Inclusiveness is no longer considered a must-have, especially in this post-pandemic era. Companies across the globe embrace the idea of inclusivity in the workplace, yet they fail at recognizing the voices of underrepresented groups.

Creating an inclusive work environment requires big and bold ideas. Talent management teams must discover out-of-the-box ideas to make radical changes to their current workforce. While it is a collective effort, talent managers and C-suite executives must step up to lead the change within their organizations.

In this post, we will focus on some essential practices for creating a more inclusive workplace.

Encouraging and welcoming voices from all verticals

The first step to inclusivity is respecting and hearing the opinions of everyone present on board. Most often, employees quit jobs when they observe their uniqueness is not recognized. A survey revealed that about 34% of employees are more likely to leave or switch teams than voice their genuine concerns with management.

In order to create an inclusive workplace, talent management teams must promote an environment where employees feel valued, regardless of their position. Those reaping rewards in today’s bustling workplace environment have created opportunities for employees to mix and chat.

When it comes to embracing the practice of diversity and inclusion in the workplace, HR leaders must support employees when they candidly voice their concerns without fearing victimization. This allows talent management teams to not only listen to their problems but also embrace diverse viewpoints.

On-boarding a multilingual culture

The rapid globalization in the 21st-century workplace has made clear and effective communication more critical than ever. Although globalization has opened doors of opportunities to both employees and organizations, language barriers and preferences remain a significant hindrance in the workplace.

A survey shows that a vast majority of — 90 percent — of companies struggle with language barriers in their day-to-day work. This is a pressing issue in today’s fast-paced work environment, as it continues to disrupt productivity, customer retention, and market expansion.

There have been innumerable practices talent managers and leaders have executed to reduce the impact of language barriers. Following are some of the ideas that can help talent management teams in addressing the language gap:

Language training programs: English is, without a shadow of a doubt, the most preferred language used in businesses globally. However, with more workplaces welcoming a diverse workforce, the chances of English speakers may drop down enormously. Talent management teams can introduce language programs to non-English speakers to mitigate the barriers of language.

Utilizing modern technologies: The growing adoption of non-traditional and emerging technologies in the workplace isn’t anything new. With the help of artificial intelligence and machine learning, talent management teams can make the translation process much smoother and faster.

Companies can push for messaging apps that support instant in-line translation. This allows employees to tap on any message and view the translated text in the language of their choice. Employees can further work on their pronunciation with applications’ text to voice support.

Among the many ways these technologies have transformed the workplace, the complete elimination of language barriers is far from over. Besides bridging the communication gap within the workplace, artificial intelligence and machine learning also support economic activities.

One tangible sign of AI’s significance in improving business efficiency is this exciting example of eBay’s staggering increase in trade. The e-commerce site implemented a new AI-powered translation service to help accommodate global sales. By improving language translation quality, eBay witnessed a trade increase between countries by almost 11 percent. The technology’s translation tool helped with personalization, and recommendations, thus saving eBay’s time to process orders.

Overcoming language barriers in the workplace must be the top priority of talent management teams. Companies need to prepare and support their employees with the necessary tools to overcome these barriers.

Empowering leaders with the knowledge of inclusion

The top management of your organization has an instrumental role to play in promoting an inclusive workplace culture. Most companies are committed to educating their leaders with suitable training modules. Such initiatives will equip the leader with a solid understanding of the skills required to lead an inclusive team.

By being mindful of this practice, leaders can build and grow inclusive teams. Talent managers directly impact how employees interact with one another on a daily basis, so they must consider making inclusion a priority.

Leadership training is a crucial aspect in the current workplace milieu that helps foster a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace. However, only with the right kind of training, the road to inclusiveness can get easy.

Talent professionals and leaders have understood the gravity of the situation and are now ramping up their diversity and inclusion efforts to support their underrepresented employees. While the above measures to implement diversity can help a smoother transition to a more inclusive workforce, talent management teams also must evaluate their current D&I numbers to develop a holistic strategy.

You can also make use of third-party consultants or talent intelligence tools like Draup’s Diversity Navigator to help your enterprise achieve its diversity goals. By leveraging the insights from Diversity Navigator, HR leaders are empowered to elevate the career path of minorities, thus helping achieve true diversity & inclusion.