Community Business

Considerable attention is being given to many aspects of the diversity and inclusion agenda, including gender, generations, disability and even sexual orientation and gender identity. However, few companies to date have broached the evidently ‘taboo’ subject of religion. Yet religion is such a central part of identity, particularly in markets in Asia, most notably India and Singapore, that it could be argued that any discussion regarding diversity and inclusion in the workplace that does not reference religion, is incomplete.

Organisations may understandably be nervous when openly tackling the sensitive issues that are often associated with this topic. However, not talking about them does not mean they do not exist, nor that their impact is insignificant. Given the strong affiliations that religious identity can create, few can deny that bias and discrimination on the grounds of religion exists in organisations, often negatively impacting organisational productivity, team cohesiveness and even individual employee wellbeing.

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The pandemic brought mental health challenges to everybody's doorstep. We've known that our mental health is critical to our overall wellbeing for a long time, even before the pandemic, with the WHO estimating that depression affects about 300 million people worldwide. This time with extended lockdowns, quarantine and travel restrictions establishing an entirely new way of living, we have all experienced poor mental health at some point or throughout.

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Organisations with an international presence often talk about their ‘global’ approach to diversity and inclusion (D&I) and how they ensure that programmes are relevant wherever they are implemented. However, despite great efforts, a common source of frustration from individuals tasked to drive D&I in Asia is the superficial nature of these localisation attempts.

One of the business drivers for diversity and inclusion is its capacity to raise an organisation’s competitive advantage, particularly in terms of enhancing creativity and innovation. The rationale is clear- to create a diverse workforce where people are able to express themselves, to contribute, challenge, collaborate, co-create and most importantly to innovate. This highlights the need for two ingredients crucial to enabling diversity of thought: diverse people and an inclusive environment.

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In January of 2021, Community Business launched its pilot 9-month LGBT+ Mentoring Programme with a cohort of 42 participants including 21 Mentee and Mentor pairs. The programme consists of monthly professional development sessions, monthly check-ins between Mentees and Mentors and group networking sessions. -- Read More: bit.ly/3yVILFW

Last year, Community Business published an IMPACTxAsia blog piece on emotional intelligence as an essential skill for creating a diverse and inclusive workplace. In that piece, I argued that “emotional intelligence will work as a lubricant to help people work together smoothly, not only facilitating the better management of feelings, but also an acute perception and acknowledgement of other’s feelings.” This speaks to the critical role of emotional intelligence in managing emotions at the personal level, as well as at an interpersonal level, such as in a team setting. What needs further exploration is how emotional intelligence helps team members of diverse backgrounds, and/or thinking styles, work together. In this follow-up piece, I propose that emotional intelligence plays a critical role in building psychological safety and enhancing inclusivity within a team.  

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Community Business works with organisations to help them better reach their goals around responsible and inclusive practices. A portion of that, when it comes to the LGBT+ programmes, includes advocating for and raising the voices of various community members and making sure they can access an equitable working life. Sometimes this means being a first stop for questions, so that when allies meet with another member of the community, they already have a base line understanding of appropriate behaviours and how to effectively support the community. By creating a safe space for allies to be to ask questions, the hope is that they come away with a deeper understanding of the LGBT+ community and may have the tools to avoid common mistakes.

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At every stage of their personal (and therefore working) lives, women face changes and challenges that are unique to them and poorly understood or catered for by men and - more often than not - male-dominated or designed workplaces. Across the globe, but particularly in Asia, these topics are rarely discussed and seen as shameful or taboo to be tackled in an open forum. This silence, misunderstanding and lack of resources to cater to a female workforce is contributing to the leaking pipeline of female talent and posing an additional barrier to women’s advancement in the workplace. While there have been some moves on the global stage to engage with the conversation about women’s health and the specific challenges that they face, more could be done to bring these topics to Asia and localise the discussion to service our workplaces and the nuances that women in our key markets face.

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