How to Foster a Culturally Diverse Workplace: 4 Tips to Make Your Business More Inclusive
Promoting diversity and inclusive work culture boosts employee happiness and stimulates new perspectives, which is reflected in the increased quality of work produced. See how to foster a diverse work environment here.
No-one enjoys working somewhere they feel unseen and unappreciated. 14% of employees want policies to ensure diversity and inclusion at work.1 When employees feel a sense of belonging, they are more motivated and productive. Promoting diversity and an inclusive work culture not only boosts employee happiness, but can also open them up to new ideas and perspectives which can be seen in the increased quality of work they produce.
So, how can you foster an inclusive and diverse work environment? We’ve listed four ways you can do this below – take a read.
Increase food and beverage options to cater to dietary requirements
To make a more inclusive work culture, offering a range of food and beverage options in the workplace allows employees with dietary requirements to feel included and represented.
One way to enact this is on tea and coffee breaks. With one in three Britons now drinking plant-based milk alternatives2, there’s an incentive for companies to provide non-dairy options for tea and coffee breaks at work. Without this, employees must pay to purchase it themselves and/or miss out on the coffee break. In turn, this increases employee retention because this small change makes your staff feel more cared for in their work place, more motivated and more productive.
See more on our plant-based diet insights for further information on inclusive diets in the workplace and beyond.
Encourage employees to feel comfortable expressing themselves for a more inclusive work culture
A diverse work environment is one in which people are encouraged to express all parts of themselves. This could be: age, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, disability, education, and national origin. Expression of these diverse qualities allows all employees to feel accepted for who they are. Of course, discrimination or bullying for these qualities cannot be allowed in an inclusive workplace. More than a quarter of employees in Britain have personally experienced discrimination at work1. Therefore, a diverse and inclusive workplace is more likely to have happier employees and retain them for longer.
Culturally diverse workplaces should schedule inclusion days
Cultural diversity in the workplace can be fostered through days set aside to showcase food, drink and activities from the different communities your employees belong to. Discussion and activity encourage employees to learn about different cultures, promotes diversity and understanding, and helps people feel included and accepted at work.3 A great way to bring your diverse community of employees together is through coffee – if there’s one thing common to all cultures, it's an appreciation of delicious coffee and a good chat! Colleagues who can come together to learn about different cultures and life experiences over a cup of coffee , will show a greater understanding of their co-workers, and therefore foster a safe space for them to be themselves.
Remember that diverse work environments include a variety of skills
Diversity in the workplace also includes the diversity among employees’ skills. Having a workforce with a variety of skills and knowledge means more resources to draw from and enhanced productivity as a result. A range of ideas and expertise represented in the workplace enables employees to learn from a more diverse group of colleagues, creating an environment that encourages different ways of thinking and approaching tasks. This allows for enhanced collaboration, creativity and problem solving at work.4
An inclusive work culture is not just one in which multiple ages, genders, ethnicities, sexual orientations and disabilities are represented, it's also one which celebrates these differences. As we mentioned, providing food and drink options for those with dietary requirements, nurturing an environment of self-expression, providing interactive opportunities to understand diverse cultures, and encouraging people to demonstrate their wide variety of skills are all things that can be done to celebrate diversity and create a more inclusive place to work.
Looking for more food industry insights? See our guide on the best way to make the most of workplace breaks here.
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