How To Create a Sense of Belonging in Employees
What does belonging look like in the workplace? How do you know if employees feel valued and included?
And what if they don’t? How do you begin to combat disconnection—especially in the workplace where its effects may result in the loss of top talent? It begins with belonging.
Belonging creates a sense of place for people. It allows them to feel that they can contribute to the community. Belonging makes them feel that they are cared for and that people acknowledge them in that space.
We see belonging happen organically on athletic teams. We know students find their place at Syracuse or other campuses if they align with a particular organization, a particular space, or experience. For employees, belonging is just as important because it indicates that they feel their contributions matter. They give something of their time and their labor because the cause is meaningful to them.
Belonging doesn’t have to follow policy-making. It doesn’t have to be a top-down initiative. There are steps supervisors and employees can take today to foster a greater sense of community in their departments. It sounds Pollyanna-ish, but everyone has the opportunity to cultivate a sense of belonging, every person.
And it’s good for the campus. The cost of replacing an employee can be equal or greater than that employee’s annual salary. Unanticipated separation, recruitment, and recovery expenses strain budgets—especially if the effect is multiplied by the loss of several employees in quick succession.
To create a culture of belonging, begin here:
- Cultivate spaces that instill a sense of belonging. Departments can adopt the athletic team model by making time and space for people to engage in conversation with each other about topics beyond work projects. Students use spaces like multicultural centers, LGBTQ spaces, or women’s centers to recharge, revitalize and create community. This grounds people into an institution very differently than just coming to work does. If the community of like-minded individuals you envision doesn’t exist, create it. Such spaces allow people to exchange ideas, to celebrate, and, sometimes, to vent or cry.
- Extend invitations to overlooked staff. When forming search committees, university-wide working groups, or ad hoc committees, look for people across the campus who want to contribute in that way. Sometimes we fall into a
- Publicly recognize staff contributions. When bestowing awards and recognitions, think broadly about race, ethnicity, and age. When people are noticed for doing work that is meaningful to them, it reinforces the idea that what they’re doing contributes to the whole enterprise of the university.
- Cultivate friendships and foster connections across the university. Plan social events such as mixers to show staff that they’re seen not just as performing a role but as a whole person. The wider our friendships and relationships are across campus, the better equipped we are to build bridges between different individuals and departments.
- Celebrate diversity intentionally. Be intentional about bringing people together in a way that acknowledges the value of the diverse perspectives and experiences people have. Consider attending an event during Disability Pride Week, a campus-wide celebration of disability as identity held each year in April.
- Have hard conversations with those most impacted by decision-making. Oftentimes, leadership has had to make decisions about the student experience, and the students were not involved in that decision. Belonging requires us to bring the marginalized, the historically underrepresented, and the affected to the center of decision-making.
- Hire staff with their belonging in mind. In the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, thinking about the ideal candidate begins with how the job description is written and where it will be advertised. Job requirements and responsibilities are only part of the calculus, though. Does the way a job description is written signal to people that we are a family-friendly environment, or that all genders are encouraged to consider this opportunity? The composition of the search committee matters. If candidates do a campus tour, are we mindful of whether accommodations are needed? In the hiring process, we need to think about hospitality because we’re inviting people into our spaces that, for many candidates, will be their first experience of this university. Candidates are being just as selective about the kinds of institutions they want to work for as we are in selecting the right candidate. Read our inclusive hiring and onboarding guide for more information.
How do we know when our efforts are working? A primary indicator is joy. When staff wear a Syracuse sweatshirt or advise parents of college-age students to encourage their child to apply to Syracuse, they’ve become an ambassador for the University. When alumni come back to work at the University or serve on committees, or attend an event, it indicates that they’ve had a positive experience of belonging.
Joy and happiness are critical indicators of belonging.
Mary Grace Almandrez is Syracuse University’s vice president for Diversity and Inclusion.