Embracing inclusion: make sure your diversity isn’t just window dressing

The words diversity and inclusion are so often joined together that we frequently treat them as a single term. But they do in fact mean different things.

Diversity refers to the variation in personal, physical, social, and ethnic backgrounds, but also in expertise that exists within our workforce, whereas inclusion is defined as how we as an organisation ensure equal access to opportunities across that workforce – how we ensure a safe and free working environment regardless of our differences. Diversity is inviting someone to the party, inclusion is inviting them to dance.

As we close our month of diversity, I wanted to take the opportunity to explore how diversity and inclusion are related, and why you can’t have one without the other.

Celebrating our differences

It’s a simple fact and one that is key to our success. We embrace a diverse workforce here at Royal HaskoningDHV and alongside a wide variety of expertise, we celebrate our colleagues regardless of gender, age, sexual orientation, religion, physical ability, or nationality.

In our day-to-day work, we deal with complex problems that require creative solutions. By embracing diversity of people, we embrace diversity of thought, and together, provide the space to create the best solutions.

But that can only thrive when our colleagues feel safe and free to contribute with everything that they are and everything that they have. And that is what we call inclusion. Without that? Diversity is just window dressing.

Walking the talk

To truly add value and develop better, more creative solutions together, we have to focus on inclusion. Our ambition is to cultivate colleagues and a culture that inspire people to do their best, where people feel valued and to create a good working atmosphere where everyone feels at home and cared for.

So how are we doing that in our everyday work?

1. We start from the top – our leadership group leads by example. They are involved in our ‘Something personal’ video series internally where they are interviewed about balancing business interests and personal identity – walking the talk in their individual roles. We will also soon welcome Marije Hulshof as CEO, who drives diversity and inclusion across the company.
2. We provide equal access to resources and opportunities – not least in our employment conditions. In the Netherlands we’ve recently adjusted them so that employees can exchange three Dutch national holidays for non-national holidays such as Diwali, the Sugar Festival or Liberation Day.
3. We’re building a culture of psychological safety – at the start of every management meeting the first agenda item is always an ‘integrity moment’. An opportunity to discuss topics related to health, safety and integrity.
4. We offer learnings and facilitate workshops – we actively address unconscious bias and ethical dilemmas. And we organise roundtable dialogues about the issues surrounding diversity and inclusion.
5. We form strong networks – those such as our YOUNG, Women’s, Pride and Work Without Limits Networks provide the power of learning from each other, the power to support each other and the power to be ambassadors for each other.

The conversation continues

It’s no secret that our industry is typically very male orientated. But what I have seen happening, slowly, is an increase in awareness across the board about diversity and inclusion.

The risk is that we make inclusion an issue just for the minorities – that the onus is on them to speak up and make their voices heard. But it is just as much an issue for the majority – we all need to open our eyes and increase our awareness. Everyone has a role to play and to see success, this has to be a two-way conversation.

We know that sometimes we will make mistakes, but we are learning together. The language we use, our behaviour and the attitudes we take to each other are so important in fostering inclusion, creating a safe working environment in which everyone has the space and freedom to open up and ultimately create positive change.