The Most Inclusive Countries to Work In - Instant Offices (2024)

Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) are essential to a healthy and successful workplace.

According to our research, Norway comes out on top as the most inclusive country to work. Countries were ranked based on their treatment of women, ethnic minorities and LGBTQI+ employees. Sweden, the Netherlands, Canada and Brazil also made appearances in the top rankings.

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The Top 3 Most Inclusive Countries to Work In

Norway, Canada and Sweden scored the highest overall when ranking countries by their inclusivity. These countries were ranked based on their acceptance of ethnic minority groups and LGBTQI+ people, their workforce gender gap and their commitment to DEI programs in the workplace.

It’s worth noting that these countries also made the top 10 in the Berkeley Otherness & Belonging Institute’s Inclusiveness Index for 2023. The Institute’s rankings also consider religious tolerance and the inclusion of people with disabilities in the workplace.

Read more about work hours and work-life balance in cities around the world: Most Overworked Cities in the World Ranked.

The Top 3 Most Inclusive Countries for Women

Norway, the Netherlands, and Canada all scored top marks for providing a safe and inclusive workplace environment for women.

Norway, in particular, is blazing a trail for women in high-earning positions. Last year, the Norwegian government introduced a quota for women’s representation on the boards of large- and medium-sized private firms. The proposed bill is the first of its kind globally. It would require private companies with at least 30 employees and annual revenues above 50m kroner to have a minimum of 40% female representation on their board.

The Top 3 Most Inclusive Countries for LGBTQI+ People

Again, Norway, the Netherlands and Canada came out on top for their inclusive treatment of LGBTQI+ employees.

ILGA Europe’s latest annual review shows a rise in LGBTQI+ acceptance across many European countries. Unfortunately, anti-LGBTQI+ hate speech and violence remain a problem despite this improvement in public support.

The Top 3 Countries for DEI

Brazil, the USA and Norway were ranked as the best countries for DEI.

Brazil is known for having some of the best LGBTQI+ legal protections globally. However, social acceptance and safety rankings are lagging behind these legal precedents. Brazil also has a large gender gap in the workplace. Hopefully, the availability of DEI programs will affect change in the Brazilian workplace going forward.

Defining Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

DEI is a term that describes policies and programs that promote the representation and participation of diverse groups of employees in a company. An inclusive workplace provides a safe and supportive environment for employees from all backgrounds, including different races, genders, ages, religions, cultures, and sexual orientations.

• Diversity brings together a group of individuals from many different backgrounds.
• Equity ensures fair treatment and equal opportunities for everyone in the group.
• Inclusion ensures that all members of the group feel valued, heard, and welcomed, with the freedom to express themselves and contribute their unique contributions.

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The Importance of DEI in the Workplace

Engagement

An inclusive workplace is a productive workplace, and employees who feel supported tend to be highly engaged. A Gallup survey on DEI showed the following:

• Employees who felt they were treated with respect at work were 5 times more engaged than those who didn’t.
• Employees who felt comfortable being themselves at work were 3.3 times more engaged than those who didn’t.

Performance

According to Gartner, gender-diverse and inclusive teams have outperformed less inclusive teams by 50% on average.

Forbes reports that:

• Inclusive teams make better business decisions than non-inclusive teams up to 87% of the time.
• Decisions made by diverse teams deliver 60% better results.

Retention

Research shows that employees working at companies with good DEI are 5.4 times more likely to want to stay for a long time.

10 Ways to Improve DEI at Your Company

There are steps you can take to ensure that your workplace is more diverse, equitable and inclusive:

1. Communicate your DEI goals to all employees.
2. Provide DEI training for all employees.
3. Follow diverse hiring practices.
4. Promote pay equity by regularly assessing and addressing pay disparities.
5. Provide mentorship for underrepresented or marginalised employee groups.
6. Offer talent development programs for underrepresented or marginalised employee groups.
7. Use inclusive language and encourage all employees to do the same.
8. Adopt flexible work policies to be inclusive of different lifestyles and needs, like parental leave and religious holidays. Flexibility is a top priority for employees, and half of those who don’t currently have flexible working options say they plan to change jobs in the next year.

Read more about the costs of working in the office vs. working from home: The Most and Least Affordable Places to Work From Home or The Office.

• Conduct surveys to collect feedback from underrepresented or marginalised employee groups.
• Review your DEI practices regularly and identify the areas that need improvement.

*Includes sexual orientation and gender identity protection

Methodology

Using a seed list of countries with the highest GDPs, we gathered data around population, happiness score, minimum wage, annual leave, discrimination protection, equality index, the number of hours in an average work week, crime rate, inclusivity scores, social acceptance of ethnic minority groups, gender equality, safety score for women, social acceptance and safety of LGBTQI people. We then ranked each from highest to lowest and scored the total for each country to make our final list.