We’ve known for a while that a diverse workforce is a stronger one. By welcoming team members of different backgrounds, your law firm enjoys the competitive advantage of a wider talent pool. To retain it, however, your goal should be a more inclusive work environment.
Although people often use the terms “diverse” and “inclusive” interchangeably, they’re not the same thing. While any company can ensure that their workforce represents a wide range of demographics like gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, veteran status, and more, you need an inclusive culture to retain them. This means that everyone’s contributions are valued so they can do their best work and succeed.
This article shares 5 tips for creating a more inclusive culture at your firm and ensuring that it becomes a core part of the way you do business.
Tip #1: Get Managerial Support
If you want to create and promote an inclusive workplace, your leadership team will be your biggest ally. Inclusion will be a challenge if the managing partners at the firm don’t value or prioritize it too. You can enlist their support by:
- Presenting evidence that diverse teams and an inclusive culture can make a business more profitable. According to Deloitte, inclusive workplaces are six times more likely to be innovative and have over twice the cash flow per employee compared to non-inclusive ones.
- Providing diversity and inclusion training aimed at management
- Giving them the opportunity to ask sensitive questions
Once the firm’s leaders are comfortable and on board, their support can ensure that inclusivity becomes a core part of company culture.
Tip #2: Make Inclusion Part of Employee Training
You know diversity and inclusiveness aren’t synonymous – but do your employees? Even if minorities are present in the workplace, they may feel excluded or like they are not represented. Make this nuance explicit in training so that employees can embrace diversity on all levels and develop the skills necessary to thrive in a diverse workplace.
Tip #3: Use Inclusive Language
Use inclusive language in all professional communications. Use each employee’s preferred pronouns when referring to them and, unless they prefer otherwise, use “spouse” or “partner” instead of “husband” or “wife” when referring to a spouse (especially if you don’t know the gender of the spouse).
Tip #4: Make the Holiday Calendar More Inclusive
Your firm probably celebrates secular and Christian holidays like Christmas and Easter, but do they represent the religious beliefs of your workforce at large?
Consider that Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are major holy days for Jewish employees. In the Islamic calendar, the holidays include Eid al-Fitr and Ramadan. Hindus celebrate Diwali and Navratri. Even if it’s not possible to make these holidays company-wide, simply placing them on the corporate calendar will increase awareness and promote a sense of belonging.
Tip #5: Post Multilingual Signage
Multilingual signage tells employees, clients, and visitors that everyone is welcome. It also serves as a reminder that everyone at the firm is part of a bigger and more diverse world, even if there are only one or two languages spoken in the office.
Conclusion
In order to survive and succeed in the future, law firms must do more than just make their talent pool more diverse. They also need to create inclusive workplaces that meet the needs of all their employees and enable everyone at the firm to achieve their full potential. Getting it right can provide a competitive advantage and increase company performance in all metrics that matter.
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