Employers often state that promoting DEIB initiatives is a top priority, and they ask us how best to improve on the start they’ve made (or how to get on board in a meaningful way for the first time). For those less versed in this space, DEIB stands for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging. The ‘belonging’ component is a more recent addition to the acronym. According to Gallup, in a ‘culture of belonging’ employees are appreciated for what they bring to the group, there is a genuine desire for meaningful relationships, and there is an appreciation for the differences between people. In addition to leading to a happier workplace, it’s no surprise that fostering a culture of belonging makes good business sense. Gallup found that if more employees believed that their opinions counted, “organizations could reduce turnover by as much as 27%, safety incidents by 40%, and increase productivity by 12%.”

A growing community of recruitment and HR professionals and consultants are promoting and advancing  DEIB initiatives by sharing innovative tools and resources – e.g. AI communication coaching providing private, judgment-free feedback on our unconscious biases (we have them!); quizzes or surveys to assess whether we understand and how we perceive the concept of belonging at work; DEIB courses on having a more productive dialogue about diversity; roadmaps for highly engaged employee resource groups (ERGs), and so on. While there is a loooong way to go, the growth in this space is impressive.