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Designing for Belonging: Creating Inclusive Learning Experiences for a Diverse Workforce

By Tess Robinson
Posted 25 September 2025
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We are a generation of workers that is thoroughly fed up with work. After rising steadily since the 2008 financial crash, now, in every area of the world, employee engagement is on a downward trend. According to the Gallup State of the Global Workplace: 2025 Report only 21% of workers consider themselves engaged. This collective lack of enthusiasm for work is costing the world economy an estimated $438 billion in lost productivity and making the vast majority of the world’s workforce feel stressed, lonely and sad. 

So how do we fix this?

Humans are social creatures. Our deep-seated need for belonging could be the answer to this engagement crisis. A study of healthcare workers found that there can be huge benefits to organisations when workers feel like they belong. Organisations with a stronger sense of belonging experience a massive 56% increase in job performance, 50% lower turnover and 75% fewer sick days.

Belonging - that feeling of support and security that humans so value and that can be transformative for organisations - is inextricably linked to diversity and inclusion. Here's how:

Diversity is the presence of difference within a group. It's about the composition of your workforce and represents the full spectrum of human demographic and cognitive variations. Diversity is a fact. It's a quantitative measure of the representation of different groups within an organisation. Having diversity is the starting point, but on its own, it's not enough.

Inclusion is the active and intentional effort to create an environment where every individual is treated fairly and respectfully, has equal access to opportunities and can contribute their unique skills and perspectives. It's about how you leverage the diversity you have. Inclusion is a choice and an action. It's the deliberate work of creating a culture where the diverse mix of people can thrive.

Belonging is the emotional outcome of successful diversity and inclusion efforts. It's the deeply personal feeling of psychological safety, acceptance and security an individual experiences when they can bring their authentic self to work without fear of judgement or penalty. Belonging is a feeling. It's the ultimate goal because it's where the true potential of diversity and inclusion is unlocked. When employees feel they belong, they are more engaged, more innovative and more committed to the organisation's success. You can have a diverse team that isn't inclusive, but to have a positive culture of belonging you need both diversity and inclusion.

Amplifying belonging in learning
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According to the Gallup report, training has a vital role to play in improving engagement at work. Whereas simply receiving training can improve engagement, we also have an opportunity to go further and build in belonging through learning design. How can we do this?

• Representation - 'Do I see myself here?'
  Make sure the learning content and delivery reflects the diversity of the workforce. If people can see themselves in the material, this will help them to connect with it. 
  
  Three actions to take:
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  1. Involve employees and subject matter experts from a range of backgrounds in the course design and review process. 
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  2. Audit your content through different lenses. Review scenarios, case studies, images and videos. Do they feature people from diverse backgrounds (ethnicity, age, gender, ability, etc.) in non-stereotypical roles? 
  
  3. Acknowledge different perspectives. For example, when writing case studies or scenarios, actively ask yourself questions about your audience e.g. "How might someone with a different background interpret this?". 
  
  
• Create psychological safety - 'Is it safe for me to be me here?'
  This involves creating an environment where learners feel safe to ask questions, make mistakes, and be their authentic selves without fear of embarrassment or retribution.
  
  Three actions to take:
  
  1. Set ground rules for virtual classrooms and discussion boards that emphasise respectful interactions. These can be co-created with participants for extra impact.
  
  2. Train your facilitators of virtual or live classrooms, to manage difficult conversations, vary participation methods to encourage those with quieter voices and manage more dominant ones.
  
  3. Use polls or digital Q&As to enable anonymous participation for those who feel more comfortable with that.
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• Accessibility - 'Can I participate fully?'
  Designing learning to be accessible ensures that all learners can perceive, understand, navigate and interact with the learning experience, regardless of any permanent, temporary, or situational disabilities. I have spent the last 18 months with severe vision issues and so know first hand how left out you can feel when you can’t see on-screen content well, so can’t participate in discussions. 
  
  Three actions to take:
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  1. Use clear language. Write plainly and use clear headings to break down topics. This reduces cognitive load, which is essential for neurodiverse learners and non-native speakers.
  
  2. Caption and transcribe media. Provide accurate captions for all video and full transcripts for all audio and video content. This is vital for learners who are deaf or hard of hearing and helps everyone learn more effectively.
  
  3. Ensure high colour contrast. Make sure your text stands out clearly from the background. This is crucial for learners with low vision or colour blindness and improves readability for all users.

‍Designing for belonging is vital for building a resilient, engaged and high-performing workforce. As learning designers, every choice we make, from the images we select to the language we use, either builds a bridge or creates a barrier. By focusing on representation, psychological safety and accessibility, we can ensure our learning experiences cultivate connection and prove that in our organisation, everyone truly belongs.