My EDI work is deeply informed by the marginalised individuals and groups I have had the privilege to support. In the ‘1000 Voices’ series, I share what they have taught me about workplace inclusion.
When people say that they don’t feel included, what do they mean?
Here is what 1000 employees and clients would like you to know.
I feel excluded from physical spaces
Sometimes the most tangible forms of exclusion are the most ignored.
- Are your offices accessible to wheel-chair users?
- Does your construction site have female toilets?
- Is your front desk screen great for disease control, but problematic for hard-of-hearing patients?
People don’t feel included when they can’t access physical spaces – easily, safely and comfortably.
I feel excluded from digital spaces
Your online presence is just as instrumental as your physical premises to fostering inclusion.
- Is your website optimised for accessibility?
- How are your neurodivergent employees faring with the never-ending onslaught of emails, DMs, group chats, videoconferences and more, all happening at once?
- Could your helpline make information available digitally 24/7, rather than rely only 9-to-5 access?
People don’t feel included when your digital front door is closed to them.
I feel excluded from decision-making
Being left out from important conversations gradually reduces employees’ visibility and influence.
- Whose contribution is systematically dismissed in meetings?
- Who doesn’t even get invited at all?
- Who did you overlook for a project, because you assumed they wouldn’t be interested / didn’t have the time / wouldn’t be able to, yet you never actually asked – the new parent? the employee with chronic health issues?
People don’t feel included when their voices are ignored.
I feel excluded from workplace ‘banter’
While banter can foster a strong community spirit when it is respectful and well-bounded, careless words can create microaggressions.
- Is it ‘just a bit of fun’ to make sexual jokes?
- Is it really that hard to pronounce foreign-sounding names correctly?
- Is it ‘not a big deal’ to keep calling an employee ‘grandpa’?
People don’t feel included when the joke is on them.
I feel excluded from the social life around work
Workplace inclusion extends to the social occasions surrounding it.
- Is one of your employees always sitting alone in the canteen?
- Is the social after-work drinks a welcoming context for your Muslim colleagues?
- Could you rethink the 2-day team-building trip with overnight stay, so that employees with care responsibilities can join?
People don’t feel included when they are out of social circles.
I feel excluded from EDI initiatives
Most ironic of all, even EDI activities can breed exclusion.
- Are you making changes ‘for’ individuals or groups without consulting them?
- You want a lesbian employee to be the poster girl for Pride – did you actually discuss with her beforehand how she felt about being a flag-bearer?
- Is your EDI advisory group only here to rubber-stamp decisions already made by your executives?
People don’t feel included when you presume to know what they need without asking.
When people say ‘I don’t feel included’, they don’t just mean that they have missed out on a conversation or opportunity here and there. They are trying to tell you that the processes, systems and practices within your organisation all contribute to a sense of othering.
Please listen to them.
