A new book by diversity and inclusion expert Steve Butler explores why diversity initiatives fail despite growing awareness about its effect on company performance and beyond. In his latest release, he offers advice on cultivating an inclusive culture for groups that need it most.

The book entitled ‘Inclusive Culture: Leading Change Across Organisations and Industries’ by Steve Butler who is also Chief Executive at workplace consultant Punter Southall Aspire, explores how to tackle failing diversity initiatives at an industry and organisation level and the ways to achieve inclusion.

Central to the book is a series of eye-opening interviews with women, BAME, LGBTQ+, disabled, neurodivergent, and older employees who share their lived experiences from a Black founder repeatedly mistaken for a security guard to a newly single mother who was refused flexible working.

By reading these first-person accounts from members of underrepresented groups, leaders and managers can better understand the challenges they face in the workplace, including the barriers to career progression.

Crucially, Butler then shares actionable advice to help employers tackle these issues and build a more inclusive workplace at every level of their business.

Full of easy-to-read advice, the book will help leaders drive inclusive change through the prisms of gender, ethnicity, ability, age, and sexuality (LGBTQ+ workers). Included in this is advice on supporting women returning from maternity leave to the menopause, understanding everyday racism, adapting working environments to promote ability equality, managing intergenerational teams, and encouraging belonging for LGBTQ+ staff.

A key contemporary topic Butler explores in ‘Inclusive Culture’ is the impact of COVID-19 on work-life including the shift to hybrid working and what impact this is having on these groups, as well as how companies can “build back better” after the pandemic. Included is advice for leaders on how to balance different employees’ needs on topics including working location, workplace wellbeing, inclusive culture, and flexible working.

This section is crucial to understanding how to drive meaningful inclusion at work, as COVID-19 is worsening workplace inequality where the employment drop for BAME employees is 26 times higher than for white workers while women are more likely to have lost jobs or been furloughed than men.

As well as being a business leader and author, (he is also the author of ‘Manage the Gap: Achieving Success with Intergenerational Teams and The Midlife Review’) Butler is also an Advisory Council Member for the Diversity Project which aims to accelerate progress towards an inclusive culture in the investment and saving industry.

‘Inclusive Culture: Leading Change Across Organisations and Industries’ is published by ReThink Press and is available in paperback and ebook from amazon.co.uk, priced at £14.99.