Over the past several weeks, many of us have been forced to embrace a new normal.  Things such as keeping up on school work and projects with our children to managing our household to embracing our unapologetic furry co-workers all from the comfort of our home. This pandemic has left many feeling isolated and screaming to connect to our teams in person, back at our brick and mortar office, where we feel like we can accomplish more. Unfortunately, the sad reality is even before we heard anything about Covid-19, there were many who felt separated and disconnected from their teams.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts have been going strong for the last couple of years; however, it tends to only touch surface ‘check the box’ levels such as gender or race.  Areas such as education, experience, skill sets and personality are often overlooked from diversity and inclusion efforts. And, if by chance they are included, they are often underappreciated, undervalued and not respected.

This has left many employees (prior to Covid-19) feeling isolated from their team.  When we take time to embrace each of our team members’ talents, we ultimately unlock the door to creativity and innovation which can positively impact the company morale and lead to profit gains. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is something we must not ignore but embrace intentionally every day. As we continue this new normal, let this experience of feeling separated from our team be a driving force of why we should intentionally look to include, connect and value each of our team members.

Are you looking to increase Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in your workplace? Connect with one of our experts and learn how you can create a plan to ensure that your employees don’t have to experience a feeling of separation, but experiences an environment that truly recognizes and appreciate who they are.