Everyone is entitled to a safe place to work hard, to be given all the tools to be successful and feel motivated to push themselves to step up the career ladder through praise from doing a great job….
Now, there has been really superb progress made towards inclusion and diversity in the workplace, particularly in recent times. LGBTQ equality has, rightly so, been put on the agenda of many businesses and the impact is now starting to show.
It’s still by no means perfect though, and businesses are absolutely not in a place where it can be said that they have got this right just yet. Recent statistics tell us that 35% of LGBT staff are still hiding their identity from peers and management in their workplaces, for fear of discrimination.
When staff have confidence in themselves and feel supported and included then it goes without saying that they will feel that they can input fully into their roles and team, build great relationships, have a passion and energy for work, strive for success and be happy in their jobs.
A positive, open and diverse workplace can lead to increased productivity, creativity, motivation and enthusiasm. The excellent reasons for creating that environment within your business are endless.
Those businesses who are doing a superb job at nurturing an inclusive environment are likely to be actively championing diversity on all levels and are very often hugely successful businesses too!
If you feel that your business still has some work to do to become a fully inclusive and diverse workplace, then it’s possible to make these changes quickly and simply and can almost certainly boost the wellbeing of your employees and in turn, increase productivity. The daily concerns of those who feel that they need to hide their identity could be lifted.
I’ve said it in previous blogs, we spend more time at work than anywhere else. So, a positive attitude to a diverse workforce, total support for inclusion across all areas of the business with leadership teams truly understanding and embracing it to support the business, can have positive impacts on the wider world and communities.
Accepting, supporting and championing diversity and inclusion in work is so important in all sectors and industries.