People

Building a Culture of Acceptance as a Foundation for an Inclusive Workplace

Liz Alton

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Inclusion isn't just a buzzword. Today's most successful DE&I initiatives are moving beyond awareness and into key strategies to build sustainable, inclusive workplace cultures.

Building an inclusive workplace may be the best way to foster the next-level skills your team needs on its journey toward inclusion. Within diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) initiatives, raising awareness often drives efforts to create equitable workplaces.

But that's just the starting point. Conversations today are shifting toward building a deeper understanding of how we build inclusive cultures on acceptance.

"When products, programs and organizational culture are designed with inclusion in mind, it's great for the individuals but ultimately ends up benefiting everyone," says Giselle Mota, ADP chief of product inclusion.

Awareness is an essential steppingstone to fostering inclusion. But building a culture of acceptance is the next step to creating high-performance environments where every employee can make their best contributions.

Putting DE&I in the context of an inclusive culture

DE&I frameworks offer a set of principles that help create workplaces where all employees are treated with respect and have equal access to opportunities.

One of the key areas where DE&I is evident is in your organizational culture, which guides how management treats employees, how workers see their place in the organization and how team members are expected to collaborate and communicate.

When you create an inclusive workplace culture, all employees feel respected and welcome to contribute their unique perspectives and experiences. Differences aren't just acknowledged or tolerated; they're accepted and viewed as an advantage for the whole group.

Key benefits of an inclusive workplace culture

When you reach a level of DE&I acceptance, says Mota, organizational initiatives are generally both higher impact and more sustainable. These are some of the benefits of a truly inclusive workplace culture:

1. Attract and retain great talent

As the Harvard Business Review notes, witnessing inclusion in an organization's culture tells highly talented people that you've "built a healthy workplace and understand what it takes to collectively excel." Having strongly woven DE&I customs may give you an edge in landing talent.

2. Boost your bottom line

McKinsey & Company research found that companies with strong gender diversity were 25 percent more likely to be profitable, and those with greater ethnic diversity were 36 percent more likely to be profitable.

3. Drive resilience and innovation

Inclusive culture gives organizations a competitive advantage. A workforce populated with different educational, workplace and life experiences provides a greater range of perspectives, ideas and capabilities to fuel innovation and resilience.

4. Achieve greater employee engagement

In an inclusive culture that recognizes and celebrates employees' contributions, a wider range of people are actively participating and doing their best work. Feeling seen, heard and appreciated — as well as being recognized and valued for contributions — is the cornerstone of employee engagement.

What does it really mean to foster acceptance?

While DE&I efforts often begin with awareness, the reality is that they need to go deeper.

"It's not just about bringing awareness to a topic," Mota explains. "People don't need to only become aware of people's neurodivergence, race and ethnicity, religion or demographic. Instead, it's about building true acceptance of people and all parts of them."

Consider, for example, how campaigns for autism, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and other kinds of neurodivergence can help raise awareness of what it's like to experience these different ways the brain works. But do these efforts give your employees the avenues and tools to enable and empower their success at work? Talking about how some co-workers may tend to avoid eye contact or wear noise-canceling earphones isn't the same as normalizing and accepting it in everyday situations.

Finding ways to empower employees to be comfortable voicing their needs and to help colleagues navigate those different ways of relating is the foundation of an inclusive and accepting workplace.

Ways to instill a culture of acceptance

1. Establish acceptance by normalizing differences

One way awareness can lead to inclusion and acceptance is by focusing on the different ways people relate, interact and work. Understanding the range of norms that exist in the workplace — and affirming when those behaviors are both healthy and accepted — can elevate what everyone considers a "usual" and "comfortable" workplace.

"Normalizing differences should be a part of this conversation," Mota says. "Not everyone relates, communicates, or uses body language and social behavior the same way. That should be part of what we train on and speak about."

2. Represent diverse voices at key inflection points

A culture of acceptance is easier to build when diverse individuals play key roles in culture creation, Mota says. This can happen at many levels in the organization. Diverse representation in leadership and management can help model inclusion and can be a powerful way to set the tone for deeper inclusion and acceptance.

3. Elevate diverse voices on what's working — and when to pivot

Be sure participants shape efforts to build an inclusive culture. Mota notes that, for example, product features that consider employees of various gender identities or technical proficiency levels should center on those individuals' voices and needs so they're best designed to serve them. When initiatives are developed in partnership with the people who are affected most, it helps ensure important points are addressed and concerns aren't overlooked. Lifting up the voices of the people you're striving to include and having them play a role in shaping culture builds a sustainable core across the organization.

Celebrating diversity with a culture of acceptance

While awareness often lays the foundation for fostering DE&I in the workplace, it's just a starting point. Taking steps to set the bar higher and cultivate a culture of acceptance can transform your organization — from talent management to the bottom line.

"People are not just talent or a set of skills," Mota notes. "Rather, there is a rich combination of characteristics that makes them who they are. Successful organizations embrace, accept, and celebrate this richness – understanding that doing so helps create cultures, products, and services where people feel they belong."

Learn more about how to cultivate a people-centered workplace with your data, leadership and strategy by exploring the DE&I best practices in ADP's guidebook.