According to an article by Forbes titled “Belonging at Work Is Essential — Here Are 5 Ways to Foster It,” research shows that workplace belonging is vital for employee well-being and organizational functioning. In a nationwide survey, leadership development startup Betterup found the following:
- Employees with a sense of belonging take 75% fewer sick days than those who feel excluded.
- Excluded employees have a 50% higher rate of turnover than employees who feel they belong.
- Employees see a 56% increase in their job performance when they feel like they belong.
This sense of inclusion can save employers a total of $64.5 million per year for every 10,000 employees.
However, employees diagnosed with cancer or a chronic illness may feel even more isolated than other staff members, as they struggle to relate to their peers and/or may need to take a substantial amount of time off from work.
If you are a manager or coworker, here are some tips to help establish a sense of belonging in the workplace.
- Be an ally: Support your employees or coworkers and include them on projects, in meetings, etc., when appropriate.
- Engineer empathy-building experiences: Create experiences that elicit empathy. For example, if there are a number of staffers at your organization who work from home, other employees may not realize how isolating that can be. Try establishing a “remote week,” in which the entire company telecommutes, in order to generate empathy about what it’s like to be the other person.
- Encourage healthy interactions: Foster an environment of mutual respect and positive regard for one another.
- Process exclusion verbally: If exclusion does happen, talk out loud about the experience.
To read the entire Forbes article, click here.
For more tips on supporting a coworker with cancer, read through our comprehensive articles or watch our How-To video.
Employers and managers can find additional resources by clicking here.
Anonymous
Feb 19, 2020
I have a first hand experience, I was employed far from home in a diversified company.
One thing very common – discrimination. It may seem counter-intuitive, but it’s not unheard of to learn of instances in which companies don’t outwardly proclaim diversity as they are afraid that it might leave them open to ugly accusations. Included in these might be tired arguments concerning affirmative action, age discrimination, etc, etc.
While the aforementioned data plainly illustrates that implementing a diverse workforce usually helps a company’s bottom line, during my 7 years as removalists melbourne employee, it’s not surprising that a well-intentioned HR executive might get skittish when the idea is proposed. By reviewing the EEOC’s discrimination laws, your company’s managers can get a better idea of what they can and cannot do when it comes to strategic hiring.
Aside from antiquated hiring perceptions, there are a handful of other challenges that can arise upon the implementation of a diverse workforce. In the Hult International Business School Blog, author Katie Reynolds describes some of the potential conflicts inherent in the practice, particularly in terms of cultural differences.