National Inclusion Week 2026: 7 Practical Ways to Build Inclusion That Lasts

National Inclusion Week 2026 starts today, giving employers across the UK a valuable opportunity to celebrate inclusion, start important conversations and reflect on how it shows up in everyday working life.

But inclusion is not something we can build in one week. The real opportunity is to turn those conversations into practical action that continues well beyond September.

This year’s theme, ‘Build Trust. Navigate Change’, feels particularly relevant. Organisations and their people are adapting to new technology, changing skills needs, economic pressures and different expectations of work. That can be exciting, but it can also leave people feeling uncertain about what change means for them.

At Sanderson, we believe inclusion should never sit separately from those conversations. It is part of how organisations build trust, make better decisions and help people feel informed, respected and able to contribute.

So, how can employers use this week to create meaningful change that lasts?

What is National Inclusion Week?

National Inclusion Week is an annual campaign that encourages organisations to celebrate inclusion and take action to create workplaces where everyone feels respected, valued and able to contribute. In 2026, the focus is on how employers can build trust and support their people through change.

The week can be a great catalyst, but inclusion is not created by one event, workshop or social media post. It is shaped by everyday decisions about recruitment, communication, accessibility and development, as well as whose voices are heard when change is happening.

So, where do you start? Here are seven practical ideas that can make a difference during National Inclusion Week and beyond.

1. Start by listening, not assuming

It can be tempting to begin with a full calendar of events and activities. Before you do, start by asking colleagues what inclusion currently feels like in your organisation and what would make the biggest difference to them.

People will not all experience the same workplace in the same way. Working location, disability, neurodivergence, ethnicity, faith, caring responsibilities, seniority and employment type can all affect whether someone feels heard and able to participate.

Give people more than one way to have their say. A short anonymous survey, small listening groups and individual conversations can help you hear from colleagues who may not feel comfortable speaking during a large session.

Useful questions could include:

• When do you feel most able to contribute at work?
• Are there any processes or behaviours that create unnecessary barriers?
• Do you feel comfortable asking for support or reasonable adjustments?
• What is one change that would help you feel more included?

Most importantly, be clear about what will happen next. Asking for feedback is only the first step. Trust grows when people can see that you have listened, considered what they said and taken action.

2. Review recruitment through an inclusion lens

For many people, the recruitment process is their first proper experience of an organisation’s culture. If inclusion matters to your business, candidates should be able to see and feel that long before their first day.

National Inclusion Week is a good time to choose one live vacancy and review the whole candidate journey. Look at the job advert, application route, selection criteria, interview process, communications and onboarding experience.

Consider whether:

• The advert uses clear, inclusive and accessible language.
• Essential requirements are genuinely essential to the role.
• Candidates know that reasonable adjustments are available and how to request them.
• Interview questions are structured and assessed consistently.
• Hiring decisions focus on relevant skills and evidence rather than familiarity or “culture fit”.
• Candidates receive clear information about what to expect at each stage.

Inclusive hiring is a core part of how we work at Sanderson and how we support our clients and candidates. In 2026, we were really pleased to achieve a ‘Confident’ Talent Spaces Inclusive Hiring Certification following an independent assessment of our recruitment policies, advertising, learning materials and delivery across Permanent, Contract and RPO recruitment.

The assessment recognised our skills-first mindset, approach to candidate care, inclusive attraction practices and thoughtful conversations around accessibility. We are proud of that progress, but we also see it as a stepping stone and a clear framework for continuing to improve.

Importantly, this was not just an internal review. Sanderson was assessed across six stages of the recruitment lifecycle and benchmarked against comparable recruitment organisations. The assessment found that our consistent use of reasonable-adjustment statements was a sector-leading strength, alongside our transparent candidate communication, preparation and approach to accessibility.

You can learn more about inclusive hiring at Sanderson.

3. Help managers lead inclusively through change

How change is communicated and managed can have a huge effect on trust. When information is unclear, decisions feel closed or the same voices are repeatedly missing, people can quickly feel that change is being done to them rather than shaped with them.

Encourage managers to ask a few simple questions before introducing a change:

• Who could experience this differently?
• Whose perspective have we not yet heard?
• Could the timing, technology, location or communication format create a barrier?
• What flexibility or support might people need?
• How will we check for unintended consequences?

Inclusive leadership does not mean having every answer. It means being open about what you know, honest about what is still being decided and willing to adapt when someone points out a barrier you may not have considered.

This is especially important when changing working practices, introducing new technology or restructuring teams. Bringing equality and accessibility into the conversation from the start is much easier than trying to fix avoidable barriers afterwards.

4. Create access to meaningful early-career opportunities

Inclusion is not just about making current processes fairer. It is also about looking honestly at who has historically had access to opportunities and finding practical ways to open more doors.

The award-winning Strive Internship Programme is a great example. Strive places students from global majority backgrounds into paid summer work placements with local employers. Since launching in 2020, the programme has provided 134 internships across more than 35 organisations in the South West, helping students build valuable experience, confidence, professional networks and employability skills.

Sanderson took over the programme in 2025, bringing together employers, universities and the public sector with a shared goal of improving employment outcomes for global majority communities.

For employers, taking part is about much more than offering a placement. It is a chance to connect with new talent pools, welcome fresh ideas into the business and build a more inclusive early-careers pipeline. Participating organisations offer a six-to-eight-week summer placement, pay the Real Living Wage and support interns to grow their skills and networks.

Employers interested in supporting a future Strive intern can register their interest with the programme.

If a formal internship programme is not possible right now, what smaller step could you take? You might offer paid work experience, rethink where entry-level opportunities are advertised, build relationships with a wider range of education providers or remove unnecessary experience requirements from junior roles.

5. Make inclusion part of everyday working practices

A busy programme during National Inclusion Week can create some brilliant conversations. Ultimately, though, it is people’s everyday experiences that determine whether they really feel included and that they belong.

Choose one or two practical habits that teams can continue throughout the year. For example:

• Share meeting materials in advance and use accessible formats.
• Build in different ways to contribute, including verbally, in writing and after the meeting.
• Rotate visible or career-enhancing opportunities rather than relying on the same volunteers.
• Avoid scheduling important activity around major religious or cultural dates where possible.
• Make hybrid meetings work equally well for remote and office-based colleagues.
• Explain decisions and close the feedback loop when colleagues have contributed.
• Make conversations about reasonable adjustments routine and supportive.

None of these ideas needs to be complicated. Small changes can be really powerful when they become consistent habits. Instead of asking teams to make a broad commitment to “be more inclusive”, agree a few specific behaviours that people can recognise, practise and review together.

At Sanderson, we are also building an Inclusive Hiring ambassador programme to help turn learning into everyday practice. Our champions will receive in-depth training and meet regularly to share best practice, identify improvements and build knowledge across the business. It is a practical example of how organisations can keep inclusion moving long after National Inclusion Week has finished.

Training matters too. Sanderson’s inclusion-related e-learning was recognised through the assessment as exceeding sector norms, supported by senior leadership endorsement and inclusion within our induction programme. Providing learning regularly, rather than only when an awareness date comes around, helps give people the confidence to put inclusive behaviours into practice.

6. Turn awareness dates into action

Awareness days and weeks can help us start important conversations, understand different experiences and share useful learning. The challenge is making sure all that positive energy leads somewhere.

That is exactly why we created the Sanderson 2026 Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Calendar. Rather than simply listing awareness dates, this free resource includes practical activities, suggested formats and clear impact areas to help employers support inclusion, wellbeing and belonging throughout the year.

There is no need to recognise every date or launch a major campaign every month. Choose the moments that mean the most to your people, organisation and communities. For each one, ask:

• What do we want people to understand or experience differently?
• What practical activity will support that outcome?
• Who will take responsibility for the next step?
• How will we know whether it made a difference?

You do not have to do everything at once. One thoughtful activity that leads to a real change can have far more impact than a packed calendar with no clear follow-up.

7. Measure change, not just participation

It is always encouraging to see lots of people attend an event or engage with a campaign. But participation figures alone cannot tell you whether your workplace has become more inclusive.

Alongside event participation, look at evidence such as:

• Whether colleagues feel safe speaking up and sharing different views.
• Uptake and experience of reasonable adjustments.
• Candidate feedback and recruitment outcomes at each stage.
• Access to development, promotion and high-profile work.
• Employee engagement, progression and retention across different groups.
• Whether actions agreed through listening exercises are completed on time.

Before National Inclusion Week ends, choose at least one action, give it a named owner and set a date to check progress. Then tell colleagues what is happening. Closing that feedback loop shows that the week was designed to create change, not just conversation.

National Inclusion Week checklist for employers

Not sure where to begin? Here is a simple checklist to help turn National Inclusion Week into meaningful action:

• Ask colleagues what would help them feel more included at work.
• Choose one workplace process to review through an inclusion and accessibility lens.
• Check that job adverts and recruitment communications are digitally accessible.
• Remind candidates and employees how they can request reasonable adjustments.
• Give managers practical guidance for communicating and leading change inclusively.
• Identify one way to widen access to work experience or early-career opportunities.
• Agree a specific action, owner, timescale and measure of success.
• Report back to colleagues and review progress after the week has ended.

Inclusion is built through what happens next

At Sanderson, our Responsible Business approach is focused on the positive impact we can make for our environment, communities and employees. Our work on inclusive hiring, our leadership of the Strive Internship Programme and our practical DE&I Calendar all come back to the same belief: meaningful inclusion is built through consistent action.

As our Responsible Business Lead, Ellie Barnfield, puts it:

“Recruitment is a business that, perhaps more than any other, is about people.”

National Inclusion Week gives every employer a chance to pause, listen and refocus. No organisation is going to solve everything in seven days, and that should not be the aim. Start with one honest conversation, one process that could work better and one action you are prepared to carry forward.

That is how trust is built. And it is how inclusion continues well beyond National Inclusion Week.

To explore more practical resources, view Sanderson’s free 2026 DE&I Calendar or contact our team to discuss how we can support a more inclusive approach to attracting, hiring and retaining talent.