimes unconscious – prejudices. That's why we do open-minded hiring. We usually work in two ways. In the first case, we send anonymous resumes – from which all personal information is omitted, only education and competencies are visible – to companies. In the second, we send candidates straight to a job interview, without forwarding a resume beforehand. And sometimes – when the need is high, and we know the client well – we even go a step further. We’ve already sent people to their first day of work as an operator without the client ever having met them.”

5. Pick the right words

Communicate as inclusive as possible! Make sure you always use the pronoun that a person prefers, because it is about who they are. So, ask for preferred pronouns when onboarding new employees. And write gender neutral. Here are a few fast tricks:

• Opt for gender-neutral alternatives: Prefer ‘parents’ to ‘fathers and mothers’, ‘partner’ to ‘husband’ or ‘wife’, and ‘sweetheart’ to ‘friend’ or ‘girlfriend’.
• Address people directly: Don’t write ‘Everyone must fill in his/her time sheets’, write ‘You must fill in your time sheets’.
• Or go plural: Don’t write ‘Every employee must fill in his/her time sheets’, write ‘Employees must fill in their time sheets’.