Has the Covid Pandemic Experience Prompted Businesses to Think Differently About the Benefits of Workplace Inclusion?

83% of millennials are more likely to actively engage if their company fosters an inclusive workplace. Moreover, 67% of job seekers consider workplace diversity an important factor when evaluating opportunities.

"Workplace Inclusion", means everyone feels safe, comfortable, valued and accepted in their work environment. Once you get the workplace inclusion right, your business will benefit from an increase in diversity, where your workforce includes people from different ethnicity, religions, genders, and abilities. 

Putting in place deliberate actions to address workplace inclusion must be driven from the very top of the business. Implementing inclusive hiring in an SME enterprise means the business owner needs to own and drive it. Business leaders who develop their workplace inclusion can then become champions and share this amongst their business networks. 

The business benefits of workplace inclusion:

• A safe and respectful work environment.
• Better understanding of differences.
• Less conflicts.
• Constructive teamwork.
• Inclusion of all perspectives in decision making.
• Increased quality of problem solving.
• Higher level of innovation.

And the individual benefits of an inclusive workplace culture:

• Awareness of personal biases.
• Less micro-aggressions at work.
• Support for marginalized groups.
• Constructive discussions.
• Increased possibility for personal growth.
• Happier people.

The top two ways that disabled job-seekers find roles they’re qualified for are:

· Through their networks

· With the assistance of professional employment services providers

Hiring managers and recruiters, then, need to do the same thing, from their side:

· Spread the word in your networks that there’s a role to be filled

· Connect with providers who can match your needs with the right candidate

Working with employment service providers that support disabled job seekers, can help make the recruiting and hiring process easier than you thought it was going to be.

Branding Inclusion

One of the most important things you can do in a job description is communicate your brand message about workplace inclusion within your business. This is because your brand is everything you say and do, and how you say and do it. Include a paragraph about your company’s policy on workplace inclusion, better still, add a captioned video of the business owner telling prospective employees about their core beliefs on inclusion, accessibility and accommodation. This message will help attract qualified candidates, regardless of whether they have are disabled. They’ll see your business as an organisation that can meet their needs. That makes you an employer of choice. 👏

"The accessibility solutions you provide for interviews will also depend on each individual candidate. That’s why it’s good to do a comprehensive audit of your entire recruiting process"