Inclusivity initiatives we took part in throughout June
The month of June marked Pride Month 2021. For iungo Solutions, this meant coming together as a team and discussing how we can further promote equality, diversity and inclusivity within a remote workplace within and beyond the month of June.
It was important to us that our team have a say in the activities we undertake as a company, especially those that will directly affect many of our employees. As well as this, we wanted to have a space to give this important topic the dedicated attention that it deserves.
So, here’s some of the initiatives our team has helped bring to the forefront over the last month – with many more inclusivity activities planned for the future.
Maybe some of these will help you promote inclusivity in your work environment.
1. Speed Connect
Firstly, and perhaps the most important to building a comfortable and safe remote working environment is the team-generated “speed connect” sessions.
What it says on the tin, speed connect is a quick 15-minute casual meeting between two members of the team throughout the organisation, at all levels, to discuss their interests. This allows people to get to know one another outside of a work environment. It also provides people with a short break, during work hours, to focus on something beyond their to-do list – which can really help boost mental health.
Even better, many members of the team discovered that even their most obscure hobbies were shared by their colleagues – something they otherwise wouldn’t have known about.
We conducted over 40 Speed Connect meetings throughout the month of June. That’s 40 new or strengthened relationships within the team.
The value of building these relationships, especially in a digitally native environment, should not be underestimated. It’s fair to say we’ll see many more of these sessions in the future!
2. Introduction of Pronouns on Email Signatures
Implementing pronouns in email signatures has a positive impact both internally and externally. These simple gestures show how the email senders identify themselves and how others should refer to them.
While email signatures shouldn’t be the only demonstration of gender inclusivity, they are a good first step to ensuring an inclusive environment for employees of all genders.
Not everyone will be comfortable adopting pronouns into their signatures – for any number of reasons – but providing the template to do so is a great form of encouragement.
Now, many of the iungo team have opted to implement pronouns into their signatures.
3. Content that adds value
Focusing on inclusivity in the workplace is an important aspect of the iungo Solutions ethos. As such, we’ve used our platforms to share information widely about the subject of diversity and inclusivity.
Through sharing articles with relevant messages that align with our company culture, we’ve been able to increase the reach of important messages such as inclusivity in job adverts, supporting minorities in tech, celebrating Engineering Heroes, and more on our social media platforms! All of these are fantastic reads that shed light on various areas of the workplace that benefit from being inclusive.
We also used our platform to provide guidance on 7 ways to build a diverse and inclusive workplace and discuss the importance of gender equality in Engineering and what can be done to make the industry more inclusive for International Women in Engineering Day. These blogs help shine light on some of the ways we can make companies more diverse and inclusive.
4. Inclusive Company Calendar
Creating an inclusive and diverse company culture is not something that can be done at the snap of your fingers. In fact, it’s something that is a year-round task. One of the ways you can ensure your company is being inclusive all year round is by developing an inclusive company calendar.
And that’s exactly what the month of June encouraged us to do at iungo Solutions. This means taking note of any professional, religious, cultural and secular holidays that occur throughout the year and making them accessible to all members of the company in a D&I calendar.
This will help us recognise specific days in the year that are not only important to our team, but also to clients, customers and our general audience. And we’re only going to keep adding to it!
5. Introducing a Welsh Language Policy
As a Welsh-based company, the inclusion of a Welsh Language Policy seemed like a no-brainer. Thankfully, June was just the push we needed to finalise this policy and make it the standard across our products and business.
What does this mean for us? Well, this means that our new information, advice and guidance (IAG) platform, OPUS by iungo, will now offer a bilingual language feature – with voiceovers and all!
It’s a fantastic step in the right direction and we look forward to the opportunities it presents us with further down the line. Congrats to our team for working closely with external experts to deliver a fantastic result!
And the fun doesn’t stop there…
We achieved a great deal throughout June, but inclusivity is a constant development within the iungo team and there’s many other projects we’re scoping out.
To provide a sneak preview of what we’ll be covering:
- Unconscious bias training for the entire team
- Revisiting user experience within the app to provide inclusive identities for its users
- Sessions on the importance of wellbeing in a remote working environment
And that’s just a few!
Now it’s your turn!
Each company operates differently, but we intend to transparently share our progress in this area in order to encourage other businesses to create an inclusive workspace for their employees.
We urge you to think about the inclusivity initiatives outlined above and how they may make a difference in your company. You may want to adapt the above to suit your needs. Or perhaps this post has got you thinking about different initiatives that would work for your business.
It’s long been proven that inclusivity within the workplace increases employee engagement. In fact, studies in MacLeod’s Engage for Success Report found that companies with high engagement scores had over 25% higher profitability than those with the lowest engagement. Additionally, they found a correlation between employee absence and engagement. Those with low engagement took up to 3 times more sick days than employees with high engagement. So not only does it benefit the company, but it also helps with employee wellbeing.
But increased engagement is just one of many ways that inclusivity can impact your company culture. Others include: an increased ability to recruit diverse talent; 5 times higher employee retention rates; an increased readiness to innovate; and employees taking pride in their work and the company.
In summary, focusing on creating an inclusive environment can help your business to achieve sustainable competitive advantage.
