While the discussion around DEI is shifting, there is much more attention being given to belonging. We thought it would be interesting to explore belonging further in a panel in London, co-organized by STM and Elsevier/RELX, on the eve of the London Pride parade, and with great support by Rachel Martin (Elsevier/STM) and Gina Walker (Elsevier). The title of the panel was “Cheers to change – raising the bar on belonging”, which coincided with the regular Thirsty Thursday event.
I was happy to moderate and very lucky to be joined by three stellar panelists: Emma Appleby of Open for Business, Sarah Phibbs of STM, and Marcia Balisciano of RELX. Afterwards I asked them three key questions and here I would like to share their answers and insights.
Can you pls introduce your organization and your role?
Emma: Hi! I’m Programme Manager at Open for Business. Open for Business is a global coalition of businesses that believe in a world where LGBTQ+ people are treated fairly and equally. We strengthen the economic case for inclusion and give leaders the evidence they need to boost business and economies and advance LGBTQ+ rights.
Sarah: Hi! I’m Director of Equity & Inclusion at STM, the global trade association representing the world’s leading scholarly publishers. In my role I hope to drive forward a more inclusive research ecosystem to ensure diverse perspectives are given voice, including working within the UN-Publisher partnership Research4Life on global knowledge exchange between the global south and north.
Marcia: I’m fortunate to serve as Chief Sustainability Officer/Global Head of Corporate Responsibility at RELX. I work with colleagues throughout our business to ensure our extra-financial performance furthers competitive advantage and stakeholder confidence. We focus on increasing the positive impact we have through the conduct of our business, while minimising any negative impact. We set annual public corporate responsibility objectives and are committed to transparent reporting on our performance. We work to advance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals through the RELX SDG Resource Centre, curating leading-edge content and tools from across our business and key partners and making it available to a global public. There were over 300,000 unique users of the site last year.
What were the three main points you wanted to share with the audience about belonging?
Emma:
- Belonging can fuel innovation and business performance. When people feel truly seen, heard, and valued, they’re more engaged and empowered to bring their full selves to work. This unlocks creativity, drives collaboration, and leads to better decision-making, all of which translate into stronger financial outcomes. We probably all have personal experiences of this that we can reflect on but, on a global scale, Open for Business’s research shows that improvements in LGBTQ+ inclusion can actually predict improvements in a country’s innovation capabilities (and in its innovation score).
- Belonging should be part of every team, not just HR. We see that initiatives that improve employees’ feelings of belonging in a company, such as inclusive healthcare policies and supporting civil society organisations, can improve a company’s success. For example, Open for Business’ Investor Guide found that companies that are LGBTQ+ inclusive have better share price performance, higher return on equity, higher market valuations and stronger cash flows. It is therefore important to embed inclusion into the core of business strategy, from marketing to HR to PR to operations.
- Belonging matters not only within individual businesses but also at the national level – When people feel excluded or discriminated against, countries risk losing valuable talent and economic potential. For example, we estimate that Poland loses up to $5 billion annually due to discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community, and experiences “brain drain” as skilled workers leave for more inclusive environments. This shows that fostering belonging isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s essential for national competitiveness and economic resilience.
Sarah:
- My warmest experience of belonging was being part of a strong team with shared values – trust, and openness – where I was valued for my difference. The Better Up study (2021) backs this up, showing belonging can transform performance, increase job effectiveness by 56%, halve turnover risk and reduce sick days by 75%. I was interested to discover from neuroimaging research that ‘unbelonging’ registers in the brain as a physical injury which is why even small moments of exclusion can impact you deeply.
- At STM, through the Social Responsibility Committee we are working on an inclusion program at three levels: for STM’s 400 strong volunteer membership; within our publishing houses and within the research that we collectively publish. We are on a journey to improve gaps in participation starting with recruitment into STM committees, inclusive event guidelines and driving accountability throughout the organisation.
- To nurture belonging, we need to improve our practice of equality. Taking inspiration from Nancy Kline’s Thinking Environment, we can practice ‘thinking rounds’ in meetings. We give our full attention to each speaker with no interruption for a set time period and everyone speaks in turn, appreciating each perspective. I’ve just started practicing this approach and already I can see we do our best thinking when everyone is contributing. This has great potential to transform our workplaces, so give it a go!
Marcia:
There was really one main point I wanted to share: RELX has always been committed to ensuring everyone feels welcome, valued, supported and able to succeed. We are going to continue to do that. I highlighted the work of the RELX Inclusion Council, which I chair, focused on advancing internal and external best practice on belonging and transparent reporting, and how the involvement of our senior leaders, including at the recent RELX enERGize Summit in the United States for the heads of our employee resource groups, is critical to making the business case for belonging.
What did you learn from the event? Were there any surprises?
Emma: I’d say it was unsurprising to see first hand the ways RELX are pushing for inclusion. They’ve been a trusted global partner of ours for a while, supporting us with valuable data for our reports, and it was wonderful to be part of the event.
Sarah: I loved hearing about Emma’s inclusive city report, something we now want to include in STM’s event planning guidelines.
Marcia: I loved hearing perspectives from my fellow panellists and audience members. Sarah flagged the benefit of ensuring everyone is given a voice in our teams; Emma discussed the important work Open for Business does in making the economic argument for inclusion; and Michiel, in addition to masterful hosting, shared how belonging resonates with our employees and industry networks!
In summary we heard that belonging drives performance and innovation, and that belonging and inclusion is a shared responsibility: it must be embedded across all functions, teams, and leadership levels and across the industry. We also heard, staying in the Thirsty Thursday theme, that a shot of LGBTIQ+ inclusion will boost your bottom-line, and exclusion hits you like a bad hangover – it literally hurts your brain. It is clear that belonging is the secret ingredient to the perfect cocktail! Bottoms up!