Diversity and inclusion: How to build more inclusive wellbeing strategies
09.01.20
Gethin Nadin
Chief Innovation Officer
When designing a wellbeing strategy, HR teams should bear in mind that BAME and LGBT+ employees may have different needs, so a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach may not work.
I recently wrote on this topic for HR Zone; discussing how employers can create more inclusive wellbeing schemes that account for, and embrace, diversity. As we head into 2020, workplace wellness remains high on the boardroom’s agenda, but we must remember it is also a diversity and inclusion issue:
Mental health
- Mental health issues are around a third higher in LGBTQ+ employees
- More than half of LGBTQ+ people have experienced depression
- There has been a 73% increase in suicide attempts among black US teens in 2019
- Almost half of black and Latinx employees have left a job for mental health reasons
Financial wellbeing
- Financial wellbeing for LGBTQ+ people is even more complicated than for their straight counterparts. From different policies affecting same-sex couples’ joint healthcare, to confusing rights when applying for financial aid, purchasing property or starting a family.
- BAME group are also at risk of lower financial wellbeing, due to longstanding cultural and socio-economic discrimination preventing financial education; and existing discrimination when accessing financial services.
Whatever your wellbeing strategy, remember it is more than just a wellbeing strategy – it has a cultural and social impact on your employees. And to have the most positive effect, it must be inclusive.
Read the full article on HR Zone
Take a look at the full blog over on HR Zone, and hear more about adapting your wellbeing strategy for diversity.
Gethin Nadin
Gethin is an award-winning psychologist who has been helping some of the world’s largest organisations to improve their employee experience and wellbeing for more than two decades. The last 11 years have been spent working as part of the senior leadership team at Benefex where Gethin leads thought leadership as Chief Innovation Officer.
As a frequent writer and speaker on employee experience and employee wellbeing, Gethin has been featured in Forbes, The Guardian, The Sun, The Huffington Post and The Financial Times as well as all major HR, Reward and Pensions publications. Gethin has been listed as one of the world’s top 101 Global Employee Experience Influencers for the last two years running, is listed on the Employee Engagement Powerlist, is one of LinkedIn’s top global contributors and an Inspiring Leader 2021. Gethin is also a regular keynote speaker, ex-Chair of Wellbeing at the UK Government-backed Engage for Success and a Fellow at the RSA.
In 2018, Gethin published his first book - the HR bestseller ‘A World of Good: Lessons From Around the World in Improving the Employee Experience’, which has gone on to inspire HR and Reward teams at some of the world’s best known brands. In early 2022, Gethin co-authored his second book ‘Das Menschliche Büro - The Human(e) Office’ a collaboration between leading academics and workplace professionals from across Europe. In October 2022, Gethin published his “third” book ‘A Work In Progress: Unlocking Wellbeing to Create More Sustainable and Resilient Organisations’ which also became an immediate bestseller.
A World of Good: Lessons from Around the World in Improving the Employee Experience
A Work In Progress: Unlocking Wellbeing to Create More Sustainable and Resilient Organisations