Creating an inclusive workplace isn’t just the responsibility of HR or leadership. Every employee has the power to drive change—from calling out bias to supporting a colleague’s voice in a meeting. Inclusion is not a policy; it’s a practice. And it’s something we build together.
Whether you're a junior team member or a senior executive, you can be an advocate for equity, dignity, and respect in the workplace. This article explores how to use your voice and influence—wherever you sit—to make a difference.
Understanding Advocacy at Work
Workplace advocacy means speaking up when something isn’t right and supporting actions that promote fairness, belonging, and access. It’s about moving from passive support to active participation.
Advocates push for change, not just because it's popular or safe, but because it's right. They challenge systems, not just symptoms. They help create cultures where everyone feels they can be themselves—and succeed.
Advocacy can be loud or quiet, public or behind-the-scenes. It might mean initiating change, backing someone else's idea, or simply refusing to stay silent in the face of exclusion.
Everyday Acts of Advocacy
You don’t need a formal title to make an impact. Advocacy often happens through the accumulation of everyday choices. For example, if someone is repeatedly interrupted in meetings, you can redirect attention back to them and ask for their input. If a colleague is left out of informal gatherings or professional opportunities, you can make space for them or raise it with a manager. Noticing who speaks, who gets heard, and who gets credit is part of building a fairer environment.
Advocacy can also mean suggesting diverse speakers for events, reviewing communications for inclusive language, or raising the importance of accessibility in project planning. These small, consistent acts shape a culture where inclusion isn’t a theme for a month, but a reality every day.
Knowing When and How to Speak Up
Calling out inappropriate or exclusionary behaviour can feel risky, especially if you're early in your career or part of an underrepresented group yourself. But silence can often be interpreted as agreement. Knowing how to speak up effectively is part of being an advocate.
When something is said or done that doesn’t align with your values, you might address it in the moment—perhaps by asking a clarifying question or redirecting the conversation. If that’s not possible or safe, you could follow up privately or raise your concerns with a manager. The key is to communicate calmly, clearly, and with a focus on impact rather than blame. Sharing how something made you feel, using statements like “I felt uncomfortable when…” can open the door to dialogue.
Not every moment will be the right one to speak out, and that’s okay. What matters is being intentional and supportive of those who do take the risk.
Allyship as Action
Allyship is one of the most powerful forms of advocacy. It requires more than good intentions—it requires active engagement. True allies educate themselves about issues they don’t experience directly and seek to understand different perspectives.
An effective ally pays attention to whose voices are missing and takes steps to create space. They use their influence to challenge harmful assumptions or practices. They offer support privately and publicly, and they are open to correction without defensiveness.
Allyship also means speaking less and listening more. It’s not about taking over someone else’s narrative but about ensuring they have the platform to tell their own story. When feedback comes, a good ally doesn’t retreat—they reflect and recommit.
Using Influence Within Your Role
No matter what role you hold, you likely have some ability to shape how inclusion is experienced by others. That might be through how you run a team meeting, who you invite to lead a project, or the vendors you choose to work with.
If you're in a leadership or decision-making role, you have even more opportunity—and responsibility—to embed inclusive practices. This could mean reviewing recruitment panels for diversity, asking whether promotion decisions are free from bias, or checking whether policies take into account the needs of different employee groups.
You might also influence what stories are told in your organisation’s communications, which days are recognised and celebrated, or how employee feedback is acted upon. All of these are opportunities to embed fairness into the culture.
Collective Advocacy: Building Momentum Together
While individual action is powerful, collective action is transformative. When employees come together to identify issues, share lived experiences, and push for change, they create momentum that’s difficult to ignore.
This might look like forming or supporting an employee network, contributing to a working group on inclusion, or participating in union-led initiatives. It might involve helping to draft more inclusive policies, advocating for transparency in pay and progression data, or co-creating learning sessions with HR.
Collective advocacy is not about confrontation—it’s about collaboration. It demonstrates shared commitment, builds community, and strengthens the case for long-term, strategic change.
Taking Care of Yourself as an Advocate
Advocacy can be energising—but it can also be draining, especially if you’re advocating for your own community or working in an environment that resists change.
It’s important to recognise when you need rest. Burnout is real, and you are no use to the movement if you are running on empty. Take breaks, connect with allies, and celebrate progress—even if it’s slow.
Find ways to protect your wellbeing. That might mean setting boundaries around how much emotional labour you take on or seeking support from a mentor or external network. Remember that the responsibility for change does not sit with one person—it belongs to the whole organisation.
If advocacy feels unsafe or unsupported, document your concerns and seek advice. In some cases, external support—whether legal, union-based, or advisory—may be necessary.
Final Reflections
Creating a more inclusive workplace is not the job of one department or one person—it’s a shared responsibility. Advocacy, in all its forms, helps push the culture forward. Whether you're making a quiet suggestion, leading a campaign, or simply showing solidarity in the moment, you’re contributing to a better workplace for everyone.
Inclusion happens when people act with intention. It grows when those with power choose to share it. And it lasts when it becomes part of how we work—not just what we say.