A diverse and inclusive workplace can help your business become more innovative, productive and profitable, with inclusive workplaces being 1.7 times more likely to lead their industries in innovation and 25% more likely to have above-average profitability. Statistics also show that inclusive workforces make better business decisions 87% of the time, leading their businesses to achieve 60% better performance results overall.
Diversity refers to the make-up of your workforce: ensuring equal opportunities for all regardless of their background. Inclusivity goes beyond diverse hiring practices and team dynamics. Inclusivity is key to creating a positive workplace culture in which all employees feel comfortable, confident and valued. Happy employees are what help your business to thrive!
Inclusion in the workplace can help your business function better at individual, team, and company levels. However, proper diversity and inclusion (D&I) training, as well as inclusive training practices, are essential to securing the benefits on offer.
What is diversity and inclusion training?
D&I training educates employees on working effectively with colleagues of different backgrounds, abilities, races, religions, sexualities and genders.
Training might focus on developing awareness around difference and diversity, targeting issues such as privilege and implicit bias, and allowing colleagues to understand and empathise with different perspectives. Increased awareness allows colleagues to develop the necessary skills to have positive interactions with one another and develop inclusive working practices.
Some topics that typically feature in D&I training include communication skills, sensitivity, conflict management, and modelling inclusive behaviour. Training should also align with any relevant workplace policies.
D&I training can be an effective tool against discrimination and harassment in the workplace, but can also offer many further benefits to your business.
The benefits of inclusive training
1. Team cohesion, productivity and engagement
Inclusivity training allows employees to better understand one another and work more cohesively as a group. Studies have shown that diverse teams and inclusive workplace cultures can increase individual and team engagement as well as productivity, with some companies reporting improved business performance of up to 31%!
2. Employee retention
D&I is increasingly important to jobseekers. An inclusive work environment encourages organisational loyalty among the workforce, resulting in reduced staff turnover, greater motivation and improved results. An inclusive workplace can boost recruitment morale, and retention!
3. Diverse viewpoints
An inclusive environment makes employees feel valued enough to express their opinions freely, offering diverse and creative new perspectives from teams. Cognitive diversity in your workforce avoids the risk of ‘groupthink’, and allows for more creative contributions that can innovate your business.
4. Reputation
D&I can enhance your business’s image and its success. Not only do diverse organisations tend to have better reputations, but they are able to relate to and connect with a wider demographic. Businesses that are representative of diverse individuals and cultures can attract clients of different backgrounds, expand their customer base and gain a competitive advantage!
How to make your training program inclusive
D&I training is the first step to understanding difference and developing a healthy work environment. Inclusive training refers to the delivery of your training content in a way that reflects the inclusivity of your workplace.
Inclusive training practices help your employees perform better. There are simple steps that can be taken to ensure that your training plan is inclusive of and accessible to all employees:
1. Use the right language
It is important that your training content is user-friendly. Avoid obscure, technical jargon that might be confusing, and keep things simple with short sentences and a friendly tone.
It’s also important to remember that English isn’t everybody’s first language. Make sure that your training methods can support multiple language options!
2. Diversify learning delivery
Consider the ways in which your content is delivered, and be aware of potential gaps in ability. Using separate methods of learning delivery can help ensure that training is accessible to different learner types with different needs. Not everyone learns in the same way, so it’s good to have options!
3. Provide opportunities for self-paced learning
Transitioning to remote working during the COVID-19 pandemic has encouraged businesses to be more flexible with their employees’ different living and working situations. Offering opportunities for self-paced learning allows your workforce to fit the training process in around their own schedules, with no added stress.
A diverse and inclusive workplace can benefit your business, offering increased morale, productivity and, ultimately, profit. To access these benefits, it is important to educate your employees, and to ensure that any training on offer is accessible to everyone.
Why Wranx?
Wranx is an employee development platform, specialising in microlearning modules that can be uniquely tailored to your business. Our digital platform is accessible to anyone, anywhere, at any time, and offers gamification elements to keep learning fun and engaging – encouraging retention and increasing productivity.
Find out more about our service here.
