Brokering impactful business change through a culture of belonging

In this, now on-demand session, Dr. Natalie Baumgartner, Chief Workforce Scientist at Achievers, discusses the five pillars of belonging and how you can improve existing DE&I and employee experience programs to develop belonging inside your organization.

Watch this session on-demand to:

• Uncover key findings from this important and timely research, about the power and impact of belonging on employee engagement.
• Hear about the core trends surrounding the experience of connection, security, and community in our world’s of work, after they’ve been totally disrupted.
• Find out what the power of belonging means for business outcomes.
• Discover tangible, weighty data for making a strong case for creating a culture of belonging in your organization.

What is belonging, why does it matter, and how can you create a culture of belonging at work?

Belonging is an experience of connection, security, and community – it’s about feeling at home in one’s place, withour reservation.

Achievers Workforce Institute’s Definition of Belonging

Belonging ranked as the top topic on the Deloitte 2020 Global Human Capital Trends survey, with 79% of survey respondents saying that fostering a sense of belonging in the workforce was important to their organization’s success in the next 12-18 months, and 93% agreed that a sense of belonging drives organizational performance.  As Deloitte commented at the time of the report’s release, “belonging – including the sense of feeling respected and treated fairly – has been an organizational priority for some time. Promoting respect and fairness for all is a large part of many organizations’ diversity and inclusion efforts, and those efforts, when effective, pay off.”

But what is belonging at work and how can HR leaders cultivate a culture of belonging that positively impacts your employees? That’s what Achievers have answered in its latest research report: the 2021 Culture Report on Belonging at Work.

The report outlines the findings from the Achievers Workforce Institute‘s own research, where it surveyed 3500 global respondents in June 2021. In this webinar session, Dr. Natalie Baumgartner, Chief Workforce Scientist at Achievers discussed the findings from the research, providing HR leaders with a clear roadmap for cultivating a culture of belonging within an organization, and demonstrated the compelling data for enabling leaders to present a strong business case for taking action around their employees’ sense of belonging.

Scientific research into the critical business factor of belonging

In an era dominated by remote and hybrid work, employers must address belonging more than ever before.

The impact of belonging reaches across the organization, and with so many employees working distantly, ensuring that employees feel recognized and connected with your organization is crucial. An authentic culture of belongings will improve employee engagement and productivity, leading to reduced attrition and a more resilient workforce.

The Achievers research “confirmed that employees experience a deep and compelling sense of belonging when they feel: welcomed, known, included, supported, and connected – the pillars of the AWI Belonging Model.” Achievers established that all 5 of these pillars “positively and significantly correlate with a strong sense of belonging and higher engagement.”

Achievers Workforce Institute Belonging Model

Key Findings:

• People with a strong sense of belonging are 2x  more likely to be engaged in their role and 2x more likely to be productive, resilient, committed, satisfied, and enthusiastic.
• Those recognized in the past week are almost 2x as likely to have a strong sense of belonging compared to average, while just 11% of those never recognized feel a strong sense of belonging.
• People who were warmly welcomed and invited to be part of the community are 2.1x more likely to feel a sense of belonging.
• People who feel known as an individual are 2x more likely to feel a sense of belonging.
• People who feel valued and accepted at work are 2.1x more likely to feel a sense of belonging.
• People with a supportive manager are 2.2x more likely to feel a sense of belonging.
• People who say their company supports them in building meaningful relationships at work are 2.4x more likely to feel a sense of belonging.

Recommendations

In this webinar session, Natalie provides 4 key takeaways that will set HR leaders and organizations at large on the path to instilling a greater sense of belonging throughout their workforce. Through the Achievers Workforce Institute’s 5 pillars, leaders are provided with a clear framework for driving successful employee experience, and a toolkit to ensure these powerful topics get integrated into employees’ every day.

• Define and measure: Start measuring belonging in your pulse or engagement surveys so you have a yardstick to track progress.
• Align: Every HR tool and resource should fit into one of the 5 pillars, so you know you’re driving belonging.
• Embrace difference: Ensure your DE&I efforts are driving towards building a sense of belonging.
• Recognize: Create a culture of recognition to ensure people feel seen, valued, and respected. The right recognition platform can drive higher recognition frequency and quality.

The Workforce Institute is the research and insights arm of Achievers. It provides thought leadership based on science, data, and research. Download its Culture Report on Belonging at Work today to delve deeper into how HR leaders can determine how to improve their current strategies, what benefits better belonging will bring their employees, and how technology fits into the equation, or watch our on-demand session with Natalie, today.