Impact of Employee's Perception of Manager's Inclusion on Engagement

Research over the last decade has found that 61% of employees believe diversity and inclusion strategies are beneficial and essential in the workplace. 75% said diversity and inclusion are equally important topics. This suggests that the majority of employees believe diversity and inclusion are not only important in general but that organizations should be prioritizing both.

When asked whether diversity or inclusion should be developed first, 58% said diversity and inclusion should be developed at the same time. However, a sizable minority (30%) believe an inclusive culture should be developed before diversity can thrive. Although diversity and inclusion initiatives can certainly be developed at the same time, inclusivity is more important to strengthen first. If employees do not believe their organization has a safe, supportive, respectful, and open culture, then efforts toward increased diversity will likely be slow, inefficient, or perhaps even backfire.

How Perceptions of Inclusion by Managers Impact Employee Engagement is an important debate. Research by Quantum in 2022 found that engagement is more strongly related to inclusion than diversity. Engagement is exceptionally low for employees who believe their organization’s overall inclusion is moderately weak or very weak, whereas engagement is exceptionally high for those who think inclusion is moderately strong or extraordinarily strong.

In independent research, employees were asked to choose up to two options they think are most important for a culture of inclusion (based on Deloitte’s inclusion model). The results show employees believe that respect is by far the most essential factor for a culture of inclusion.

The other elements are undoubtedly crucial in their ways, but the vast difference indicates that respect is top of mind for employees when they think about inclusion in the workplace. In other research, the respectful treatment of employees was found to be the most critical factor contributing to employee job satisfaction. Yet more than half of employees (54%) claim they do not regularly get respect from their leaders.

It is not enough for organizations to just have diversity and inclusion policies in the workplace. Any organization-wide strategy or initiative needs to be embraced by all employees—especially managers.

Managers help guide and lead the teams and individuals that makeup organizations. If managers are not on board with an idea, teams may suffer. In response to our survey, employees were asked to finish the following sentence: “When it comes to diversity and inclusion strategies, my immediate manager is...”

When employees do not feel that their managers are committed to diversity and inclusion, their engagement suffers. The graph below breaks out perceptions of managerial support by engagement.

Employees who believe their immediate managers are opposed to, unaware of, or undecided about diversity and inclusion strategies are less engaged than employees who believe their managers are supportive or committed to those strategies. These results underscore the importance of managers in shaping employees’ perceptions and feelings.

Another impressive result in the above graph is that employees are less engaged when they do not know how their managers feel about diversity and inclusion. Being in the dark can potentially hurt engagement. Managers who are supportive of, or committed to, diversity and inclusion should communicate that to their teams at an appropriate time. If managers are opposed to, unaware of, or undecided about diversity and inclusion, deeper concerns may need to be addressed before managers share those thoughts with their teams.

Therefore it is of utmost importance to choose wisely who gets promoted. merely planning a promotion based on target achievement are the days of the past if you wish to ensure the retention of your people. Embed the DEI value chain at each employee touch point- which eventually starts and ends with the manager.

UpgradeHRM is the leading provider of a unified D&I platform with its state-of-the-art Integrated D&I - Business Impact Model. Globally, successful enterprises rely on UpgradeHRM's industry-recognized high-impact platform to develop and deploy complex, strategy-driven, and employee-engaging business applications. We unlock inclusive workplace culture with speed and agility for organizational change and cultural diversity transformation. We use evidence-based methods with scalable strategies and effective tools to transform an organization's culture and people while linking its DE&I strategy with the business. We offer continued education and business opportunities to DEIB enthusiasts through our online certifications and masterclasses.

Categories: : Inclusive Managers, Workplace Culture