11 Ways to Create Belonging in the Workplace
Creating a sense of belonging at work is essential for any organization who wants an engaged and productive workforce. Belonging is a feeling of psychological safety that can be achieved through meaningful connections, collaboration, support and recognition. Feeling a sense of belonging is a fundamental human need and helps people show up as their authentic selves.
In this resource, we will discuss what belonging means and why it is important for underrepresented groups. We will also explore how organizations can build a workplace culture that values diversity and encourages employees to feel comfortable expressing themselves.
Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging
The equity, diversity, and inclusion space has evolved over recent years to include an important concept, belonging.
Belonging is a feeling of being accepted and valued, feeling security and safety while being your authentic self. People who experience belonging engage in meaningful relationships and experience a shared sense of understanding. Belonging is an important psychological need that helps people feel connected to each other and the company where they work.
Equity means access to the same opportunities and resources, regardless of their race, gender, socio-economic status, or any other factor.
Diversity is the recognition and celebration of differences in backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences. This includes both visible diversity such as race or gender, as well as invisible diversity such as sexual orientation or religion.
Inclusion is the act of fostering a workplace culture where everyone feels respected, valued, and treated fairly. Where all employees feel they can contribute and be heard regardless of their background or identity.
Equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging are related concepts that are essential for building a workplace where people from diverse backgrounds feel like they have an equal chance to succeed. Together these concepts will help organizations build a workplace culture where everyone feels included and valued.
Why create a sense of belonging?
There are many reasons to create a culture of belonging over and above, it's the right thing to do. Research from Harvard Business School and others, shows that a company's bottom line will be positively impacted leading to higher profits and employee retention. It has been linked to better mental health outcomes for employees as well as increased creativity and innovation, productivity, motivation, and engagement, higher employee satisfaction, and more positive customer relations.
Creating a space where everyone feels they belong requires team leaders to make an active effort. Companies should be intentional in their efforts to foster inclusion, equity, diversity, and belonging. This means implementing policies that ensure everyone has equal access to resources and opportunities, as well as actively engaging with employees from different backgrounds to understand their needs and experiences.
Below we outline several initiatives that your workplace can undertake to increase belonging across your organization:
Create Policy: Zero-tolerance for discrimination
To reduce the negative impact of bias at work, companies can adopt a zero-tolerance policy for discrimination or unfair treatment. The intension is to draw a clear line, demonstrating that any workplace discrimination will not be tolerated by employers. This could encompass anything from casually making offensive jokes to using a racially derogatory term to maliciously exclude someone based on their gender or sexual orientation during the hiring process.
A Zero Tolerance policy can also include micro-inequities and micro-aggressions. Micro-inequities refer to the subtle, often unintentional slights or insults an individual may encounter in a workplace, where they’re treated differently than others because of race, gender, or other factors. A micro-aggression is a statement, action, or incident that communicates hostility towards someone based on their identity.
To ensure that this policy does not have an adverse effect, any violations should be carefully evaluated based on their context and a reasonable response must be taken.
Use Inclusive Language
Words have power, so language should be chosen carefully to ensure everyone feels like they belong. Companies' language such as job titles and descriptions should be gender-neutral and inclusive of different backgrounds.
It’s also important to use inclusive language when addressing colleagues. Fear of saying something that might be offensive or misunderstood can keep even well-intended people quiet. However, we must find the right words to engage with others in conversation about difficult and emotional topics. Provide opportunities for colleagues to learn the right language can be a powerful step towards belonging.
Start a conversation about equity, diversity, and inclusion
Fostering a sense of belonging at work can also be accomplished by opening a dialogue about equity, diversity inclusion, and belonging. Engage employees from different backgrounds to talk openly about their experiences and perspectives and learn from their reflections. Additionally, discussing privilege and any misconceptions that might exist could help to create more understanding among coworkers.
To make these conversations successful, create an open and safe space. To do this, organizations could look into hiring a facilitator to preside over the conversation or host a seminar or workshop. They can also provide resources such as books and articles to help team members become more informed about diversity inclusion and, belonging.
Make cultural competence an expectation
As companies strive to build a culture of acceptance and inclusion, an important step can be for leaders to make cultural competence an expectation.
This means providing training courses on topics such as implicit bias. These courses can help employees become more aware of their viewpoints and appreciate the unique perspectives they can bring to their firm. By understanding cultural differences, team members can better communicate with each other and foster a more productive workplace that values everyone.
Host unconscious bias trainings
Unconscious bias, also known as implicit bias, is a serious issue for companies trying to achieve diversity equity and, inclusion. Its discriminatory behavior impedes colleagues from showing up as their authentic selves hence impacting job performance. Unconscious bias encompasses gender bias, racial bias, age bias and other types of bias.
Unconscious biases can affect decision making including hiring, promotions, or performance evaluations, and be very damaging to employees. It may affect interactions with different groups outside an organization, including customers, vendors, partners, or associations.
Although bias is inherent within the human condition it is possible to reduce its negative effect. Providing unconscious bias training can help employees develop and raise awareness to better understand the hidden bias impacts of their biases before making decisions.
Unconscious bias training works target discriminatory behavior, raising awareness of its negative effects and provides strategies and tools to minimize them. Unconscious bias training can include a variety of topics, depending on what is most important for a particular organization:
Education on the various types of bias (such biases as conscious bias, unconscious bias, and social stereotypes) and how they shape opinions, actions, workplace decisions, and performance reviews
Education on the implications of privilege and power dynamics in the workplace to foster a better understanding.
Education on the importance of hidden bias diversity training to minimize micro-aggressions and micro-inequities
Invite a constructive dialogue about bias in the workplace to ensure defensive responses are avoided and cultivate positive changes.
Tools to teach people the clarity of communication and finding common ground despite differences.
Elevate awareness of each individual's bias and commit to a path for ongoing self-learning.
Move from Mentorship to Sponsorship
Fostering a sense of belonging in your workforce can also be done by implementing a sponsorship program for certain groups. As opposed to traditional mentorship programs, sponsorships involve actively advocating for an employee's career advancement and providing them with more opportunities than what they would usually receive. Overcoming bias means that companies should strive to look beyond current talent pools to build diverse teams and provide these opportunities to employees.
Build connections among employees
Building meaningful connections between team mates will help them feel belonging at work. This requires more than just hosting company-wide events; create opportunities where team members feel included and can get to know each other on a deeper level and develop relationships.
HR leaders might consider groups and events that build connections such as employee-led resource groups, skills courses or job shadowing opportunities, volunteer activities, and town hall meetings.
Formalize Employee Resource Groups
Employee resource groups (ERGs) are a great way to bring people with similar personal experiences together. ERGs can provide a platform for people to openly discuss relevant topics and issues that may not otherwise be addressed. ERGs can also serve as support and mentorship networks, providing guidance and fostering an environment of equity, diversity, and inclusion, and belonging.
Build and Rebuild Trust
Building trust can be one of the most significant challenges to creating an equitable, inclusive workplace. Building trust, though, isn't easy as it varies from person to person. It's even harder trying to rebuild broken trust between colleagues due to organizational changes or long standing practices.
To build a trusting environment, employers must demonstrate their commitment to diversity and inclusion by taking tangible steps to facilitate change. This could involve actively listening to all voices within the organization, encouraging open dialogue, addressing grievances quickly and fairly, and providing employees with the resources they need to succeed. Additionally, when employers recognize their own biases and make progress toward understanding others' perspectives, progress is made toward building a better workplace for everyone.
Design Inclusive Onboarding
Establishing a welcoming atmosphere is an essential aspect of fostering an inclusive workforce, and it's also paramount in bolstering employee engagement. Onboarding plays a key role in this process. Design a customized inclusive onboarding experience in your organization.
Incorporating elements in onboarding that promote inclusion and showcase company values into onboarding can make new hires feel more comfortable and included in the workplace.
Use an Equity Lenses for Hiring
A sense of belonging can be enhanced through effective hiring policy and practices. To ensure equity in the workplace, employers need to understand the concept of intersectionality and how it applies to their hiring process.
To promote fair and equitable hiring, leaders must design job postings that don't emphasize certain characteristics or themes. They should actively seek out diverse candidates using a variety of lenses that can help employers better understand the implications of their hiring practices and policies. With a more comprehensive approach, employers can build a company culture that encourages inclusion and allows all employees to feel valued and respected.
Conclusion
An increased sense of belonging happens at work when colleagues feel safe, acceptance, and like a part of a community. Through equitable policies, tackling diversity issues, and inclusion efforts, companies can ensure that their employees have the opportunity to grow and thrive in their roles. In turn, this will lead to improved employee engagement, greater productivity, increased profits and better overall business results. By investing in diversity inclusion and belonging at work, businesses can create positive long-term outcomes for their teams and the organization as a whole.
