Building an inclusive culture
This section of the toolkit offers strategies that create and support inclusive working environments in the green sector. When people feel they belong at work, they experience greater meaning, satisfaction, and stability; and as a result, their performance is positively impacted. Recent research from Belonging Space and 3Gem Research suggests that a third of the UK working population has felt isolated or lonely in the workplace at some point. Your organisation can build a more inclusive culture by building strong employee relationships, creating positive employee experiences and encouraging frequent employee recognition.
Ensure your employees have access to (internal or external) HR
A trusted and independent HR function, clearly identified to employees, gives staff confidence that issues they raise will be handled fairly and confidentially. They can also provide better analytics and reporting, and improve regulatory compliance.
Most micro-enterprises and small organisations do not have a HR team. Outsourcing this role protects your business and your employees.
More details on the pros and cons of outsourcing HR are available.
Discuss EDI and upskill your organisation on EDI best practice
Collaborate with independent EDI consultants to train your employees on how to engage in inclusive recruitment, dealing with microaggressions, conscious inclusion strategies, and other EDI training, including positive action schemes. EDI should form part of hiring managers’ performance reviews for accountability against your organisation’s inclusion goals.
Ensure your team and social events are inclusive
Always organise events with accessibility and inclusion in mind, so that team social events are welcoming for everyone. Unlimited has produced a useful and comprehensive guide on running accessible events.
Here are some ways to get started and support religious holidays and promote interfaith inclusion in your workplace:
- Identify an EDI calendar which incorporates religious holidays or identity-based observances (e.g., Black History Month) throughout the year. Send out a survey to better understand how employees want to be supported or want to celebrate different holidays and/or identity-based observances (e.g. offer flexible working during Ramadan);
- To raise awareness and promote inclusion, identify internal and external speakers to talk about the meaning of different religious holidays and identity-based observances;
- Recognise the practical elements of religious holidays (for example, does your office have a quiet and private space for prayer and meditation in the office?). Articles such as this one provide help when considering how best to support employees during Ramadan.