Inclusion and Belonging: An Organisational Culture That Holds Diversity Together

What is workplace inclusion and why does a sense of belonging matter? Psychology-based advice for managers and HR on turning diversity into real strength.

In many organisations today, people from different generations, different cities, different levels of education and different life circumstances work together in the same team. On a production line, a graduate in their twenties stands next to a master craftsman with thirty years' experience; in an office, a specialist who has just become a mother and a young employee who has migrated work on the same project. This diversity does not create richness on its own; it requires an environment in which people feel valued, safe and a real part of the team. Inclusion is precisely the effort to build that environment. In this article I look at the psychological foundations of the concepts of diversity, inclusion and belonging, the effect of a lack of belonging on work, and the steps managers can apply in daily practice.

The Difference Between Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging

These three concepts are often used interchangeably, but they describe different things:

• Diversity is about who is in the team: differences such as age, gender, background, education, disability status, family structure and ways of thinking.
• Inclusion is about the environment in which these different people work: are their ideas listened to, can they take part in decisions, do they have equal access to opportunities?
• Belonging is the feeling that comes from within the person: "I am accepted here as I am; I belong here."

To put it in a commonly used analogy: diversity is being invited to the party, inclusion is being asked to dance, and belonging is having a say in choosing the music. If an organisation increases diversity but does not invest in inclusion, employees from different backgrounds soon feel like outsiders and leave.

Why Is a Sense of Belonging So Important?

The need to belong is one of the most basic psychological needs of human beings. Being excluded from a group is perceived by the brain as a threat similar to physical pain; the person becomes vigilant, focuses on protecting themselves and avoids taking risks. In working life this looks like this: the employee who does not voice their idea in the meeting, hides their mistake, does not ask for help and only does what is asked of them.

The picture in Turkey is notable in this respect. According to Gallup's 2026 report, only 8% of employees in Turkey are genuinely engaged with their work, against a global average of 20%. In the same report, 23% of employees said they felt lonely during much of the previous day and 66% said they experienced intense stress (Gallup, 2026; 2025 data). These figures suggest that in a significant share of workplaces, people do not feel connected and that they belong.

The link between belonging and work outcomes can be clearly seen in psychological safety research. In Amy Edmondson's study of 51 work teams in a manufacturing company, team members' shared belief that "it is safe to take interpersonal risks" was found to be associated with the team's learning behaviour (Edmondson, 1999). In Google's research on more than 180 internal teams, psychological safety also ranked first among the five dynamics of effective teams, and who was on the team was found to matter less than how the team worked together (Google re:Work). It should be noted that this second study is an internal company study and not a peer-reviewed publication. For details on the subject, you can look at the article on psychological safety.

Diversity is a photograph of an organisation; being inclusive is whether the people in that photograph can really speak.

Signs of Feeling Excluded

A lack of belonging often shows itself not as open conflict but as quiet withdrawal. Signs managers should watch for:

• The same people always speaking in meetings, some employees never taking the floor
• Certain groups (e.g. newcomers, women, the night shift, subcontracted staff) remaining outside social events and the flow of information
• New ideas being turned down with "this is how things always work here"
• "Jokes" about accent, age, clothing or family situation becoming normal
• Some employees systematically having less access to promotion and development opportunities
• New employees leaving in the first months, or saying "I didn't feel I belonged here" in exit interviews

The cost of feeling excluded does not fall only on the employee. A person who feels outside the team gradually puts less energy into their work, does not report problems on time and looks for another job at the first suitable opportunity. The team, in turn, loses that person's knowledge, experience and perspective. In production environments there is also a safety dimension: an employee who feels unheard may choose to stay silent instead of speaking up about a fault they have noticed or a dangerous practice. For this reason, belonging is not merely a matter of "employee satisfaction" but also one of workplace safety and quality.

Seeing these signs individually does not mean there is an organisational culture problem; but when they come together, they deserve careful examination.

Psychological Barriers to Inclusion

An inclusive environment is weakened, more often than not, not through ill intent but through unnoticed mental habits.

Similarity bias

People understand those who are like themselves more easily, trust them more and are more comfortable working with them. The candidate chosen in recruitment because they "fit us", or the employee described in task allocation as "someone I can trust", is often a person who resembles the manager.

Stereotypes

Generalisations such as "young people don't take responsibility", "a woman employee can't focus on work once she has children" and "master craftsmen can't keep up with technology" lead to evaluating an individual not by their own performance but by the image of the group they belong to.

Invisible privileges

Evening meetings, informal after-work gatherings, or correspondence conducted only in one particular language can, without anyone realising, leave out employees who have caring responsibilities, work shifts or speak a different language as their mother tongue.

Dynamics specific to Turkey

In Turkish workplaces, hometown solidarity (hemşehricilik), kinship ties in family businesses, intergenerational hierarchy and the adjustment process of employees who have migrated internally to big cities are factors that directly affect the sense of belonging. If "whose man you are" matters in an organisation, it becomes harder to build a belonging based on merit and contribution.

Belonging in hybrid and shift work

The diversification of ways of working has added a new dimension to the sense of belonging. Employees who come to the office regularly meet the manager more often, take part in informal conversations and learn of decisions earlier. People who work from home or teams on the night shift can be left outside this flow. Over time, an invisible divide forms between "those at the centre" and "those at a distance". To reduce this divide, important decisions need to be shared not only in corridor conversations but in channels everyone can access; meetings need to be run so as to take into account those joining remotely; and night-shift teams need to meet with management regularly. Recognition and feedback should also not be directed only at employees who are physically visible.

The Legal and Standards Framework for Inclusion

In Turkey there is no workplace legislation that regulates inclusion on its own; but occupational health and safety legislation explicitly requires different groups of employees to be taken into account. Article 10 of the Occupational Health and Safety Law No. 6331 provides that, when carrying out a risk assessment, the situation of groups requiring special policy, such as young, older, disabled, pregnant or breastfeeding employees, and of women employees, should be taken into account. Article 5/f, in turn, requires a consistent prevention policy to be developed covering factors related to work organisation and social relationships.

The ISO 45003:2021 guidance also defines social factors at work as one of the three main categories of psychosocial hazards and states that these risks can lead to declines in job satisfaction, commitment and productivity. In other words, exclusion, discrimination and poor relationships are not only a matter of "culture" but also a subject for psychosocial risk management.

Steps Managers and HR Can Take

An inclusive culture is built not through big campaigns but through daily behaviour. Here are some practical suggestions:

In meetings:

• Distribute speaking turns deliberately; ask those who speak less first.
• Credit ideas by the name of their owner; when someone else repeats an employee's suggestion, turn back to the person who originally made it.
• Plan meeting times so that they do not exclude employees with caring responsibilities or shift patterns.

In recruitment and promotion:

• Use structured interview questions that are asked of everyone in the same way.
• Think in terms of "culture add" rather than "culture fit".
• Regularly review who promotion and development opportunities are going to.

In day-to-day management:

• Notice who in the team is left outside the flow of information; get announcements to all shifts and channels.
• Do not stay silent about demeaning "jokes"; setting a short, clear boundary is often enough.
• Hold regular one-to-one conversations with every employee and ask, "How are you feeling here?"
• When mistakes happen, focus on learning rather than looking for someone to blame; this makes it easier for employees from different backgrounds to speak up.

At organisational level:

• Measure belonging and perceptions of fairness separately in employee surveys and examine the results by group.
• Set up an induction programme and a "buddy" system for new employees.
• Train managers on unconscious bias, inclusive communication and psychological safety.

Common mistakes

There are some traps that organisations trying to build an inclusive culture often fall into:

• Investing only in the shop window: Messages shared on special days create a perception of insincerity among employees if day-to-day management practice does not change.
• Settling for one-off training: A one-day seminar may create awareness, but regular repetition and support for managers are needed for behaviour change.
• Loading difference onto a single person: Expecting the only woman engineer or the only disabled employee in the team to "represent the whole group" places an additional burden on that person.
• Seeing a complaint as causing trouble: Becoming defensive when exclusion or discrimination is raised leads other employees to stay silent as well.

In the OSH Pulse survey in Europe, 26% of employees reported poor communication or cooperation within the organisation, and 58% said they would feel comfortable talking to their manager about mental health (EU-OSHA, 2022). This shows that the manager plays a key role in the formation of a sense of belonging. A significant proportion of employees are ready to open up to their manager; but whether that readiness is met depends on the manager's listening skills and consistent behaviour. Whether an employee feels they belong to the team is often determined less by the organisation's overall policies than by the quality of the day-to-day relationship they have with their nearest manager.

How Do You Get Started in Your Organisation?

Suppose you are a factory with two hundred employees; over the last year you have noticed that a significant share of the young employees recently hired left in the first six months and that there is friction between the master craftsmen and the young staff. In such a situation, a three-stage path can be followed:

Needs analysis: Belonging, perceptions of fairness and psychological safety are measured with an anonymous climate survey; the results are examined by breakdowns such as age group, shift and unit. Focus group interviews and exit interviews help in understanding the experiences behind the numbers.

Programme: Based on the analysis results, inclusive leadership and psychological safety training for managers, intergenerational communication workshops for teams and a structured induction process for new employees are designed. Rather than a one-off seminar, sessions repeated at intervals and consultancy for managers during the process give more lasting results. You can look at the structure of such programmes on the corporate services page, and at options suitable for different scales in the packages section.

Measurement: The same survey is repeated after six months or a year. The proportion of employees leaving within the first year, reports of complaints and conflict, and the distribution of promotion and training opportunities are monitored. Change does not happen overnight; but regular measurement lets you see which steps are working.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is inclusion only a matter for big companies?

No. In small and medium-sized businesses too, people of different ages, genders and backgrounds work together. In a small team, even one person being excluded can affect all cooperation. What is more, starting inclusive practices is often quicker in small businesses.

Doesn't this kind of work create division in the team?

Work that emphasises differences between groups and uses blaming language can backfire. An effective approach aims at building a common ground on which everyone can work better, shared values and concrete behaviours. The aim is not to blame anyone but to make everyone's contribution visible.

How is a sense of belonging measured?

Statements such as "I feel accepted here as I am" and "I feel listened to when I say my opinion" can be added to employee surveys. Examining results by unit and group reveals differences that the average hides. Exit interviews are also a valuable source of information.

Can managers deliver inclusion on their own?

Managers play a key role but they are not alone. Organisational processes such as recruitment, promotion, pay and working arrangements must also be fair. However well-intentioned a manager is, if systems leave some groups out, a sense of belonging will not develop lastingly.

• #workplace inclusion
• #diversity
• #belonging
• #organisational culture

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Eda Erkan Alapala

Klinik Psikolog. İstanbul Kent Üniversitesi Klinik Psikoloji Tezli Yüksek Lisans mezunu; bilişsel davranışçı terapi, çocuk merkezli oyun terapisi ve çocuk-ergen psikoterapisi alanlarında eğitimlerini tamamlamıştır.

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