The January issue of The Psychologist magazine took social inclusion as its theme. The term social inclusion refers to action that can be taken to address the problem of social exclusion – a complex process that has a negative impact on people’s quality of life, as well as the equity and cohesion of society as a whole. With one of my recent posts about how the snow made us all more community-spirited in mind, it meant that when I picked up my issue of the Psychologist this collection of articles from different disciplines of psychology resonated.
For those of you who don’t know much about this area, here’s some background. Some of the key resources that enable people to actively engage with society include money, education, work, physical health and mental health. So it’s not surprising that one of the primary causes of social exclusion is unemployment!
Research into unemployment has consistently demonstrated how it can exclude people from mainstream society. On the positive side, there is also evidence that work confers a beneficial impact in terms of recovery time following illness or injury, and that the beneficial impact of work extends to children – such that those who have a parent in work end up having improved life chances. Some of the most recent findings show that work influences the prosperity of communities, enabling greater social cohesion and reduced risk of antisocial behaviour. As such, it is clear that employers have a critical role to play in promoting social inclusion.
In this context, employers have a responsibility to promote a healthy workplace that increases the chances of people remaining in and at work. The Government’s recent Foresight report into Mental Capital, on which I was Lead Scientist, plus the Health and Safety Executive guidelines and Dame Carol Black’s report all emphasise this role for employers. You don’t have to start a crusade for social inclusion – it’s just important that every organisation does its bit to ensure that employees have the best chance of being, and wanting to be, at work. That happens when they feel good about what they are doing and understand why they are doing it.
Of course, not all of us have the power to implement big changes on an organisation-wide basis. However, we all have a role to play – even if it’s something as simple as ensuring that we are doing enough at an individual level to support the people you sit next to. As someone once said, every little helps….
