Handout | Exit interviews: A wealth of information

Organizations still do not pay adequate attention to diversity and inclusion in their outflow policies, while exit interviews can provide a wealth of information on how the workplace is experienced and whether specific groups of employees leave more quickly or for different reasons. These insights can then be linked back to initiatives regarding inflow, throughflow and inclusion of employees for coherent, systematic and evidence-based D&I policies.

In our new handout Exit interviews: A wealth of information, Lina Senen, Naomi Ellemers, Salem Yohannes, Valentina Djoemai, Leo Euser and I summarize our research findings and provide concrete recommendations for organizational practice.

Curious to know what valuable information an exit interview provides? Click here!

In the handout, we advocate that organizations can use insights from their exit interviews to make the processes surrounding recruitment, selection and promotion of employees more inclusive and thereby improve the working climate. However, the organizations surveyed do not currently ask sufficient questions. For example, only 15% of them ask about perceived inclusion in the workplace during the exit interview, including by asking whether the employee felt safe and valued in the workplace.

For companies that want to start addressing this, recommendations are provided on how to redesign the exit interview. We formulated 12 sample questions on diversity and inclusion that can be presented to departing employees, and three points of interest are highlighted.

This guide is a product of the project Het Moet Wel Werken, a collaboration between Utrecht University, Foundation InclusieNL (Netherlands Inclusivity Monitor) and SER Diversity at work, made possible by the Goldschmeding Foundation. Visit the Goldschmeding Foundation website to found out more about the handout and the project! 

Not gender identity, but negative reactions harm non-binary people

Sociale Vraagstukken (Social Challenges) published an insightful piece on how negative reactions can harm non-binary people. The increasing visibility of gender diversity can lead to negative reactions. However, arguments used in this regard do not hold up under scrutiny. As such, it is explained why the argument about biological facts is problematic, that gender diversity has always existed yet there is only now the language to express this gender diversity and how acceptance of one's gender identity is crucial to one's life happiness.

Our research project on inclusion in the workplace also shows the importance of context for the impact of deviating from the norm. The paper by Sahin and colleagues (2019) indicates that if people who feel different from most of their colleagues see that differences are valued at work, they do not feel less included.

Podcast Travelling Concepts on Air: Episode on PRIVACY

The podcast episode on PRIVACY of Travelling Concepts on Air has just been aired!

For this episode, Dr. Martine Veldhuizen and I were invited by Dr. Tessa Diphoorn and Dr. Brianne McGonigle Leyh to discuss the concept of PRIVACY. You can listen to this episode on Spotify, on Apple Podcast, or any other podcast platform.

© Travelling Concepts on Air by Tessa Diphoorn and Brianne McGonigle Leyh

According to the organisers, Travelling Concepts on Air is a podcast series that explores the promise and ideal of interdisciplinarity. Interdisciplinarity is increasingly projected as an objective goal within academia, framed as something that both encourages and facilitates collaboration across fields and disciplines. In this podcast series, some of these underlying assumptions are questioned by focusing on the idea of travelling concepts: concepts that ‘travel’ across disciplines and often act as the focal point for interdisciplinary efforts.

In this episode, Martine and I discuss the concept of privacy and to what extent/ how it travels between the disciplines of law, psychology and cultural history.

Masterclass: Looking at D&I policy through a different lens

I am very much looking forward to the new series of our masterclass on evidence-based D&I management, which I will co-teach with Melissa Vink and Onur Sahin, and starts on 15 March 2023 at Utrecht University.

In three meetings, you will learn to look at the D&I policy of your organization in a new way. You will bring in your own policy case to which you can immediately apply the new approach. And you will not do this alone, but together with a team of instructors and fellow participants who, just like you, want to get started with D&I in their organization.

No better recommendation than in participants' own words!

In the video above, Aurora Guds shares her experiences of our master class "Looking at D&I policy through a different lens" on how to successfully implement diversity and inclusion policies as an organization.

Curious to know more or looking to register? Check out the website.

Language matters in striving for inclusion

Language matters. It contributes to whether someone feels like they belong or whether they do not. In what ways inclusive communication can make people feel like they belong was the focus of the Diversity & Inclusion Symposium "Language, Inclusion and Belonging" at Leiden University last week.

It was an inspiring day where several speakers gave their insights on the topic. I was especially struck by the contribution of Wayne Modest, Endowed Professor of Material Culture and Heritage Studies at VU Amsterdam and Director of Content at the National Museum of World Cultures and Wereldmuseum Rotterdam who encouraged the audience to rethink polarization. Rather than being afraid of it we should consider the possibility that perspectives that were hitherto silenced are finally coming to the surface.

The symposium yielded inspiration and information about the different ways in which issues such as diversity and inclusion are present and experienced within the university. And specifically, how this resonates with students and staff, as well as policymakers. I thought the panel discussion with Wayne Modest, Mounir Samuels (author and political scientist), Annetje Ottow (President of the Executive Board), Aya Ezawa (Diversity Officer), Jordy Simonis (student), and Mark Rutgers (Dean of the Faculty of Humanities) was also very interesting and showed the added value of this symposium, as panelists had different perspectives which created some friction. To me, this showed how uncomfortable the conversation about diversity and inclusion can be. Yet, it simultaneously underlines the importance of starting and staying in conversation with each other. The session was ended with a beautiful and thought-provoking contribution by spoken word artist Kevin Groen.

LGBTI+ rights are now embedded in the Dutch constitution 🌈

On 17 January 2023, a majority of the Eerste Kamer (the Dutch Senate) voted to ban discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation. A historical win for the community and the country!

The COC has been advocating since 2004 for embedding the rights of gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people in the constitution. This has already happened in countries such as Sweden, Portugal and South Africa.

© Zij aan Zij

Individualism and diversity

Bas Heijne at NRC wrote an insightful article about identity, in which he argues that today's individualism makes interest in the world outside one's own head, which goes beyond the precious “I”, disappear. In his article, he cites my explanation of how this manifests in the workplace, namely that people who deviate from the norm are more likely to be left out, as we simply like to work with others who are like us.

Curious about the opinion piece? Read the article here (Dutch).

© NRC

Diversity policy effectiveness best assessed through monitoring

I was interviewed about diversity and inclusion policies at universities and universities of applied sciences in the Netherlands, and the perception and effectiveness of such policies.

It is evident that a lot is happening in higher education in the area of diversity and inclusion, but it is often not clear what goals institutions have with specific measures and careful monitoring of impacts is often lacking.

I emphasize the importance of gaining an understanding of the diversity and perceived inclusion within higher education. This way, you get a sense of what is going on within the organization and any inequalities or differences between groups of students and staff can be identified. Those who start monitoring can take targeted measures that take into account the specific situation within the organization.

You can read the interview in Dutch or English!

Illustratie: Jowan de Haan

Purple Friday and LGBTQIA+ Research Day on (In)Visibilities 💜

Today, it is Purple Friday. On this day, people show their solidarity with people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, non-binary and queer by wearing purple.

© paarsevrijdag.nl

The LGBT-monitor 2022 from the The Netherlands Institute for Social Research shows Dutch schools are often not a safe place for LGBTI+ youth. Only a minority of secondary school students report that students at their school can be open about their sexual orientation. European research is pointed out, indicating that more than two in five (41%) young people aged 18-24 hide their LGBTI+ identity at school. Moreover, LGBTI+ youth are disproportionately faced with negative reactions and an unsafe social climate. Worryingly, the safety monitor conducted in schools shows that feelings of safety among LGBTI+ youth has recently (between 2018 and 2021) worsened.

Want to find out more what you can do at school? Visit www.paarsevrijdag.nl

I was able to celebrate Purple Friday in a very wonderful way, at the LGBTQIA+ Research Day hosted by the Flemish-Dutch LGBTI Research Network, VU Pride, UvA Pride, and the Centre of Expertise of LGBTQIA+ Issues at the University of Groningen.

With (In)visibilities as the theme of the day, speakers talked about those who are (rendered) invisible in society, research, policy, and other interventions. Dr. Margriet van Heesch of the University of Amsterdam gave a very inspiring keynote on queer interruptions. I was especially proud of Hao Zhou who gave her first conference presentation on her dissertation research. Very inspiring to get together on Purple Friday with such a large number of young researchers who are involved in this topic!

Inspiration Day “Working together towards an inclusive labour market”

On December 1st, the Goldschmeding Foundation hosted the Inspiration Day “Working together towards an inclusive labour market”. Together with Platform Jongeren en Werk, Platform Werk Inclusief Beperking, Platform Nieuwkomers & Werk, Platform Vijftigplussers & Werk and the participants, knowledge, experiences and stories were shared and concrete actions for a more inclusive labor market were formulated.

I was also invited to speak in a panel with Diem Do (CodeGorilla) and Michiel Muller (Picnic) and talked about the insights derived from our research project “Het moet wel werken: Inclusiviteit op de arbeidsmarkt door synergie tussen wetenschap en praktijk.”

© Goldschmeding Foundation

Seven practical tips to improve inclusion in your organisation were collected during the inspiration day. Some can be implemented immediately, others deal with a longer-term approach. Read all about them here!

For an impression of the inspiration day, take a look at the aftermovie. Want to know more about the Inclusive Labor Market program by the Goldschmeding Foundation? You can do so here or listen to the podcast by program manager Peter Brouwer.