Building inclusive workplaces
Our report assesses the evidence on inclusion - what does inclusion look like in practice, and how can people professionals and the wider organisation be more inclusive?
Understand what inclusion and diversity mean in the workplace and how an effective I&D strategy can support business
Promoting and supporting diversity in the workplace is an important aspect of good people management - it’s about valuing everyone in the organisation as an individual. However, to reap the benefits of a diverse workforce it’s vital to have an inclusive environment where everyone feels able to participate and achieve their potential. While UK legislation – covering age, disability, race, religion, sex and sexual orientation among others – sets minimum standards, an effective inclusion and diversity strategy goes beyond legal compliance and seeks to add value to an organisation, contributing to employee wellbeing and engagement.
This factsheet explores what workplace inclusion and diversity means, and how an effective strategy can support an organisation’s business objectives. It looks at the rationale for action and outlines steps organisations can take to implement and manage a successful I&D strategy, from communication and training to addressing workplace behaviour and evaluating progress.
Explore our viewpoints on age diversity, disability, gender equality, race inclusion, religion and belief, and sexual orientation, gender identity and reassignment.
The moral case for building fairer and more inclusive labour markets and workplaces is indisputable: regardless of our identity, background or circumstance, we all deserve the opportunity to develop our skills and talents to our full potential, work in a safe, supportive and inclusive environment, be fairly rewarded and recognised for our work and have a meaningful voice on matters that affect us.
It’s also vital for the sustainability of businesses and economies. Everyone stands to benefit when we embrace and value the diversity of thoughts, ideas and ways of working that people from different backgrounds, experiences and identities bring to an organisation. So organisations must ensure their people management approaches do not put any group at a disadvantage. People professionals have a key role to play in role modelling inclusion and diversity in their organisation - find out more in our Profession Map.
Inclusion and diversity often go hand in hand but are different from one another. This means that organisations need to consider both in their people management practices and strategies.
Inclusion is where people’s differences are valued and used to enable everyone to thrive at work. An inclusive working environment is one in which everyone feels that they belong without having to conform, that their contribution matters and they are able to perform to their full potential, no matter their background, identity or circumstances. An inclusive workplace has fair policies and practices in place and enables a diverse range of people to work together effectively. Reflect on inclusion practice in your organisation with our inclusion health checker tool.
Diversity is about recognising difference. It’s acknowledging the benefit of having a range of perspectives in decision-making and the workforce being representative of the organisation’s customers.
Standards, such as the BSI and ISO human resource management suite and Investors in People (IiP), provide principle-based frameworks and guidelines to help organisations recognise the actual and potential value of their people and ensure their people polices and working practices are bias free. See more on HR and standards.
The concept of ‘intersectionality’ is that we all have multiple, overlapping identities that impact on our experience - takes into account this principle.
Differences include visible and non-visible factors, for instance, personal characteristics such as background, culture, personality, work-style, accent, and language. It’s important to recognise that a ‘one-size-fits all’ approach to managing people does not achieve fairness and equality of opportunity for everyone. People have different personal needs, values and beliefs. Good people management practice needs to be consistently fair but also flexible and inclusive to support both individual and business needs.
In the UK, age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion and belief, sex and sexual orientation, are ‘protected characteristics’ covered by discrimination law to give people protection against being treated unfairly.
Discrimination can:
For example, ‘neurodiversity’ is a growing area of workplace inclusion. It refers to the natural range of differences in human brain function. Among employers, it’s used to describe alternative thinking styles including dyslexia, autism and ADHD. Together with Uptimize, we’ve produced Neurodiversity at work, a practical guide for employers to help create a neurodiversity-friendly workplace where people can utilise their strengths. Most adjustments are simple and low-cost, but can make a significant difference to an individual’s working life. Listen to our Neurodiversity podcast.
Our report assesses the evidence on inclusion - what does inclusion look like in practice, and how can people professionals and the wider organisation be more inclusive?
The COVID-19 pandemic has created numerous challenges to businesses, including making difficult workforce decisions such as about redundancies, furloughing and return to work. Employers should ensure their decisions meet their legal obligations and do not discriminate. The Equalities and Human Rights Commission has produced guidance for employers.
It’s important that employers take an inclusive, fair and transparent approach to people management, including when adapting HR practices due to current circumstances, for example, adopting virtual recruitment methods.
Employers need to understand the impact the pandemic and related workplace and personal change has on individuals, depending on their background or circumstances. For example, increased caring responsibilities mean flexible working options need to be considered. Reasonable adjustments to enable people to perform at their best need to receive due attention. And considering the health, safety and wellbeing of employees is essential given the pressures and uncertainty people may be experiencing.
Line managers need to feel confident and capable to manage in a different way, such as managing remote teams, and do so in a way which still embraces difference and promotes a sense of inclusion and belonging as well as supporting employee wellbeing.
Find out more about inclusive practice during the pandemic in our CIPD Lab article and our webinar Diversity and inclusion through COVID-19. Our guide on returning to the workplace shows the importance of an inclusive organisation culture where employees feel they are returning to a supportive and caring environment.
The social justice case is based on the belief that everyone should have a right to equal access to employment, training and development based solely on merit. Everyone should have the right to be free of any direct or indirect discrimination and harassment or bullying. This can be described as the right to be treated fairly and the UK law, principally in the Equality Act 2010, sets minimum standards.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission has published a range of guidance on all aspects of the Equality Act 2010, including a Code of practice on employment. Whilst not legally binding documents, the codes give important guidance on good practice and failure to follow them may be taken into account by tribunals or courts.
For more information on particular aspects, see our various factsheets on age, disability, harassment and bullying, race, religion, sex discrimination and gender reassignment and sexual orientation discrimination.
The main business benefits of taking inclusion and diversity seriously are talent and corporate reputation.
Research on the psychological contract shows that people want to work for employers with good employment practices. They also want to feel valued at work.
To be competitive, organisations need everyone who works for them to make their best contribution. Increasingly, employers recognise the importance of inclusion and diversity in recruiting and retaining the skills and talent they need.
As well as designing appropriate and fair people practices, it’s important to create open and inclusive workplace cultures in which everyone feels valued, respects colleagues, and where their contribution is recognised.
Flexible working and job design are also important components of diversity strategies and part of attracting and retaining a wide pool of talented people.
Businesses need to consider corporate responsibility (CR) in the context of diversity as social exclusion and low economic activity rates can limit business markets and their growth. CR used to be centred on environmental issues, but an increasing number of employers now take a wider view, seeing the overall image of an organisation as important in attracting and retaining both customers and employees.
Overcoming prejudice and changing entrenched negative attitudes can be difficult. To progress diversity, organisations should take a systemic approach, including developing an inclusive culture, inclusive approaches to employment policies and practices, to personal behaviours, and by managing equality and diversity issues in ways that also support business contexts.
Our report Diversity and inclusion at work: facing up to the business case reviews the evidence on the touchpoints in the employee lifecycle that may contain barriers to equality. Businesses should examine their own people management practices and diversity data to understand where barriers lie, taking action accordingly.
As well as targeted initiatives, a coherent strategy is needed to ensure that working practices across the organisation support an inclusive culture which embraces difference. The strategy needs to be supported by organisational values and leader and manager behaviour which reflect the importance of inclusion and diversity. Our report Diversity management that works draws on research evidence and professional expertise to make practical recommendations in six key areas of diversity practice and strategy. Explore the actions people professionals need to take to build inclusion.
Although there’s no legal requirement to have a written inclusion and diversity policy, it’s a good idea to produce one to demonstrate the organisation takes its legal and moral obligations towards being a diverse employer seriously. It can also encourage employees to treat others equally.
Discover our practitioner-focused recommendations which come from an evidence-based view of diversity and inclusion
Acas - Equality and discrimination
Equality and Human Rights Commission
GOV.UK - Employers: preventing discrimination
The Employers Network for Equality & Inclusion (enei)
ACAS. (2018) Prevent discrimination: support equality. London: ACAS.
BUSINESS DISABILITY FORUM. (2015) Square holes for square pegs: current practice in employment and autism. London: Business Disability Forum.
FROST, S. and KALMAN, D. (2016) Inclusive talent management: how business can thrive in an age of diversity. London: Kogan Page.
MCANDREW, F. (2010) Workplace equality: turning policy into practice. London: Equality and Diversity Forum.
WHYSALL, Z. (2020) Avoiding unintended consequences of diversity initiatives: the importance of dimensionality. CIPD Applied Research Conference Paper.
Visit the CIPD and Kogan Page Bookshop to see all our priced publications currently in print.
BADER, A., KEMPER, L. and JINTAE, F. (2019) Who promotes a value-in-diversity perspective? A fuzzy set analysis of executives’ individual and organizational characteristics. Human Resource Management. Reviewed in In a Nutshell, issue 89.
BASKA, M. (2019) Businesses ‘feel free to discriminate’ because equality law is not being enforced. People Management (online). 30 July.
FARAGHER, J. (2020) We need to talk about diversity and inclusion. People Management (online). 18 July.
PALUCK, E., PORAT, R., CLARK, C. and GREEN, D. (2021) Prejudice reduction: progress and challenges. Annual Review of Psychology. Vol 72. pp533-560. Reviewed in In a Nutshell, issue 105.
PHILLIPS, K.W., DUMAS, T.L. and ROTHBARD, N.P. (2018) Diversity and authenticity. Harvard Business Review. Vol 96, No 2, March-April. pp132-136. Reviewed in In a Nutshell, issue 75.
CIPD members can use our online journals to find articles from over 300 journal titles relevant to HR.
Members and People Management subscribers can see articles on the People Management website.
This factsheet was last updated by Lutfur Ali and Melanie Green.
Lutfur joined the CIPD in October 2021. Lutfur is also Non-Executive Director for the Business Continuity Institute (BCI) the professional body for business continuity and resilience experts. With a career spanning over three decades in the public, private and third sector, Lutfur has championed the delivery of social justice, equality, diversity, inclusion (EDI) and sustainability throughout his life. He has seen how effective EDI leadership in organisations can drive lasting improvement and change – making organisations healthier, inclusive, greener and resilient in becoming employers of first choice and best in class.
Prior to joining the CIPD Lutfur led a boutique consultancy practice and worked in a range of high-profile roles in the public, private and not for profit sector including: Director of EDI for the Tribal Group PLC (FTSE500), Head of EDI for the Department of Health, Head of EDI for the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority, Advisor to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Advisor to the National College of School Leadership and Associate to the National College of Policing. Lutfur was also Assistant Chief Executive for Tower Hamlets Council where he led the overall transformation programme in reshaping the organisations workforce, securing vital partnerships, generating income, and improving service delivery, in the context of achieving over 30% efficiency savings and protecting front line services. Lutfur has also held several Judicial Inquiry and advisory roles including for the Zahid Mubarak Inquiry, the Prime Ministers Prevent Task Force and the International Ministerial Working Group on Illegal Working.
Melanie joined the CIPD in 2017, specialising in learning & development and skills research. Prior to the CIPD, Mel worked as an HR practitioner in a technology organisation, working on a variety of learning and development initiatives, and has previously worked as a researcher in an employee engagement and well-being consultancy.
Melanie holds a master’s degree in Occupational Psychology from University of Surrey, where she conducted research into work–life boundary styles and the effect of this on employee well-being and engagement.
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The CIPD is a Disability Confident Leader. We work with the DWP and lead the way in changing attitudes towards disability, and to encourage all employers to provide opportunities to ensure that people with disabilities and those with long-term health conditions are able to fulfil their potential at work. We regularly review our own people practices and approaches to ensure that our workplace is as open, diverse, accessible and inclusive as possible.