LibGuides: Employee Engagement, Sense of Belonging and Inclusion: Beyond Diversity to Inclusion

Voices on diversity: Making the scientific community more inclusive, 2021
Brooks, Guerra, et al. As part of our commitment to amplifying the voices of underrepresented scientists, we are publishing the insights and experiences of a panel of underrepresented scientists. In this piece, they discuss ways to make science more inclusive—from key points they wish their colleagues understood to actions those in the scientific community can take. These are the personal opinions of the authors and may not reflect the views of their institutions.
Calling in support: An inclusive, rigorous strategy for improving equality and diversity, 2021
Caltagiorone, Draper, et al. A non-confrontational approach encourages more people to share their stories We can all think of instances where members of the scientific community have been called out on inappropriate behaviour or language. This act of calling out is a direct challenge to another. As such, it can be an intimidating thing to do, as standing up to someone senior to you and telling them that what they are doing is not okay can be frightening and requires a lot of emotional labour. Additionally, there may be misperceived or unintended consequences to your career. The converse is that being called out can feel threatening. Particularly if you do not understand the transgression you have been accused of, or were doing your best to be supportive of equality, diversity and inclusivity (EDI) issues but find your actions have provoked a backlash. Fear of a reaction might inhibit someone from even trying to get involved in EDI work. Additionally, responses to being called out are quite often defensive, and can result in behaviour, arguments or actions that become even more hurtful to those who are doing the calling out. However, there is still a need to raise EDI issues, including those around gender, though this must always be considered intersectionally.
Organizational inclusion and identity regulation: How inclusive organizations form ‘Good’, ‘Glorious’ and ‘Grateful’ refugees, 2021
Ortlieb, Glauninger, Weiss. Do inclusive organizations live up to the term ‘inclusion’? Diversity literature depicts the inclusive organization as an ideal entity that welcomes social minorities who, in turn, feel valued and unique and have a sense of belonging to the organization. Our study offers a critical account of inclusion concepts and practice. We argue that proponents of inclusion overlook that inclusive organizations also may regulate workers’ identities. To examine the relationship between organizational inclusion and identity regulation we conceptualise inclusion as a process involving various organizational actors and practices. Drawing on a multiple-case study of refugees working in Austria we show how organizational practices aimed at inclusion contribute to the forming of refugees as ‘good’, ‘glorious’ and ‘grateful’ subjects. This identity regulation is ambivalent: while it allows refugees to work in inclusive organizations, it also constrains their sense of self.
Positive leadership: Relationships with employee inclusion, discrimination, and well‐being, 2020.
Adams, Meyer, Sekaja. The diverse nature of 21st‐century organizations has compelled leaders to minimize discrimination and bring about inclusion amongst their employees. One of the ways this can be achieved is through authentic, respectful, and inclusive leadership. The aim of the present paper was to (1) explore whether the three leadership styles can promote inclusion and curtail discrimination in the South African context and (2) ascertain whether this relationship has any bearing on well‐being across Dutch, German, Icelandic, Indonesian, and South African contexts. To reach these aims, two cross‐sectional studies have been conducted. In Study 1, 569 employees were surveyed, and results indicated that all three leadership styles loaded on a common latent factor (positive leadership) that was positively associated with both inclusion and discrimination. In Study 2, 1,926 employees were surveyed across the five countries. Results indicated that once again, the latent, positive leadership factor was positively associated with both inclusion and discrimination. Furthermore, inclusion, when compared to discrimination seemed to be a stronger mediator in the relationship between positive leadership and well‐being. We propose leadership development that will cultivate positive leadership behaviors for the benefit of employee well‐being and collaboration in increasingly diverse teams.
Beyond Diversity to Inclusion; Fostering an inclusive workforce for Millennials, 2020
Souffrant. Millennials are projected to make up 75% of the workforce by 2025, thus organizations should start listening to their expectations (Smith & Turner, 2015). Research shows that Millennials do not view inclusion as a philosophical ideal to make everyone happy, but rather as a necessary part of the business equation leading to growth and competitive edge (Smith & Turner, 2015). This study explores Millennials perception of diversity and inclusion in organizations.
Diversity; Embrace it, Share it, Celebrate it: A study of employees’ perspectives on the CSR initiatives for a diverse workforce and an inclusive work environment, 2020
Shahzad, Gabriel. What are the CSR initiatives for creating a diverse workforce as well as an inclusive work environment? What are the employees’ perspectives on such CSR initiatives for a diverse workforce and an inclusive work environment? Thesis

Looking beyond our similarities: How perceived (in) visible dissimilarity relates to feelings of inclusion at work, 2019
Sahin, van der Too, et al. We investigated how the perception of being dissimilar to others at work relates to employees’ felt inclusion, distinguishing between surface-level and deep-level dissimilarity. In addition, we tested the indirect relationships between surface-level and deep-level dissimilarity and work-related outcomes, through social inclusion. Furthermore, we tested the moderating role of a climate for inclusion in the relationship between perceived dissimilarity and felt inclusion. We analyzed survey data from 887 employees of a public service organization. An ANOVA showed that felt inclusion was lower for individuals who perceived themselves as deep-level dissimilar compared to individuals who perceived themselves as similar, while felt inclusion did not differ among individuals who perceived themselves as surface-level similar or dissimilar. Furthermore, a moderated mediation analysis showed a negative conditional indirect relationship between deep-level dissimilarity and work-related outcomes through felt inclusion. Interestingly, while the moderation showed that a positive climate for inclusion buffered the negative relationship between deep-level dissimilarity and felt inclusion, it also positively related to feelings of inclusion among all employees, regardless of their perceived (dis)similarity. This research significantly improves our understanding of how perceived dissimilarity affects employees by distinguishing between surface-level and deep-level dissimilarity and by demonstrating the importance of a climate for inclusion.
Inclusive workplaces: A review and model, 2019
Shore, Cleveland, Sanchez. Organizations continue to be challenged and enriched by the diversity of their workforces. Scholars are increasingly focusing on inclusion to enhance work environments by offering support for a diverse workforce. This article reviews and synthesizes the inclusion literature and provides a model of inclusion that integrates existing literature to offer greater clarity, as well as suggestions for moving the literature forward. We review the inclusion literature consisting of the various foci (work group, organization, leader, organizational practices, and climate) and associated definitions and how it has developed. We then describe themes in the inclusion literature and propose a model of inclusion. Finally, we end by discussing theoretical and practical implications.
Supported employment and social inclusion–Experiences of workers with disabilities in wage subsidized employment in Sweden, 2018
Gustafsson, Peralta, Danermerk. Labour market policies targeting people with disabilities primarily focus on establishing a working life based on reaching and procuring employment. Less attention is directed towards the qualitative aspects of working conditions or opportunities to retain employment. This study seeks to examine how people with disabilities who, with the help of Supported Employment (SE) methods, are establishing themselves in the labour market, experience social inclusion at their workplaces and how their working conditions influence their experiences with social inclusion. Data were collected in semi-structured interviews. Two themes were prominent in the interviewees’ experiences with social inclusion: the importance of being a valued worker and the sense of social belonging. Competence is important to feeling valued, as is working in fair working conditions. Disclosure of disability often helps to create fairness. The sense of social belonging arises from natural support and mattering to others. Important conditions that increase social inclusion are job-matching and natural support. The SE method can therefore contribute to the creation of social inclusion by ensuring that the matching process is well thought out and by utilizing strategies for inclusion, such as encouragement of natural support.
Leveraging Differences and Inclusion Pays Off, 2017.
Katz, Miller. One of the greatest challenges organizations face in their efforts to leverage differences and build inclusion is they are often viewed as “soft”—as contributing tangentially, at best, to the “real” operations and business results of the organization, and possibly most damnable of all, as unmeasurable (Hubbard, 2004). Today we are seeing a greater range of metrics and measures to assess progress with respect to diversity targets and goals; however, connecting diversity and inclusion (D&I) change efforts to the bottom line continues to be a challenge for most organizations and change agents. Many organizations talk about the importance of D&I to their success but still are not able to make the direct connection to achieving organizational objectives and bottom-line results (Cross, Katz, Miller, & Seashore, 2004; Heitner, Kahn, & Sherman, 2013). In this article, we present nine examples of measurable, bottom-line results achieved through the implementation of total systems change efforts to create inclusive workplace practices and interactions that leverage differences
Diversity at Work: a Factor Promoting the Creation of an Inclusive and Supportive Work Environment, 2017.
Gupta. A highly performing organization indicates the presence of talented employees from diverse backgrounds who are trained on workplace diversity and motivated towards building the brand image of the organization. The inclusive workplace environment supports the employees to be free of any fear of disclosing their personal identity pertaining to their sexual orientation, caste, creed, ethnicity, etc. Managers need to manage this diversified culture in all layers of the organization. The challenges arising out of this have to be managed with proper care and attention, through proper training to the employees. In the context of globalization, this workforce diversity would help the organizations to attract and retain the most talented employees by creating an inclusive and supportive work environment.
Guide to Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace, 2017
Glassdoor, Inc. Diversity and inclusion programs are not just a current trend, and their importance goes far beyond complying with laws or “doing the right thing.” There’s serious data to support that hiring a diverse workforce is good for business. And there’s quantifiable proof that it’s good for company culture, too. Two-thirds of active and passive job seekers say that a diverse workforce is an important factor when evaluating companies and job offers.1 No matter the size of your company, making diversity a priority is a critical step toward becoming a recruiting and branding powerhouse.
A systematic review evaluating the psychometric properties of measures of social inclusion, 2017
Cordier, Milbourn, et al. Improving social inclusion opportunities for population health has been identified as a priority area for international policy. There is a need to comprehensively examine and evaluate the quality of psychometric properties of measures of social inclusion that are used to guide social policy and outcomes.
Inclusion: Conceptualization and measurement, 2014
Jansen, Otten, et al. In the present research, we introduced a conceptual framework of inclusion and subsequently used this as a starting point to develop and validate a scale to measure perceptions of inclusion. Departing from existing work on inclusion and complementing this with theoretical insights from optimal distinctiveness theory and self-determination theory, we proposed that inclusion is a hierarchical two-dimensional concept consisting of perceptions of belonging and authenticity. In addition, we posed that in the process of inclusion, it is the group rather than the individual that has primary agency. From this conceptualization, we developed and validated the16-item perceived group inclusion scale (PGIS). Data from two samples supported our proposed configuration of inclusion. In addition, the PGIS appeared to be a reliable measure of inclusion and was demonstrated to possess both nomological and predictive validity. Taken together, this research contributes to the conceptual refinement of the inclusion construct and offers researchers a reliable and valid tool to conduct future inclusion research.
Shifting our conceptualization of social inclusion, 2012.
Cobigo, Ouellette-Kuntz, et al. Social inclusion is a right as well as a goal for community-based services and supports. Yet, there is a lack of consensus as to what constitutes social inclusion, which means that there is no real way to determine and measure services effectiveness. This paper identified current key components, definitions, and conceptual approaches to social inclusion, and determined gaps in the scope and clarity of existing conceptualizations.
Social Inclusion in Australia: How Australia is faring, 2010
The Australian Social Inclusion Board was formed in May 2008 with a brief to advise Government, consult with the community, and report on social inclusion in Australia. Social inclusion is about ensuring that everyone is able to participate fully in Australian society. It is
about people having the necessary opportunities, capabilities and resources to enable them both to contribute to and share in the benefits of Australia’s success as a nation