Inclusive Workforce | Meaning and Definition

What is an inclusive workforce?

Inclusion meaning – the policy or practice of providing equal opportunities to everyone.

The workforce in every organization may differ based on gender, culture, and various other aspects. In today’s world, discriminating against employees based on any of the above factors is considered an offense. Companies are monitoring these through the ethics and compliance team to make sure that there is no discrimination, and every employee feels valued, acknowledging the differences and how everyone can contribute to the business outcomes by adhering to the company’s culture.

An inclusive workplace is somewhere everyone receives equal treatment from all. For example, a graduate and an experienced employee feel equally valued, a male/female/transgender may be equally valued, etc.

Ways to create an inclusive work environment

Educate the people managers on workplace inclusion (The managers often serve as the bridge between the employees and management). Thus, it is a predefined role for a manager to handle a variety of diverse workforce. So, when a manager handles diverse workforce issues, mishaps tend to happen. This is why a manager should be trained well or educated to support employees to work towards an inclusive culture.

Rethink or create new workforce policies to accommodate inclusiveness for a more diverse workforce. These policies may range from HR policies to performance management policies as well.

Communicate inclusion goals to your workforce and track progress and success. It is the responsibility of the managers to ensure that employees feel free to share any issues related to discrimination of any kind. Frequent feedback sessions and one/one conversations with the workforce and encouraging them to speak up will resolve the issues of the workforce.

Provide better opportunities for employee education and engagement on inclusion. This ranges from including inclusion training for employees during the onboarding program to fostering team collaboration, team lunch, employee pulse surveys, and working with the diversity mentor within an organization.