Research correlating the relationship between an individual’s sense of inclusion, psychological safety and overall wellbeing is growing. A 2025 report by the CIPD set out seven dimensions of what it terms ‘good work’, as it recognises that wellbeing (of an individual, team and organisation) is an intrinsic part of what people professionals must consider when looking at job design, employee voice and reward. The CIPD’s seven dimensions align with the work of Seligman (2011) who developed the PERMA model of wellbeing.
P = Positive Emotions: These are often determined by interactions with colleagues, managers, clients and other work-based stakeholders. Positive emotions can be formed through feelings of appreciation, perceptions of fairness, belonging and equity in everyday interactions, and behaviours and decision-making. The role of inclusion nudges (developing inclusive work architecture), and micro-affirmations, as developed by Mary Rowe, play a key role here.
E = Engagement: A key to employee engagement is the extent to which employees feel they have a voice in decision-making processes, and can thus contribute to wider organisational thinking and ideation. Diverse employees have often used employee resource group (ERG) forums as a form of collective expression. However, these groups tend to be under-resourced and overpowered by senior decision-makers.
R = Positive Relationships: Positive relationships are often defined by what they are in contrast to, as well as by intentional actions and behaviours designed to create a sense of inclusion and belonging, with wellbeing as a key outcome. The opposite of positive work relationships includes personal biases that influence decision-making and work opportunities, favouritism, and, in its more extreme forms, active exclusion and toxic workplace interactions. Active inclusion manifests through the principles of amplification, allyship, and the creation of rituals that foster authentic team interactions.
M = Meaning: This is closely relates to the idea of mattering, as explored by Nancy Schlossberg, who emphasises the relationship between feelings of being valued and cared about, and workplace belonging. Here, there is a key distinction between being included and influential. Diverse groups may be included, but if their voices are not influential they may experience a lack of mattering and worthiness, which can impact one’s sense of self and wider wellbeing.
A = Accomplishment: This is often associated with workplace relationships and rewards systems. A key here is an inclusive feedback loop, praise, micro-affirmations and a sense of achievement. Mangers and leaders play an important role in creating a sense of accomplishment.
While we at FAIRER believe that creating cultures of inclusion and wellbeing is fundamentally the right thing to do, and should be underpinned by workplace ethics and values, our own data also stresses the strong relationship between individual wellbeing at work, wider organisational health and organisational productivity and performance.
Our work aligns to research by McKinsey who has developed an Organisational Health Index (OHI). McKinsey defines organisational health as an organisation’s ability to align, execute, and renew itself. Inclusion and belonging is central to this idea of organisational health and the wider impact on organisational performance.
Developing organisational health should be the number one priority for today’s business leaders, as we are currently in a state of urgency. Recent data tells us that only one in three employees worldwide consider themselves to be ‘thriving’ in life, with work work-based stress being a significant factor. At the European level, approximately 38% of workers report constant or high stress, with younger workers disproportionately affected. Anxiety and isolation remain the most persistent mental health challenges in European workplaces post‑pandemic.
The key causes appear to be:
Of course, workplace-based stress has a spillover into individuals’ personal lives, impacting wellbeing in wider society. Spillover Theory, first proposed by the sociologist Harold Wilensky in 1960s, suggests that the boundaries between work and home life are not so strict and so with that, the emotions and behaviours that come from both spaces can ‘spill over’ into each other.
McKinsey considers inclusion – particularly the themes of equity, fair decision-making, fair work opportunities, inclusive leadership, belonging and psychological safety – as a "modern theme" within recent assessments of organisational health. Helpfully, it has set out four areas in which organisations can begin to measure their cultures:
Leadership accountability is an underpinning dimension. This skill requires both a growth mindset on inclusive leadership and also the building of robust systems, KPIs and wider accountability measures to ensure organisations achieve a dual impact of both upward and downward accountability. A key point to make here is that downward accountability is often outsourced to Heads of Inclusion and members of ERG or BRGs (business resource groups). Of course, these roles can only be empowered and accountable for driving inclusive outcomes if they are provided with high levels of sponsorship, together with adequate resources.
Perhaps a more detailed measurement framework is the Pulsely Workplace Inclusion Diagnostic, which focuses on "7 Pillars of Inclusion". A primary function of this framework is to identify any perception and experiential gaps between different groups. This is critical, as any robust inclusion framework should focus not only on intersectionality – which seeks to analyse aspects of duality or multiple identities – but also differences. For example, the different experiences of gender biases between white women and black women at work, or different levels of belonging and psychological safety between LGBTQ+ groups and those who define themselves as heterosexual.
In our work assessments at FAIRER we find we can gather richer data by using a mix of statements scored using the Likert scale, supported by open questions. For example Likert-type items include:
Open-ended questions that can help to uncover the "why?" behind these trends can include:
When seeking to create inclusive change, many organisations ensure they balance diagnostic-type questions (which identify root-cause problems) with what is often termed the ‘magic wand’ question (an action-orientated frame). For instance:
To learn more about building inclusion and wellbeing into your organisational culture, explore our inclusive leadership training. Designed for senior leaders, the programme provides practical tools and builds the confidence and capability needed to create cultures where people thrive, feel they belong, and experience psychological safety.