Building a Culture of Trust: Embracing Inclusion and Privacy in the Workplace

What contributes to a culture of trust, and what are the best ways to build trust with employees?

While there are many actions employers can take to build an inclusive culture with employees, people with disabilities are often overlooked. People with disabilities are in a very vulnerable situation when it comes to trusting employers with their personal information, and many are hesitant to disclose their disabilities at work due to fear of discrimination.?

What actions can employers take to build trust amongst people with disabilities and encourage self-disclosure?

1. Start by addressing company culture. How is disability talked about in your organization??Without a clear understanding of inclusivity and workplace stigma towards people with disabilities, little progress or change will be seen, regardless of leadership support and diversity efforts. Meaningful change starts with recognizing and understanding how biases influence company policies and procedures.
2. Provide disability inclusion training. By raising awareness and offering education about disability, company leaders can begin to take the necessary steps to transform the workplace in impactful ways and employees can gain an understanding and begin to address their own implicit biases towards people with disabilities.
3. Reevaluate hiring practices. Outdated or inaccessible application and interview processes say a lot about how a company will treat people with disabilities as employees. If they don't feel seen during those processes, people with disabilities may choose not to disclose their disabilities at all. Create an environment where people with disabilities feel comfortable being open about their disabilities by including disability in a company diversity statement, ensuring applications are accessible, offering accommodations during the interview process, and training hiring managers and interview teams.
4. Prioritize disability representation. Encouraging employees to be open with self-disclosure requires a workplace culture that embraces diversity and reflects people with disabilities. A powerful way to demonstrate this inclusivity is by actively hiring individuals with disabilities.
5. Ensure data security. It's important to remember that self-disclosure is a very personal choice for many people with disabilities. When organizations prioritize disability inclusion, individuals may feel more comfortable self-disclosing. Organizations must respect the trust placed in them and establish a process that protects privacy. Establish a system for self-disclosure that safeguards the privacy of individuals with disabilities and ensures that employees understand that when choosing to self-disclose, their information will be kept confidential.

Learn more about building a culture of trust for people with disabilities in our Disability Webinar.?

Register for our upcoming Webinar on September 17, 2024 | at 12:00 PM EST.

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