Tips for Creating a More Inclusive Work Environment

Inclusion focuses on embracing and celebrating the differences and similarities between people. In the workforce, acknowledging these differences helps staff feel accepted and valued for who they are. This helps increase innovation, improve decision-making, and elevate revenue.

Implement these tips to promote inclusion in your work environment.

Connect with Employees at All Levels

Form personal relationships with staff throughout the organization. Getting to know who they are and what matters to them encourages them to open up. Your coworkers should feel they can talk with you and not be judged. Forming authentic relationships is one way to lead by example.

Celebrate Coworkers’ Traditions

Ask staff throughout the company to share their traditions with everyone. Request that they provide some background on the tradition and why it is so special. Include small holiday celebrations at the appropriate time of year as well. You may want to create a shared calendar for everyone to add festivities too. You might wish the staff a good Hanukkah, Chinese New Year, Kwanzaa, or Cinco de Mayo.

Talk with Your Team

Ask your team members about their experiences with inclusion. Find out what they feel is working within your organization and specific changes they would like to see. Make this part of ongoing public or private conversations that can take place at any time. Request that every team has similar conversations as well. Regularly share your findings with leadership to improve inclusion throughout the organization.

Hold Bias Training

Train employees at all levels to gain awareness and understanding of unconscious biases and the effect they can have on decision-making. Everyone has preferences in favor of or against certain individuals, groups, or things. This can result in assumptions or judgments about others that we are unaware of making. As a result, we may not consider the experiences, perspectives, and ideas that differ from ours. This affects who we choose to work with, ask for advice, and are involved in making decisions. Being consciously aware of our own biases and patterns of thinking helps us overcome them.

Create an Inclusive Work Environment

Creating a more inclusive workplace is beneficial for everyone. Staff at all levels tend to be more engaged, productive, and collaborative. This results in greater innovation, retention, and revenue.

When you need to add top talent to your accounting and finance team, reach out to Casey Accounting & Finance Resources. Find out more today.

Communication Skills You Should Have to Help Improve Company Culture

Strengthening communication skills in your organization provides a wealth of benefits. Among them are improved performance, stronger engagement, more cohesive teams, and innovative ideas. Because active listening and sharing are vital parts of your company’s success, they need to be embedded in your culture.

Promote these communication skills throughout your organization to enhance your culture.  

Inform Employees of Company News

Ensure that employees at every level find out company news at the same time. This shows that staff at all levels are valued and respected members of the organization. Include what the next steps are and how the news may impact specific departments or employees. Allow time to answer questions and provide support during transitions.

Clarify Expectations

Share with team members what your standards and expectations are. This is especially important if your staff is working remotely. For instance, let them know which individual and team projects should be worked on at a given time. Also, regularly check in to discuss timelines, issues, feedback, next steps, and questions. This helps keep everyone on the same page.

Recognize Employee Accomplishments

Publicly and privately, thank team members for their efforts and achievements. For instance, mention during individual and team meetings specific examples of how they positively impacted the company. Also, give your staff hand-written thank-you notes expressing appreciation for their hard work and results.

Check for Non-Verbal Cues

In addition to body language, look for non-verbal cues that may signal miscommunication, defensiveness, or conflict. This is especially important for remote employees who do not benefit from the in-person interactions of working onsite. For instance, check employee emails and messages for signs of distress, frustration, or burnout. Red flags include messages sent late at night, frequent errors, and a curt tone. Also, speak privately with employees who exhibit excessive absenteeism, non-participation in meetings, and other signs of disengagement. Work to better understand the situation and offer support.

Maintain Personal Connections

Stay in regular contact with employees, colleagues, and coworkers. For instance, have conversations about personal news and outside stressors that may be affecting their work. Also, check to see how your team is doing with their well-being and job satisfaction. Additionally, celebrate birthdays, work anniversaries, and special life events.

Make Open Communication Part of Your Culture

Open communication needs to be prioritized in your company culture to maximize business success. The more staff members at all levels actively listen, share ideas, and provide support for each other, the more cohesive your workforce will be. This results in greater goal attainment long into the future.

When you are in the market to add skilled accounting and finance professionals to your organization, get in touch with Casey Accounting & Finance Resources. Find out more today.

Typical Salary Increases Won’t Keep Pace With Inflation

The Society for Human Resource Management recently posted a very detailed article on 2022 salary increases versus inflation rates. The author, Stephen Miller, CEBS, is SHRM’s Online Manager/Editor, Compensation & Benefits. Below is a summary of the article. Read the entire article here.

Companies continue to face a perfect storm of economic concerns – the pandemic, inflation, unrest across other nations, and other uncertainties – that have made it a challenge for employers to manage budgets. When COVID-19 hit, budgets were often slashed, and salaries were frozen. As the U.S. economy continues to recover, employers are finding it increasingly difficult to fill positions with salaries that, at the very least, will keep pace with the inflation rate.

According to venerable organizations such as The Conference Board, Independent Institute, ADP Research Institute, Willis Towers Watson (WTW), PayScale, WorldatWork, Empsight, and Salary.com, there is agreement that the usual 3 percent salary increase will hold true in 2022, with a small percentage of organizations planning to give 4-5 percent increases. According to Salary.com, these planned increases will be offered across all job categories and to hourly employees up to executive-level employees.

“This is the first sign of a notable shift in salary budget increases in 10 years, particularly for hourly employees who have long experienced stagnant pay,” said Chris Fusco, senior vice president of compensation at Salary.com, a provider of compensation data and analytics. “Minimum wage legislation sweeping the country is a big factor. But the re-emergence of lower-level workers executing their market power is undeniable. Aging Baby Boomers and pandemic-related worker shortages have created this scenario where we have more jobs than we have people willing, or able, to work.”

So, what’s the rub? Let’s look at the numbers.

  • The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported:
    • A year-over-year inflation rate of 5.4 percent
    • Consumer prices rose 5.3 percent
  • The Department of Labor (DOL) reported:
    • The energy index in August 2021 rose 25 percent over the last 12 months
    • The food index increased 3.7 percent over the last 12 months.

We don’t need to be a mathematician to figure out that these numbers may just wipe out any real gains in employment compensation. Couple that with salary freezes or decreases in 2020, and employees could be even further behind. This weakens consumer spending and could also result in higher turnover rates.

Is There Any Positive News?

PayScale, a compensation data, and software firm, reports that wages are rising particularly fast for occupations such as food services (up 4.1 percent), transportation (up 4 percent), and retail (up 3.9 percent.

For employees looking for a new opportunity, ADP Research Institute reports that most workers in the U.S. will get an average of a 5.8 percent raise by changing jobs. A bit of a good news/bad news scenario. Employers will have to weigh the balance between losing a valued employee over a few percentage points just to hire and train someone new at a higher salary.

“Companies are between a rock and a hard place when it comes to compensation planning,” said Catherine Hartmann, North America Rewards practice leader at WTW. “On one hand, employers need to continue effectively managing fixed costs as they rebound from the pandemic. On the other hand, companies recognize they need to boost compensation with sign-on, referral, and retention bonuses; skill premiums; midyear adjustments; or pay raises.”

Casey Accounting & Finance Resources produces a salary survey two times a year. Reach out to our team to help recruit suitable candidates and determine the best compensation offers for your current employees and job applicants.