Research: A study on belonging from Bain & Company

Inclusive organizations have higher-performing, happier teams. But what’s the secret to creating such organizations? 

“We all know what it feels like to belong somewhere—to be included—and naturally, we want all team members in our organizations to feel that way. We all know intuitively that this is the right way to run an organization; we also know from neuroscience that when people feel excluded, it sets off biological alarms in the brain resembling those associated with physical pain—not something conducive to employee well-being and performance.” 

Bain & Company recently released a report after surveying 10,000 individuals across diverse industries and demographic backgrounds, in seven countries, at all levels of seniority and organizational size—to learn what makes employees feel most included.  

At Kantola, we know just how important it is for employees to feel included, especially when it comes to improving recruitment and retention—which is why we pulled out these takeaways from Bain & Co’s report as we continue to work towards making workplaces better, for everyone.  

• Building inclusive teams improves performance and is the right thing to do, but it also pays off in recruitment, retention, and better teamwork.
• People describe what being included looks and feels like in remarkably similar ways, which means getting employees on the same page—through transparency and training—can show better results across all departments.
• Helping everyone feel included is “deceptively difficult,” but organizations can navigate the complexities by marrying systemic change with more inclusive behaviors and processes.
• “Across all groups, a common thread is the desire to grow and succeed. But organizations can pinpoint additional specific steps that will improve inclusion by looking at their population through the lenses of demographics, geography, and seniority.” Our takeaway? Organizations will need to enhance education, institute accountability, diversify leadership and recruitment and implement steps to screen bias out of existing processes and systems.
• Those who feel “fully included” are much more likely to promote their place of employment to others (+71% vs. –83%, using Bain’s employee Net Promoter Score℠ methodology of calculating the percentage of promoters minus the percentage of detractors) than those who feel “not at all included.” Our takeaway? Simply put: the higher the NPS score, the more likely your employees feel included.