Picture this: an employee walks into the office on Monday morning, genuinely excited about their day. They know their voice matters in every meeting, their unique perspective adds value, and their colleagues see them as an essential part of the team’s success. That’s the power of effective belonging at work.
Belonging is a top priority for HR, and yet, many companies struggle to foster authentic, meaningful relationships between employees. This article explains how HR leaders can support employees of every background and create a culture of belonging in the workplace.
What is Belonging in the Workplace?
There’s more to workplace belonging than accepting employees’ differences. In an ideal state, employees should feel valued, seen, and integral to their teams’ success.
For employees, belonging in the workplace means feeling psychologically safe to express their authentic selves and share ideas without fear of judgment. For employers, fostering workplace belonging means creating an environment where employees don’t just show up but rather engage fully, bring their best ideas forward, and invest in collective success.
Belonging has several important impacts on organizational growth, far beyond HR’s goal to make employees feel welcome. 93% of HR executives agree that “a sense of belonging at work drives overall organizational performance, increases job performance, [and] reduces turnover risk,” among other benefits (Forbes).
Importance of Belonging at Work
Want to make a business case for belonging in the workplace? Show your CEO exactly how belonging and inclusion impact the bottom line.
Job performance
According to the Harvard Business Review, high belonging is linked to a 56% increase in job performance. Employees are also 167% more likely to recommend their employers to other job candidates, which empowers HR to meet recruiting goals more easily. The same study found that team members who feel they belong get 2x the raises and 18x more promotions than other workers. This has huge implications for both their careers and your company’s succession plan.
Employee Retention
The same data shows that belonging is a powerful retention tool. Organizations with strong cultures of belonging experience 50% lower turnover rates, saving substantial time and effort for recruiters, hiring managers, and other team members.
Company Innovation
Beyond retention, belonging drives innovation. When employees feel safe to share their unique perspectives, organizations can keep up with the changing times. A company-wide sense of belonging fosters broader thinking, creative problem-solving, and the kind of risk-taking that leads to new revenue streams.
Elements of Belonging in the Workplace
Creating a sense of belonging in the workplace starts with a few core principles. HR leaders should strive to foster:
- Psychological Safety: Employees feel secure enough to voice opinions, ask questions, admit mistakes, and take calculated risks without fear of punishment or embarrassment.
- Supportive Leadership: Leaders actively listen, seek a wide variety of perspectives, acknowledge their own biases, and make decisions that consider all team members.
- Meaningful Connection: Employees have ample opportunities to learn about each other’s experiences, share personal insights, and build relationships based on mutual respect.
- Employee Recognition: Every employee understands how their work supports larger organizational goals and receives acknowledgment for their unique contributions.
- Growth Opportunities: Team members have consistent, equitable access to learning opportunities, mentorship, stretch assignments, and career development programs.
- Authentic Representation: Employees see people who share their background or have walked similar paths in leadership positions throughout the organization.
Examples of Belonging at Work
Belonging might seem like a lofty idea, but it shows up in concrete ways during the workday. Here’s what it looks like in practice:
Having Inclusive Meetings
Inclusive meeting practices mean all voices get heard. Meeting facilitators rotate speaking opportunities, use anonymous idea submission tools, and implement “no interruption” policies during presentations. A junior team member’s suggestion receives the same consideration as a senior leader’s input.
Recognizing Diverse Perspectives
Celebration of diverse perspectives means that leaders recognize and value different work styles. Some employees excel in collaborative brainstorming, while others contribute best through written reflection. Managers should cultivate a culture of feedback that invites employees to share ideas through various communication methods. For example, invite people to email you their ideas if they’d rather not present at a meeting. When you pose a question to the group, encourage people to think about it and respond later, if they don’t have an immediate answer.
Providing Flexible Accommodations
Flexible accommodations go beyond one-size-fits-all policies to make people of every demographic feel welcome. For example, you could offer flexible work arrangements for parents, religious observance accommodations, and accessibility modifications. Above all, leaders should avoid overly rigid policies and instead acknowledge that employees have unique work styles.
How To Create a Sense of Belonging at Work
Building belonging requires systematic, intentional effort across departments. Use these actionable steps to get started:
Step 1: Assess Your Current Culture
Start with an honest evaluation of your organization. Conduct anonymous surveys asking workers about their levels of engagement, psychological safety, and overall satisfaction with the employee experience. Review demographic data across departments and leadership levels. This baseline assessment should reveal gaps and guide your strategy.
Step 2: Secure Executive Buy-in
Belonging initiatives rely on visible, sustained support from company leaders. Use data and case studies to educate executives about the business impact of belonging. Establish key performance indicators for managers that reflect your goals and foster accountability. For example, department heads might have “Achieve a 10% increase in employee belonging scores on bi-annual survey” as a KPI.
Step 3: Implement Inclusive Hiring Practices
Review your recruiting processes to ensure they attract qualified candidates of every demographic. Analyze your job descriptions to avoid implicit bias and expand your recruiting channels to reach underrepresented groups. Inclusive recruiting appeals to people of every demographic, especially the next generation of workers. Data from an EY survey shows that 73% of Gen Z look for employers who prioritize belonging and inclusion, compared to 68% of Millennials and 63% of the overall population.
Step 4: Train Managers to Foster Belonging
Equip people managers with the soft skills they need to support their unique teams. Provide training on unconscious bias, active listening, giving feedback, and facilitating difficult conversations.
Step 5: Create Psychological Safety
Establish norms that make it safe for employees to take risks and share ideas. Leaders can encourage questions in meetings, celebrate productive failures as learning opportunities, and ensure that speaking up about problems leads to rewards, not punishment.
Creating a Culture of Belonging at Work
While a sense of belonging focuses on individual employee experiences, a culture of belonging refers to a larger environment in which those positive experiences are the norm. Culture encompasses the shared values, behaviors, and systems that consistently reinforce belonging for everyone.
In a culture of belonging, inclusive practices are embedded in both daily workflows and the company’s long-term strategy. They happen naturally because they’re “how things work here” rather than requiring constant conscious effort. Once you build a sustainable culture of belonging, these changes will persist through leadership transitions, organizational growth, and business challenges.
How to Build a Culture of Belonging in the Workplace
When you’re ready to build a culture of belonging, you may need to make systemic changes. Use these action items to get started:
- Align HR’s cultural goals with the larger business strategy. Include specific initiatives in your strategic plan and budget for the next fiscal year. Set measurable goals you can effectively track with HR metrics to demonstrate ROI.
- Redesign performance evaluations to reward inclusive behaviors. Create job descriptions that include relevant competencies, update performance review criteria to assess inclusive leadership skills, and implement advancement requirements that demonstrate commitment to a culture of belonging.
- Update company policies to remove barriers. Review promotion processes for bias, establish pay transparency, and offer flexible work arrangements that accommodate diverse needs.
How to Promote Belonging at Work: 4 Tips
Establishing a baseline culture of belonging is a great start—but it’s not the whole story. HR should also use these strategies to promote belonging over time.
1. Communicate Success Stories
Share concrete examples of how inclusive practices solve business problems. For example, you could highlight employees of various demographics or publicly recognize teams that bust silos and collaborate across skill sets.
2. Measure and Share Progress
Maintain accountability through transparent progress sharing. Publish belonging metrics in company communications, celebrate high engagement scores, and honestly discuss the need for improvement. This transparency builds trust and demonstrates your company’s commitment to belonging.
3. Designate Culture Champions
Select people throughout the organization—not just in HR—to advocate for belonging. Coach them to facilitate difficult conversations, support colleagues, and help identify systemic barriers to belonging.
If they have capacity, these team members can also take on fun projects like maintaining a calendar of multicultural holidays. Culture champions amplify HR’s efforts across all levels and departments, making systemic change more attainable.
4. ERGs
Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) are one of the most effective ways to promote belonging at work. ERGs encourage team members to build community around their shared identities and interests, regardless of their roles within the company. Successful ERGs provide a space for employees to connect with each other and brainstorm initiatives that could ultimately promote belonging. HR leaders should regularly meet with ERG members to learn about their ideas and identify opportunities for collaboration.
How Paycor Helps Create Belonging in the Workplace
Creating belonging requires data-driven insights and systematic implementation. Paycor’s comprehensive HCM platform gives HR leaders the technological foundation they need to foster a sense of belonging that drives business results.
Paycor Pulse Surveys enable HR to collect regular, anonymous feedback about belonging and inclusion. Real-time dashboards empower leaders to identify gaps quickly and track improvement over time.
Learning Paths deliver targeted training on inclusive leadership, unconscious bias, and cultural competency. Managers receive personalized recommendations, ensuring they’ll develop the most relevant and pressing skills.
Smart Sourcing and recruiting software reduce bias in talent acquisition by standardizing job descriptions, expanding candidate reach, and tracking key metrics throughout the hiring process.
Create a Culture of Belonging at Work with Paycor
Ready to transform your workplace culture? Paycor’s HCM software empowers leaders to build and sustain a culture of belonging across the entire organization. From Pulse surveys that capture real employee sentiment to learning paths that develop inclusive leaders, our integrated solutions help you create lasting culture change that drives business results.
Request a guided product tour to learn more!
Belonging at Work FAQs
Still have questions about belonging in the workplace? Read on.
Is my organization fostering a sense of belonging at work?
If your company is successfully fostering a sense of belonging, you’ll see some concrete indications. For example, do employees freely share their perspectives? How do turnover rates compare across demographic groups? Do you receive positive feedback about psychological safety in employee surveys? Assess belonging through anonymous pulse surveys, focus groups, and participation rates in voluntary programs. If these metrics trend positive, you’re on the right track.
What drives belonging at work?
Belonging stems from psychological safety, inclusive leadership behaviors, and meaningful connections between colleagues. Leaders can also drive belonging by formally recognizing each employee’s wins, providing equitable access to career development opportunities, and designing inclusive succession plans.
How do you demonstrate belonging in the workplace?
Demonstrating belonging in the workplace requires consistency across all organizational levels. Company leaders should seek diverse perspectives and acknowledge their own biases. Managers and individual contributors can demonstrate belonging by listening actively and speaking up against exclusionary behavior. Organizations demonstrate belonging through transparent processes and equitable policies.
What are the five pillars of belonging in the workplace?
The five pillars of belonging are psychological safety, meaningful connection, recognition and value, inclusive leadership, and growth opportunities. When HR can achieve all five, employees feel secure, valued, and integral to organizational success.
How do I use both belonging and inclusion at work?
Inclusion and belonging are complementary goals. In an inclusive culture, everyone has access to opportunities and is encouraged to participate in decision-making. Belonging builds on inclusion by strengthening emotional connections and fostering psychological safety.