Time to delve into the weeds: illuminating the diversity to performance black box by exploring co-worker relationships

One area that remains underexplored in DEI scholarship and practice is the role and behaviours of inclusive co-workers. Through deep dive interviews with 21 employees working in a global management consulting firm based in Australia, Bourke identifies the significance of co-worker inclusion behaviours (namely instrumental assistance, emotional bond and embodied connections) to motivation, energy and personal growth as well as high quality communications. Conversely, she identifies the negative impact of co-worker exclusion behaviours on those outcomes and thus diminished individual job and team performance. With respect to diversity, Bourke found that those who perceived themselves as more different from the group rather than similar were three times more likely to report small behaviours of co-worker exclusion. She argues that encouraging workplace participants to behave more inclusively towards their co-workers complements existing DEI strategies and empowers workers to co-create an inclusive workplace culture.