5 Ways to Rethink Inclusivity at Work for Employers

It’s 2023, and we’ve been hearing about the need for inclusiveness in the workplace for years, but never more so since the pandemic and Great Resignation turned our relationship to employment upside down. Improving workplace inclusivity isn’t just the right thing to do from a moral perspective, it’s the right thing to do from a business standpoint as well — companies are in competition with one another to retain employees, and the organizations with better benefits and more flexible, compassionate workplace policies are winning out every time.

If you are looking to improve inclusivity in your workplace, here are my 5 tips to get you started:

Don’t Skip the Bare Minimum

I work with companies and startups and executives at businesses of all sizes and in all sectors, and it shocks me how some people aren’t even doing the bare minimum for their employees — and then are shocked when those employees burn out, miss their targets, or leave to take positions at competitor organizations. What do I mean by the bare minimum?

I mean these companies don’t have separate sick time for their employees and force them to take vacation days when they get sick. They don’t honor federal holidays. They require employees to work for a minimum of a year before having access to parental leave. It doesn’t matter how many employee-appreciation pizza parties you throw or how much company swag you get HR to hand out — if the structure of your company doesn’t give employees any options to take care of themselves or their loved ones, you are missing the mark.

Start at square one before you do anything else.

Make sure your employees have a generous allowance of both sick days and paid vacation time. Don’t just be satisfied with offering the legal minimum. From there, you can look at adding personal days, mental health days, and other options for reduced hours, remote work allowances, and other flexible options to help your employees juggle the complex demands of modern life. But start with your basics: separate sick leave and vacation dates.

Include parental leave and other benefits from day one. I know that starting benefits after a year of employment is used as an incentive to have employees stay…