“Inclusion in the workplace” is a trendy phrase you’ve heard thrown all over the place, but inclusion is nothing without acknowledgement and action. From recognizing micro-inclusions in your organization to admitting what you can’t recognize, today’s successful businesses are taking ownership of where they fall short and actively preparing for Gen Z expectations.
7. The power of
inclusion
Limeade Institute, 2018
19%
GREATER WELL-BEING
IN THEIR LIVES
28%MORE ENGAGED
AT WORK
51%
MORE LIKELY
TO RECOMMEND
THEIR ORGANIZATION
3XINTEND TO
STAY LONGER
8. LimeadeInstitute,2019, n=354
Care is related to well-being,
engagement and inclusion.
52%
75%
94%
43%
72%
94%
14%
72%
95%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
%Favorable
Well-being
Engagement
Inclusion
Org Does NOT Care Neutral Org Care Org DOES Care
9. Peers on immediate teams are
THE GREATEST CONTRIBUTING FACTOR
TO INCLUSION, followed by organizational leaders,
department managers,
and peers on other teams.
Limeade Institute, 2019
11. Micro-aggressions
• Housekeeping at work (setting up technology)
• Un-agreed upon nicknames
• Culturally insensitive phrases
• Inaccessible metaphors
• “Can you hear me?”
• Imagery in marketing
• Gender pronouns (“you guys”)
12. Micro-inclusions
• Starting with virtual employees on conference calls
• Credit where credit is due/ally to all voices/idea attribution
• Me vs. we
• Allyship – see something say something
• Inclusion “golden rule” or “platinum rule”
• Event accessibility (i.e. reasonable accommodations)
• Candidate experience (gendered language in job postings, accommodations
for candidate)
17. How others are responding
• Expedia’s Allyship workshop
• Spotify’s featured playlists
• T-Mobile pride month
• eBay global marketplace
• Goldman Sachs investment decision
• Retail ad campaigns
• Make My Size campaign
LF – welcome and intro, housekeeping
Participants are on mute
Please type questions into the chat and we will answer at the end
The session will be recording and available afterwards
LJL – walk through agenda
LJL intro first, then explain why we are taking ownership of our privilege perspectives
Privileges + intersectionality challenge
- White
- Cisgender
- Heterosexual
- Secondary Education Access
- Upper middle class
- Able-bodied
- Employed with Benefits
- English as a first language
- However, I identify as living in a fat body but also experience thin privilege in the world
Privileges + intersectionality challenge
- White
- Cisgender
- Heterosexual
- Secondary Education Access
- Able-bodied
- Employed with Benefits
- English as a first language
- However, I grew up in a small town, parents were not highly educated, raised animals. In addition from a family who don't always agree men and women should have equal rights so being a woman is a core part to my identity
LF – transition to research
Before we talk about how we’ve experienced inclusion, we always want to share on a common foundation of what the research tells us
LF – to talk about our survey, different components of inclusion, we use this to study inclusion and for our own employees
LF to talk about power of inclusion and the rising priority it’s becoming because of it’s business impact
LJL – how inclusion fits in with Limeade’s CARE message, how these things are traditionally treated in silos when they are deeply connected
We want to explain why this concept of care for our employees is so important, and so foundational to how we approach product design.
Limeade Conducted our own research in Limeade Institute, with a sample of over 350 people across industries who work at least 30 hours per week, not in our BoB
When employees think their organization cares about them, this is positively related to well-being, engagement, inclusion
For reference:
Engagement: agree & strongly agree on “I feel personally engaged in my work.”
Well-being: agree & strongly agree on “Overall, I have well-being in my life.”
Inclusion: “I feel included at my organization.”
STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ALL NOT CARE AND CARE GROUPS
LJL
- Think about your own life and your past work experience – I know this is true for me
- Gallup Q12 “best friend” item – these are human beings that are coming to work and connection is a deep human need.
LF - This is how the research shows up in action, we want to share our experiences in the workplace so we can translate the research into out lived experiences
LF – Lindsay and I were preparing for this and put together this list in about 5 minutes, these things happen all the time
Setting up tech, quick way to do this differently: designated people beforehand and rotate
I was very early on in my career when an executive male said to me: "I'm so proud of you, sweetheart."
Exercise at a conference where we identified racially and ethnically inappropriate metaphors and violent language and it was shocking
LJL – follow-up
One that I struggle with are metaphors that have inaccessible associations – like sports references – in the red zone, blocking and tackling –
historically football is a game only played by men
Complexity when you add a global population – football isn’t the same game in different parts of the world
Easy solution – just explain what you actually mean – don’t make you language choices a barrier to understanding.
Microaggressions against ourselves
We need to stop “self-asterick” or “In case you’re offended”, you an dismiss me with this phrase
Disempowering language – sorry, kind of, trying, maybe, my understanding is that
Standing with power in what you have to say
Assume positive intent – some of these are things I used to do (i.e. ”you guys”) until it was brought to my attention in a gentle and compassionate manner. Example of mixed gender group – do you ladies wanna go get lunch?
LJL – we also want to focus on wonderful things that happen every day that support inclusion, it’s important to encourage positive habits and celebrate strengths
Limeade’s continued expansion as a global company – some employees have gotten really good at the habit of including remote people – we used our technology to support the cultivation of that habit
I’ve also had experiences where I didn’t have the courage to say something but someone else did, that can be such a powerful experience of feeling support and that your boundaries should be respected.
LF –
Inclusion golden role/platinum rule
Event accessibility
Candidate experience
There will always be new intersectionalities and more we can do to create inclusion – approach that from a place of curiosity and a journey than feeling overwhelmed or defeated because there is no “destination”
LF – we want to look forward now, to what the next generations are expecting
LF – the change has already happened. If you’re doing nothing you’re behind
“I didn’t get parental leave.” or “It happened to me.” mentality. But shouldn’t we want the world to be better for those after us?
How is Limeade responding?
LF
Think about groups that are sometimes unheard – neurodiversity, veterans, able bodied
Inclusion survey
Kaleidoscope council
LGBTQ+
Black History Month (“flush flash”)
LJL
Nani’s story
Habit building and skills (story of your name, asking what people think)
Women in the Workplace and other ERGs
LGBTQ+
Black History Month (“flush flash”)
LF – we wanted to make this very visible and real to employees which sparked the "bekaleidoscopic" campaign
LJL – what’s amazing is we’re also seeing organizations everywhere respond in really powerful ways to the need for more inclusion at work
Employees now more than ever want to be proud of where they work because it’s associated with their identity – so PR issues around inclusion can have a real impact on how employees feel about working there
We’re seeing more and more retail brands represent size and body diversity in their campaigns, showing people with varying levels of ability and different size and shaped bodies
In fact, the companies that aren’t doing this are starting to get called out. There is a campaign on social media called #makemysize where people post pictures of clothing they would buy if they could and tag that retailed – it’s contributed to several brands expanding sizes
We also see major marketing initiatives with a social point of view more than we ever have before
Doritos made rainbow chips for pride month
Absolut vodka just released a powerful campaign around alcohol and consent
LF
Some of these investments are big and require lots of money and teams and time – examples
But others are business decisions that are made but have a huge impact – like Goldman Sachs and Spotify’s Black History month playlist
How can your business be more inclusive both internally as an employer, but also externally in the market?
LF
Key take aways
Check out the website
Q&A
LF – transition to research
Before we talk about how we’ve experienced inclusion, we always want to share on a common foundation of what the research tells us
LF – welcome and intro, housekeeping
Participants are on mute
Please type questions into the chat and we will answer at the end
The session will be recording and available afterwards