Promoting inclusion in the workplace is crucial for businesses of all shapes and sizes. Whether you’re a startup just getting your feet wet or are part of a Fortune 500 company, you need to be sure that your inclusion efforts are working. Improving your disability inclusion doesn’t have to be difficult, but you do have to start somewhere. We are going to cover a few ways you can initiate this effort in your workplace today.
Empower Your Leaders with Disability Inclusion Training
You will want to start at the top. How leadership promotes inclusion will have an effect on the entire company. There is no question that the energy from the top trickles down through the ranks. You want to hold all of your leaders accountable for creating a workplace that is safe, inclusive, and comfortable.
One of the best ways to get them started is to host an annual training or workshop discussing what inclusion means and how they can work to achieve it. Providing implementation strategies is vital for success.
Conduct Focus Groups
While many employees will let you know what they need when they are hired, you may find that others are not as forthcoming. Conducting unbiased focus groups and really listening to what your employees have to say can help you create a disability friendly environment.
Below are some questions you may want to include in your focus groups:
- Do you feel socially and emotionally supported here?
- Have you faced any difficulties advancing in your career that you notice your peers aren’t facing? If so, what do you think is the source? Is there a way your company could empower you to advance?
- Have you witnessed discrimination in the workplace? What was the situation?
As you get answers to these questions, you can begin examining whether your inclusion strategy is working or whether you need to begin tweaking it.
Communicate Your Goals and How You Measure Success
This may not seem like the most obvious way to create an environment of disability inclusion; however, if you are not clearly and effectively communicating your expectations, you can’t realistically expect your team to meet them.
The most important takeaway here is to ensure that all of your employees are clear on company goals and key performance indicators. Since people look at things differently depending on their backgrounds and abilities, you may need to share this information in a few different formats to set your employees up for success.
Creating an experience that is both audible and visual gives people who may have low vision or difficulty hearing an alternative way to view this information. Moreover, it helps people with different types of learning styles. Rarely will a company ever hire people who learn in exactly the same way. Providing options and different experiences allows for more clear communication and understanding across the board.
Provide Necessary Resources for Disability Inclusion
It is not enough to just talk the talk – you also need to walk the walk. That could mean bringing on a sign language interpreter, ensuring that all of your internal resources are available in large print for those with low vision, or providing sign language interpretating and CART services for Deaf or hard of hearing people.
The number one thing that you can do, though, is really listen to your employees. Taking the time to understand what their needs are enables you to improve their workplace experience – and hopefully help you retain good, valuable employees.
To learn more about how you can improve disability inclusion in your workplace, call us at (410) 571-4016 or fill out the Contact Us form. With 24 prime government contracts in 27 states, we have a strong understanding of what makes disability inclusion work.