Three ways to enhance inclusive communications in the workplace

We often talk about EDI, DEI, and DEIB – whichever acronym you prefer – and at the core of these concepts lies inclusion. Inclusion, in this context, involves meeting the needs of underrepresented groups, creating a positive culture of allyship, and viewing policies through the lens of a diverse range of individuals. But are you following best practices for inclusive communications in the workplace?

Let’s consider how your workforce could be experiencing exclusion from your communications.

Digital exclusion

The Communications and Digital Committee recently reported that we have reached a crisis point in digital exclusion. While many of us have embraced digital technology, there is still a gap in access and capability to use digital tools.

“7m households have no broadband or mobile internet access. 1m households have cut back or cancelled their internet packages in the last year due to affordability issues.”

As internal communications departments try to reach frontline workers and invest in more technology like employee apps, we still need to consider those this may exclude. In many workplaces, there will be employees who can’t use or don’t have access to digital communications.

“Over 4m people are unable to complete a single basic task online and 5m workers will be acutely under-skilled in basic digital skills by 2030”

Tip: Don’t ditch your traditional internal comms channels like posters, noticeboards, or printed updates. While they might not be your most effective or measurable channels, and budgets are tight, they are a vital part of an inclusive communications approach.

Literacy exclusion

In England, it’s estimated that 7.1 million adults can be described as having ‘very poor literacy skills’, with 14.9% of adults having literacy levels at or below the expected reading age of 9-11-year-olds. This means that they may not be able to read bus timetables, understand their pay slip or identify bias in the media. UK Government advice is to write for a maximum reading age of 9, even when writing for a specialist audience.

In the USA, according to the Department of Education, 54% of adults aged 16-74 years old (about 130 million people) lack proficiency in literacy, reading below the equivalent of a sixth-grade level (11-12 years old).

It’s worth considering how often communications are deployed that contain company jargon, abbreviations and complex sentences that may be difficult for those with low literacy skills to access.

Tip: Try using AI tools, like Hemingway App, to help make your communications clearer and more inclusive.

Time exclusion

We’re all busy, and your workforce is no different. The Internal Communications Index for 2023 showed that 7 in 10 employees spend just 15 mins per day reading/viewing updates from their employers, whilst 25% of employees said they had ‘hardly any time at all’ to engage in internal communications.

What can we learn from this? Employees are overwhelmed with communication. As internal communication professionals, our role is to simplify, curate and guide the right comms to the right audiences at the right time, through the right channel. A ‘catch all’ approach, with repeating messages in multiple channels and multiple times, only adds to the noise and excludes employees from key information through lack of time.

Tip: Focus comms efforts on effectiveness, from personalising messages for appropriate audiences to choosing the right channel and timing. Leveraging the mantra ‘do it well do it once’ may prevent repetitive comms and overwhelming your workforce.

If you’re looking for expert guidance in shaping an inclusive internal communications strategy tailored to your business’s unique workforce, we’re here to help.