Inclusion and belonging, simply put, means being a part of a company culture that invites people to be themselves: one that encourages anyone to feel comfortable by providing an environment in which people of all backgrounds, races, ethnicities, and disabilities feel safe in bringing their ideas and whole selves to work. 

In an intentionally built, DEI-embraced company culture, team members are encouraged to share new ideas without feeling embarrassed or silenced. Instead, they are embraced, feel heard, and their ideas appreciated and acknowledged by all levels of management.

When a company has built a culture of trust, sustainable innovation, and the realization of each individual’s potential directly hits the bottom line:

• Team members never want to leave, saving valuable time in recruiting, interviewing, hiring, and onboarding new employees (Saving thousands on recruiting initiatives, with the average salary of an HR manager randing from $100-140k/year… before the cost of benefits¹ Business News Daily: “What Does it Cost to Hire an Employee?” https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/16562-cost-of-hiring-an-employee.html, in addition to slower efficiency for the new employee and their entire department during an onboarding process)
  
• Coaching, mentorship, radical candor in feedback, and learning opportunities allow teams to sustainably grow and retain incredible talent
  
• Collaboration and innovation push the company forward with continuous improvements (based on a study by the Harvard Business Review² Harvard Business Review: “Meeting The Challenges Of Developing Collaborative Teams For Future Success” https://hbr.org/resources/pdfs/comm/hrpeople/MeetingtheChallenges.pdf, collaborative environments create 80% greater employee morale, 77% of increased innovation, and 60% higher speed, efficiency, and agility)
  
• New perspectives are brought to the table through all the different experiences and perspectives of an inclusive organization, in a way they have often never experienced before.

In a company dedicated to including all employees in conversations, coaching, and mentorship opportunities, tough conversations hit the bottom line for both your company and invaluable team– creating a dream-team world for your dream company to attract even more high-performing talent.

In my next post, I’ll give actionable steps on how to develop and retain a culture that makes your company THE place to work for, in a world where 76% of job seekers actively seek workforces where diversity is an important factor³https://builtin.com/diversity-inclusion/diversity-in-the-workplace-statistics.