The beginning of the year is an excellent time to apply the spring cleaning mindset to reviewing your organization’s policies and procedures.

The case for a closer look

Policies and procedures do more than help organizations run smoothly – they shape employees’ experience and engagement. Ways of working and systems shape how employees have access, communicate, hire, and more. Outdated or exclusive policies and procedures can actively hinder an organization’s efforts toward a fair and equitable workplace. In addition when organizations adapt to become more accessible and inclusive, they benefit from diversity of talent and perspectives, which positively affects innovation and productivity.

Examining current policies and procedures can offer key insights into the relationship between written policy and workplace climate.

Analysis helps identify opportunities to enhance internal policies or practices so that they can be as inclusive and equitable as possible.

“Cultures that lead to talent staying around don’t arise from mission statements or isolated policies” says the Harvard Business Review. “Rather, they are a function of systems where core practices align, where hiring models, pay structures, and advancement philosophies, whatever they are, reinforce one another. Employees respond to that alignment by demonstrating significantly higher levels of commitment”

Removing Barriers to Access

Because exclusionary or biased policies are the antithesis of a healthy organizational culture, accessibility and inclusion are arguably the most important things to check for when reviewing policies. It’s also important to include people with disabilities in the conversation; input by those with lived experience is the only way to improve representation of marginalized groups. Currently, the U.S. lacks representation of people with disabilities in the workforce. According to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data, the unemployment rate of people with disabilities, who are able to work, is 9%, compared to 4.6% for people without a disability.

Disability covers a broad range of conditions, many of which are not always visible or obvious when interacting with someone, and in general, people’s experiences of the workplace vary widely. Chronic health conditions, post-traumatic stress disorder, dyscalculia, and sensory processing issues are just a few examples of disabilities that policy-makers may not know their colleagues or employees are living with. Leaders must consider accessibility through the lens of all types of conditions that may inhibit it.

Along with evaluating whether policies restrict access to anyone, it’s also important to consider whether policies can help empower the inclusion and participation of all employees.

Recognizing and Revising Past Practices

“Changing policy is one way to turn the page on poor cultural practices of the past”, says Inclusity’s Director of Research and Evaluation, Mitchell Campbell. “We tend to underestimate how sticky culture is: the ideals of an organization’s original leaders are often codified in written policy, which shape the culture long after they depart. Writing new policies helps to interrupt a culture’s self-reinforcement, leading to productive change.”

Frequent review and reconsideration are important as the faces of your organization change. If you hire new employees or have team members moving into new roles, it will be essential to review policies and procedures to ensure fairness and set each member of your organization up for success.

Review & Revise Policies and Practices from a Fair and Inclusive Lens

Inclusity’s Inclusive Policy Toolkit provides users a comprehensive guide (which can be paired with live virtual consultation) to refresh and reframe the elements that make your organization what it is, or what you want it to become.

In particular, we look at processes for hiring (including position descriptions, diversity of interview panels​, etc.), promotion, development, and succession planning. We offer recommendations for creating more inclusive language and procedures, as well as an accessibility audit.

Policy making with inclusion and accessibility in mind ensures that steps in the right direction are not fleeting but are codified for years to come.

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There are distinctly different causes for the impact a great leader makes on their team versus the impact made by a poor leader or an ill-fated promotion. The latter can often be attributed to something called the “Peter Principle”. In their book by the same name, authors Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull argue that “in a hierarchy, employees are promoted based on their success in previous roles until they reach a position where they are no longer competent, at which point they remain stuck.” Organizations tend to promote good front line workers without giving them the supervisory or managerial skills they need to transform from a good worker to a good people manager.   

The problem with Tenure-based Promotion 

According to Gallup, 65% of all supervisors were promoted based on their performance or years of experience in frontline roles. Only 30% were promoted based on their supervisory skills and experience. Gallup also found that only 31% of employees who are supervised by individuals promoted for their experience and performance as front-line workers are fully engaged at work.  

Because we know that there is a direct correlation between engagement and productivity, this reality can negatively affect an organization’s overall success. The importance of employees feeling that their leader is engaged, inclusive and competent truly cannot be overstated. According to Gallup’s Culture Shock, “managers’ own engagement, effectiveness, and natural talents account for at least 70% of the variance in team-level engagement, even while controlling for other factors.” 

The Missing Piece of that Promotion Package 

Organizations that promote from within need to do more than reward good employees with more responsibility, oversight and pay. Employees being promoted to supervisory or managerial roles need training to develop the skills they will need to be successful. Being an effective leader requires more than the knowledge and experience needed to complete the actual work tasks. Part of rewarding good employees with promotions is helping them become effective leaders – which will have a positive impact on their teams’ engagement and productivity.  

Sharpening the Skillset 

What types of skills will help new leaders become successful leaders? At Inclusity, we look at leadership development through the lens of our Inclusive Leadership Framework, which is categorized into areas that include actionable qualities for leaders to harness and develop. Skills that are fundamental to good leadership also happen to be skills that support an inclusive culture.   

This includes skills like:  

• Active listening 

• Assessing skills 

• Valuing feedback 

• Building trust and fostering belonging 

• Creating safety 

• Leveraging diversity 

• Upholding accountability 

…and many more.  Our framework allows leaders to look at their practices and to identify strengths as well as which skills need further development. We build one or more of the framework’s 18 skill objectives into each of our workshops.
Inclusive leadership development clearly builds the awareness and skills of the leader, but the positive impact ripples through the organization. Employees trust and engage more fully, teams collaborate more effectively, and the organization performs better.  

If you’re ready to set your leaders up for success – contact us about tailoring our inclusive leadership training options for your organization. 

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An Investment in Employee Engagement

Many companies will be heading into 2026 unable to offer bonuses or merit increases due to budget constraints. Promotions may not be possible. Hiring freezes will limit leaders’ ability to lighten the load for their employees.

As a result, many leaders have realized that if their ability to pay and promote is hindered, they will need to find other ways to recognize and retain their workforce. Companies are leaning into alternatives that will benefit their people as well as their bottom line. Offering expanded training and re-training to build out employee skillsets is one option. Investing in activities that promote trust-building and feelings of connectedness and inclusion will also be prioritized in 2026.

According to Workplace Intelligence, the challenge for employers boils down to efficiency versus engagement. If companies rely too heavily on hiring freezes, they risk undermining morale – but proactive communication and investments in training and professional development can help keep morale and engagement on an upward trajectory.

As our Founder & CEO Maria White highlighted earlier this year, Inclusity has always believed that creating inclusive workplaces will lead to workforces who are engaged, empowered, and contribute to their fullest potential. Because there’s such a strong link between engagement and productivity, inclusive cultures also improve business results. Research backs that up; Deloitte reported that organizations that establish inclusive cultures are twice as likely to meet or exceed financial targets and eight times more likely to achieve better business outcomes.

Re-Thinking DEI

While we may not see DEI policies explicitly outlined on company websites in 2026, inclusivity has made its way back on to the priority list. “Unsurprisingly,” says The HR Digest, “employees want to feel accepted and welcome into their workplaces and work with employers who can guarantee their physical and psychological safety.”

Leaders would do well to head into 2026 with the goal of reconnecting with their people and working to re-build bridges burned by this year’s challenges. Return-to-Office mandates, increased workloads and feelings of alienation and loneliness have dominated the culture conversation as of late, but it doesn’t have to be that way. While RTO policies may be here to stay, companies that set such policies with empathy and a willingness to listen and adapt to employee’s needs will see better employee retention and engagement than those that remain rigid.

Human + AI Collaboration

The key concept for companies using AI in the new year will be collaboration. AI has unquestionably accelerated many aspects of doing business – data gathering, trend spotting, analysis, just to name a few. This valuable assistance can absolutely lead to increased efficiencies for organizations, but only if it’s coupled with human insight.

According to Robert Half’s 2026 HR Forecast, “AI can accelerate analysis, but humans understand nuance, culture and context. The most effective HR teams will combine data with empathy to make decisions that are faster, fairer and more aligned with organizational values.”

Successful use of AI in 2026 will look like companies coupling data and information with human insight and instinct. To that end, governance of AI is gaining importance, and in some cases, will result in the creation of new organizational roles in the coming year. Appointing leaders to govern the use of AI to ensure fairness, build cross-functional trust, and quiet unnecessary noise, allowing human partners to perform better in their roles, will be an essential piece of the puzzle.

AI, rising costs and cultural differences may threaten to disrupt and divide the workforce in 2026. However, companies that take the right approach to handling those very challenges can engage and unite their people, instead. Employers that invest in training and trust-building will see improved productivity and employee satisfaction. The ethical and strategic adoption of AI by real people that can add the human element, can mean endless opportunities for organizational growth.

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