Accelerating and Embracing Inclusion in Your Organization

November 14, 2018

We sat down with John Townsley, VP of Human Resources at Avant Healthcare Professionals, and discussed the importance of embracing diversity and inclusion in the healthcare industry.

Having a diverse workforce is necessary, but it’s not enough.

“Without thoughtful, deliberate discussion and action to cultivate an inclusive environment, all the resources spent on recruiting and training a diverse workforce are wasted. As a result, the employees, recruited and hired, will leave.”

Embracing diversity and inclusion with your nursing workforce not only promotes a positive and supportive environment but also enhances patient care, strengthens employee morale, and drives innovation. At Avant Healthcare Professionals, we recognize the importance of building diverse and inclusive teams to provide the highest quality of care. As many companies focus on diverse recruiting plans, they often do not plan beyond the recruitment phase. Increasing nursing workforce diversity is great, but what's the next plan of action to foster that diversity within an organization? This is the question that healthcare organizations need to focus on.
“Organizations think that simply hiring diverse professionals promotes and celebrates cultural differences, but that’s not the case,” Townsley said. “Diversity is what you have. Inclusion is what you do.”

Understanding the Benefits of Inclusion in Healthcare

Diversity in nursing is a necessity as it has so many benefits to an organization as well as employees. Inclusion involves bringing together and beneficially harnessing diverse forces and resources. People often attribute diversity to someone’s gender, race, or sexual orientation, but diversity also includes a person’s way of thinking and intellectual background. For example, people with different opinions, backgrounds, religious beliefs, political beliefs, heritage, and life experiences all fall under diversity. 

The benefits of inclusion in healthcare extend beyond patient care and positively impact the nursing workforce. Embracing diversity and inclusion fosters a supportive and empowering work environment, enhancing employee satisfaction and reducing turnover rates. When healthcare professionals feel valued and included, they are more likely to be motivated and committed to their roles, leading to increased productivity and higher levels of job satisfaction. Additionally, an inclusive workplace cultivates a culture of creativity and innovation, where diverse perspectives merge to solve complex healthcare challenges. By promoting equal opportunities for all employees to thrive, healthcare organizations can attract top talent from various backgrounds, enhancing their reputation and giving them a competitive edge in the industry. Ultimately, embracing inclusion in healthcare is a win-win situation, benefiting patients and the healthcare professionals dedicated to providing the best possible care.

Critical Strategies for Accelerating Inclusion in Your Organization:

• Leadership Commitment: A firm commitment from the nursing leadership team is essential to drive inclusive practices throughout the organization. Leaders should champion diversity, set clear goals, and hold themselves accountable for progress.
• Diverse Hiring Practices: Partnering with Avant Healthcare Professionals will help your healthcare organization develop inclusive hiring processes as you bring candidates from various backgrounds who are able to serve diverse patient populations. 
• Inclusive Training and Education: Provide ongoing training and education on unconscious bias, cultural competence, and inclusive communication for all employees to create a more inclusive culture.
• Employee Resource Groups (ERGs): Establish ERGs to provide a platform for employees with similar backgrounds or interests to connect, share experiences, and contribute to a more inclusive work environment.
• Employee Feedback and Listening: Create channels for employees to provide feedback anonymously, openly express concerns, and offer suggestions to enhance inclusion efforts. 

Related story: Successfully Integrating International Nurses into Your Staff

For healthcare providers to experience the key benefits of a diverse workforce, they must embrace inclusivity. Inclusion puts the concept and practice of diversity into action by creating an environment of involvement, respect, and connection — where the richness of ideas, backgrounds, and perspectives are harnessed to create business value and overall success. 

Promoting Diversity Within your Nursing Staff

John recommends using inclusive language in job descriptions. “Using descriptive words that welcome will broaden the appeal of your opportunities and let you reach more diverse talent.”

Giving healthcare professionals space and opportunity to share and tell their stories will increase discussion and understanding of people's backgrounds, bring to light conscious and unconscious bias,  and promote diversity around the staff. "A storytelling exercise will boost employee engagement while growing your reach with diverse candidates authentically,” John said. Improving nursing diversity strengthens the ability of your staff to provide excellent patient care and a sense of togetherness with the rest of your staff. 

Nurse leaders can promote inclusion and advocate change with ERGs, as mentioned above. “You have much more diversity power when you can lean on the natural momentum of established groups,” John said. These groups help achieve a culturally diverse workforce in your facility by identifying racial and ethnic minorities among your nursing staff and supporting them. Nurse leaders will benefit from having ERGs as well, and it can help in addressing the generational differences between nurses who are at different levels of their careers.

Create a Diverse Mindset Among Your Staff

Don’t focus too much on diversity as a “strategy” but rather a mindset that should be included within your healthcare workforce. Change starts small, as achieving health equity cannot be immediately prompted. As you work on adding cultural diversity to your workplace, you can then weave it into everything the company does, little by little.

“Make sure you get buy-in from the top,” John said. An organization won’t go far if leaders aren’t sold on the value of diversity.

Let’s stop focusing on “cultural fit” to evaluate candidates. Change that practice in which you assess talent from someone fitting the organization to how someone can add to the organization to create a better culture of diversity. You must always seek the proper skill level with candidates by promoting diversity to broaden and strengthen an organization. 

“Diversity is a powerful tool in any organization. However, it’s how you foster that diversity into inclusion that will help your organization reap the benefits of cultural differences,” said John.

Integrating International Healthcare Professionals

Integrating international nurses into your staff helps create diverse ethnic groups that promote culturally competent care in a varied patient population that enters your healthcare facility. Diversity education and exposure are crucial for patients and nursing staff. Some of the benefits that come from using a diverse nursing workforce in your facility include providing more individualized patient care and improving the quality of work from nursing staff. Certain minority groups might feel comfortable with having a nurse with a different background that might actually be the same as the patient. 

The Bottom Line 

Diversity in the nursing field is a powerful force that drives positive change and elevates the quality of patient care in healthcare organizations. By embracing and accelerating inclusion, your organization can create a nurturing healthcare environment where diverse nursing teams thrive, improving patient outcomes and enhancing healthcare experiences. At Avant Healthcare Professionals, we are committed to assisting you in building a diverse and inclusive nursing team that embodies the values of excellence and compassion in healthcare. Together, let's champion diversity in nursing and pave the way for a more inclusive and equitable healthcare industry.