What: Inclusion has been often seen as secondary compared to the environmental issues, but actually its importance is the same in terms of productivity and employees’ commitments.

Why it is important: Through a dedicated, visible and fully supported policy, employers can significantly improve happiness at work, reduce exists, and can advertise their employer brand to be even more attractive.

When facing the topic of sustainability as a whole, many companies consider it from the angle of the environment (CSR) and people come second. Some markets have been taking the leadership when  it comes to inclusion and equality, usually for historical reasons, such as the US. Even today, inclusion can be seen as a secondary topic or an ‘exotic’ one by non-US employers.

The Boston Consulting Group advocates that this topic (summed up by making sure that all employees feel valued, respected, and therefore are motivated), is actually central and benefits not to a minority but all employees.

DEI (Diversity, Equality and Inclusion) programs, for instance, increases happiness for both women and men, showing that such programs usually have influence beyond the group it targets. However, it is difficult for companies to actually measure the impact of their DEI policies, which is why the BCG has developed a new index, BLISS (Bias-free, Leadership, Inclusion, Safety and Support), to model the impact. According to them, an increase in the BLISS score can increase happiness at workplace by 30% and halve exits.

Of course, this requires full support from the leading team which should also reflect this approach to diversity in its own structure.

HR: Why Inclusion is no longer a nice to have