Employee experience has drastically changed since the pandemic, people now are more thoughtful about what and how they communicate in the workplace. This article was written by Dr. Share Leann Pereira and published by Emtrain. However as a consulting agency that focuses on DEIB training and development, we found this article to be extremely critical and important on what companies should prioritize this year and why.

According to research led by Emtrain, in 2022 people were:

* 32% less likely to mask inappropriate comments as humor
* 23% more likely to avid interpersonal conflict stemming from different social and political views
* 14% less likely to experience tension due to differences in social opinion than in prior years

They were also experiencing more respectful workplaces overall, with a 17% increase in employees that say they feel respected at work.

In 2023 we expect for this trend to continue as the greater social and political climate remains difficult. As a result, employers will continue to step up and launch programs aimed at creating a sense of collective social responsibility and well-being. This year will also be imperative for employees and leaders to receive training in DEIB, which will lead to the development of better and more inclusive communication skills.

People are speaking up more when it’s warranted
In 2022, employees were 56% more likely to address questionable remarks made by their coworkers than ignore them. They also experienced between a 12% and 35% increase in our measures of psychological safety, which include questions like “My organization has created an environment where I feel safe speaking up”, “I feel I believe my management would minimize or be dismissive of a complaint that was raised”, and “I believe others would criticize me for raising a concern or incident.”

A safe and functional work environment can come from allowing all individuals to speak up without fear when necessary. Given the competition for talent and the ever-increasing access to data about employee experience (e.g., Glassdoor), we are hopeful–and expect–that this trend will continue.

What we have seen since 2020 is that business are eager to track and link diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging metrics with business productivity metrics.

In 2023, we expect to see an increase in demand for DEIB metrics and skill-building training for employees at all levels and across all industries. Skill-building is not only essential for a successful and productive team but dives much deeper into specific skills that teach employees how to, for example, mitigate bias, help a colleague during a bad day, be an upstanding employee, use empathy in communication, and more. Combining DEIB metrics with business productivity metrics can be a powerful and impactful tool to convince your stakeholders to invest further in your people and create change. 

NOTA Inclusion focuses in both, measuring metrics but also in producing and introducing DEIB training into organizations. Head to our home page to get fast-tracked into what services your organization may be needing this year.

This blog post was co-written by Emtrain’s Senior Data Analyst, Colin Sorenson and Senior Director of Organizational Psychology, Dr. Leann Pereira.