The Power of Belonging & Inclusive Work Cultures in Organizational Performance

We’ve all felt those situations when we have felt like we “belonged”; we were part of something that mattered, something that was larger than the sum of its parts. 

Fortunately for me, I can think of many instances throughout my life when this has been true. One example that comes to mind right now is when I was growing up during my teens, as a member of my school sports teams: lacrosse, netball, track, and field hockey. I went to an all-girls school, my parents had modest financial means and so I attended with a scholarship. Those teams, where our impactful sports coaches really made us feel like our contributions were valued, they taught us that working collaboratively, to build high performance teams and achieving success together was what it was all about. Our socio-economic identities did not matter when we were all on the field together. We were there to succeed collectively and to work closely together to do that. That experience shaped my early understanding of what an inclusive work culture can feel like,  and how corporate wellness programs can strengthen belonging and inclusivity.

Conversely, I know we’ve all felt instances where we didn’t feel like we “belonged”. Amongst a school population that was generally more socio-economically privileged than myself I often felt inferior, and that I didn’t belong.  When it came to school pick up time and all the fancy cars rolled up to pick up the other girls, our little blue Hillman Hunter looked somewhat out of place, that made me feel small and that I was an “outsider” in some respects, albeit I knew even then, that I had the most incredible parents whose love sustained me and my brothers every day. That contrast reinforced how deeply belonging in the workplace and in life influences confidence, identity, and participation.

Defining Belonging & Why It Matters

The above are small examples of the “feelings” of belonging and not belonging can generate, and it is very much a feeling. Belonging is also a foundational pillar of inclusive leadership and essential to promoting inclusivity in the workplace.

I teach my undergraduates this from the start of our inclusive leadership studies when we define the terms, diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility and belonging. 

One of my favorite quotes on belonging comes from the great Brené Brown:

“True belonging is not passive. It’s not the belonging that comes with just joining a group. It’s not fitting in or pretending or selling out because it’s safer. It’s a practice that requires us to be vulnerable, get uncomfortable, and learn how to be present with people without sacrificing who we are.”

 Dr. Brené Brown, researcher, storyteller, and Texan.

The importance of belonging is thankfully now being far better understood. Its significance and worth are finally emerging as a strategic advantage in modern organizations. It has been directly linked with enhanced employee wellbeing, performance, innovation, retention and the ability to navigate volatility. When employees feel they truly belong, organizations can benefit from a whole array of positive outcomes, including higher job performance, lower turnover risk, fewer sick days and stronger financial outcomes.​ These outcomes reinforce the benefits of diversity in the workplace when inclusion is actively practiced.

Belonging at work can be defined in measurable terms as the degree to which people feel accepted, respected, valued for their uniqueness and connected to a community in which they can contribute authentically and sustainably. This is central to creating belonging in the workplace.

A 2023 survey found that 94% of workers believe it is very or somewhat important to them that their workplace be a place where they feel they belong. 

Belonging is the antidote to workplace loneliness, which now affects around one in five employees globally. It is particularly prevalent among younger and fully remote workers.

From a business perspective, belonging drives productivity by increasing discretionary effort and reducing distraction related to stress, worry and exclusion. It fuels innovation because people who feel safe and included are more willing to share unpolished ideas, challenge the status quo and collaborate across differences, which in turn strengthens an organization’s ability to adapt and compete.​

This is why promoting inclusivity at work is no longer optional, but a strategic priority.

Belonging, Trust & the Link to Performance Outcomes

There’s a significant amount of research evidence linking belonging and inclusion to tangible performance outcomes. High belonging is associated with improved job performance, fewer sick days and significantly lower turnover, while engaged teams (a close proxy for belonging) experience 78% less absenteeism, higher productivity and markedly lower turnover compared with disengaged teams.​ 

Organizations that prioritize inclusive leadership are better positioned to translate these outcomes into sustained performance.

At the systemic level, McKinsey’s research shows that companies in the top quartile for gender or ethnic diversity on executive teams are substantially more likely to financially outperform peers.However, without inclusive practices and a felt sense of belonging, the benefits of diversity in the workplace can be eroded through marginalization or exclusion.

Trust is the critical foundation that helps transform diversity into inclusion and belonging, and then into performance. The presence of psychological safety in the workplace defined by the great American scholar, Amy Edmondson, as existing “when people feel their workplace is an environment where they can speak up, offer ideas and ask questions, without fear of being punished or embarrassed”, correlates with key performance indicators (KPI’s) such as productivity, customer loyalty, profitability and lower turnover, illustrating how trust-based environments enable measured risk-taking, accountability and sustained performance, it is the hallmark of most high-performing teams.

In teams where people trust their leaders and one another, respectful challenge is normalized, feedback flows more freely and individuals are more likely to contribute to their fullest potential, which is why belonging is such a strong driver of engagement, innovation and retention.​

Measuring Belonging in Practice

In my view creating an environment of belonging is a competitive lever. It should therefore be measured with the same rigor as other strategic priorities. 

Organizations are increasingly using a blend of quantitative and qualitative methods, including pulse surveys, engagement surveys and dedicated belonging indices that ask employees for example, how strongly they feel they belong, whether they feel that their unique perspectives are valued and how comfortable they are being themselves at work. 

There are also short surveys that can track loneliness levels and inclusion experiences (for example, comfort speaking up, feeling part of informal networks or being invited into key conversations), which help identify specific challenge areas or groups at risk of isolation.​ These tools help organizations improve employee engagement by identifying areas where inclusion may be lacking.

KPIs that can serve as belonging proxies include psychological safety scores, retention and internal mobility rates, voluntary turnover, absenteeism and patterns in grievances or complaints related to exclusion, harassment or discrimination. 

Well-constructed psychological safety scorecards help leaders understand how inclusive work culture dynamics show up in performance, risk and well-being data over time.

I am a big fan of qualitative methods of measurement, believing they often provide the richest insights of all. Listening sessions, focus groups, exit and stay interviews and structured team retrospectives reveal nuance around how inclusion, connection and recognition are experienced in different parts of the organization. 

Together, these tools provide a dashboard view of belonging, enabling leaders to test interventions, track progress, promote inclusivity in the workplace and treat belonging as a strategic outcome.​

Inclusive Leadership Behaviors That Build Belonging in High-Performance Teams

Inclusive leadership is the mechanism through which belonging becomes real in day-to-day work. Leaders who consistently demonstrate curiosity, active listening, empathy and compassion signal that people’s experiences matter, encouraging more honest dialogue and deeper understanding across lines of difference. Respectful curiosity-driven questions, reflective listening and a willingness to explore discomfort when difficult topics arise help to dismantle assumptions (often rooted in bias) and are essential to sustaining an inclusive work culture where individuals feel seen as whole humans rather than just roles or outputs.

Vulnerability and connectedness are equally important behaviors for building trust. Leaders who share their own learning journeys, acknowledge mistakes, and invite feedback, model that it is safe to be imperfect. This strengthens inclusion and belonging and encourages others to speak up and take constructive risks.

Structured team-building activities and storytelling can be extremely powerful in building connection and feelings of belonging. These types of activities include sharing origin stories, “high/low” check-ins or narratives about overcoming challenges together can strengthen relational ties, creating the social glue that underpins belonging. When leaders consistently recognize contributions, especially those that advance inclusion, collaboration and collective success, they reinforce the behaviors that sustain belonging and are empirically linked to higher retention.​

Why Belonging in the Workplace is Still Resisted

Despite the evidence, belonging work often encounters resistance, especially in organizations that favor short-term metrics over long-term capability building. One common objection is that belonging is “too subjective” to measure, yet as mentioned above, organizations that invest in inclusive leadership and structured measurement approaches are increasingly able to quantify its impact. Psychological safety metrics and linked performance KPIs demonstrate that the experience of inclusion can be quantified and correlated with outcomes such as absenteeism, turnover and financial performance.​

Structural barriers often also get in the way. Siloed organizations with fragmented cultures may struggle to create a consistent inclusive work culture, leading to uneven experiences across teams. In environments where leaders are under pressure to deliver quarterly results, they may deprioritize relational work in favor of immediate operational targets, missing the key point that sustained engagement, innovation and retention are themselves critical to long-term financial health. Discussing loneliness, psychological safety and exclusion is not easy for many leaders, especially because it surfaces vulnerability. For leaders and employees alike, this can feel uncomfortable in cultures that value order, control, and certainty. 

How To Embed Belonging Across the Employee Lifecycle

Securing belonging as a sustainable competitive advantage, requires work. This begins with ensuring that your policies are fundamentally equitable and inclusive. These efforts are central to promoting inclusivity in the workplace and ensuring that belonging is experienced consistently across teams. 

Belonging at Entry Points & Onboarding

At entry points, thoughtful onboarding practices such as buddy programs, peer mentoring and early team rituals help new hires build relationships more quickly and navigate the “unwritten” norms more effectively. Providing line managers with guidance on inclusive onboarding, including how to invite questions, check in on well-being and connect new joiners to networks, further accelerates belonging and reduces early-stage attrition risk.​

Belonging Through Growth, Recognition & Performance

As careers progress, mentoring and sponsorship programs that intentionally include underrepresented groups help ensure opportunities and visibility are distributed more equitably. Reward and recognition systems can be redesigned to explicitly value collaboration, inclusion and contribution to collective success, reinforcing behaviors that foster belonging instead of rewarding individual contributions alone. Providing clarity on expected behaviors like incorporating positive inclusive behaviors and contribution to team dynamics into performance reviews, also helps organizations improve employee engagement and align performance with culture.

Feedback, Leadership & System Reinforcement

Feedback mechanisms also need to be inclusive by design. Regular listening channels, transparent follow-up on survey insights and psychological safety scorecards that track progress at team level, help to build trust by demonstrating that speaking up will lead to positive change, rather than retaliation or silence. Leadership role modelling inclusive leadership behaviors is imperative, from the board and executive team through to frontline managers, this is a critical element in a successful belonging strategy. Leaders must demonstrate that belonging and inclusion are strategic and not symbolic priorities, especially as organizations navigate increasingly volatile, complex environments where agility and innovation are essential for survival.​

Measuring & Activating Belonging at the Organizational Level

A practical call to action for leaders is to conduct a “belonging sense-check” across their teams and organization: examine current data on engagement, turnover, absenteeism, psychological safety and loneliness levels; listen deeply to employee experiences; and identify where inclusion and connection need to be strengthened first. From there, leaders can prioritize targeted interventions, from inclusive leadership development and redesigned recognition systems to more inclusive onboarding and mentoring, and seek external partnership where needed to build the skills, structures and habits that make belonging a sustained competitive advantage.​

Realizing that Belonging Is Your Strategic Advantage 

Across multiple research streams, belonging emerges as one of the most powerful components in high-performing teams. Organizations that prioritize inclusive leadership, actively foster an inclusive work culture, and invest in promoting inclusivity in the workplace are better positioned to unlock the full benefits of diversity in the workplace.

Little did I know during my teens that those sports coaches that supported our growth as school kids were teaching us so much more than how to succeed together. They were teaching us valuable life skills that would carry us through our lives and careers ahead, like creating that sense of belonging in those teams through listening and observation, collaboration, empathy and how to support each other when the chips were down. It was that which enabled us to really feel what it was like to coalesce around a common goal of success. Another thing our coaches taught us was how to learn from our mistakes, not blame others and importantly how to apply that learning to do it better next time. This was empathy, inclusion and belonging, in action, even then. 

How are you all as leaders, learning about and embracing the strategic importance of belonging in the workplace to create these empowering feelings and lasting performance improvements within your teams? Organizations that are ready to move beyond intention and embed belonging into leadership, culture and performance systems can explore how WORKWELL Labs partners with leaders to build inclusive leadership capability, strengthen work culture and design environments where belonging drives measurable business outcomes.