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The purpose of this literature review is, first, to understand how employees with disabilities in the context of COVID-19 have been studied under the talent management (TM) approach; second, to explore what we know about the predictors and outcomes that have been linked to TM practices in that area; and third, to identify gaps in our understanding and provide insights for future research.

This paper presents a systematic literature review (SLR) based on 38 academic sources published in high-impact indexes from 2020 to 2023.

The existing research shows COVID-19 as a crucial context that led organizations to more precarious and segmented TM practices, which had negative consequences for employees with disabilities, both at the individual level (reduced satisfaction and income, and increased health issues) and the organizational level (increased unemployment, turnover and discrimination as well as declining performance and productivity).

This paper provides essential contributions to the field of TM in the relatively unexplored context of employees with disabilities since the emergence of COVID-19. Our literature review suggests there is significant room for developing and implementing adjusted TM strategies and practices to foster effective inclusiveness, accommodations and supportive work environments for employees with disabilities. From this evidence, a number of key avenues for future research and key implications for academics and practitioners are provided.

Although the topic of inclusion has become a hot and unavoidable issue for organizations, research on how this topic is being addressed in companies is still almost nonexistent. How do HR managers promote workplace inclusion? The objective of this study is to answer this research question.

The results are based on evidence that emerged during in-depth interviews conducted with 16 human resources professionals from the world of large-scale retail trade, as well as from the analysis of documents and reports produced by the companies in which the interviewed professionals work.

The findings reveal that the promotion of corporate inclusion is not only aimed at satisfying the need for belongingness and uniqueness. It is also aimed at satisfying two other types of human needs, namely, the human need to share and the human need to be impactful. In addition, the results reveal that HR professionals promote workplace inclusion through six initiatives that can be traced to two main ways in which inclusion is conceived.

Even though there is an extensive number of studies aimed at defining and measuring the construct of workplace inclusion, progress has not been made in understanding how HR professionals promote inclusion. This study covers this literature gap by bringing to light the existence of two main meanings associated by HR professionals to workplace inclusion: extensive inclusiveness and narrow inclusiveness.

The goal of this study was to understand which employee-focused workplace practices and priorities – more formally known as human resource (HR) practices and priorities – employees with mental health and/or addiction challenges (MHAC) valued and how they perceived the day-to-day implementation of those practices and priorities in the workplace integration social enterprises (WISEs) that employed them.

Twenty-two WISE workers who self-identified as having serious MHAC participated in semi-structured interviews. Interviews were transcribed and coded to identify ways that employees did or did not feel supported in their WISEs.

Participants identified three HR practices and two HR priorities as important to establishing an inclusive workplace that accommodated their MHAC. The extent to which individual participants felt included and accommodated, however, was shaped by interactions with their supervisors and coworkers.

By evaluating the salience of WISEs’ employee-focused workplace practices and priorities through the lens of the employees themselves, our study articulates the critical role that interactions with coworkers and supervisors have in determining whether HR practices and priorities have the intended effect on worker experience.

This article provides an overview of lessons we can learn from human resource (HR) policies and practices related to neurodiversity.

We conducted a practice-based review using information obtained from organizations’ websites, summarized the information and reflected on how scholars can continue to advance this area of research based on what is happening in practice.

The review provided a selective overview of programs and practices per HR cluster: selection and recruitment; onboarding, integration and retention; job design; flexible work options and working remotely; training; employee resource groups (ESGs) and support. The review provides a description of practices and policies implemented within organizations that focus on neurodiversity among employees.

Our review showed that organizations have a multitude of HR practices and policies in place to include neurodivergent individuals in their workforces, though many of these have not been empirically investigated. Sharing this knowledge is important so that research insights and practice can reciprocally influence one another.

There is an emerging interest in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) inclusion among researchers and practitioners. However, the interplay of macro-, meso- and micro-level factors that influence the behavior of various agencies, systems, structures and practices in different national, cultural and social contexts still needs to be researched. This paper aims to examine how organizations meaningfully engage with the marginalized and underrepresented workforce, especially the LGBTQ community, to promote diversity and inclusion through comprehensive policies and practices, thereby developing a sustainable inclusivity culture.

Adopting a practice theory lens and using a case study design, including multilevel interviews with 28 different stakeholders, this study examines how organizations institutionalize LGBTQ inclusion practices in an emerging market context with a historically low acceptance of the LGBTQ community.

Findings indicate that macro influences, such as regulatory, societal and market pressures and adopting international standards and norms, impact meso-level structures and practices. At the organizational level, leadership evangelism and workforce allyship serve as relational mechanisms for institutionalizing LGBTQ-inclusive practices. Furthermore, collaboration, partnerships and enabling systems and processes provide the structural frameworks within which organizations build an LGBTQ-inclusive culture. Lastly, at the micro level, cisgender allyship and the LGBTQ micro work environments provide the necessary psychological safety to build trust for authentic LGBTQ self-expressions. This study also indicates that organizations evolve their LGBTQ inclusion practices along a trajectory, with multiple external and internal forces that work simultaneously and recursively to shape HRM policies and practices for building an inclusive culture.

This study addresses the significant gaps in diversity and inclusivity research on LGBTQ employees and contributes to the literature in three significant ways. First, this study examines the diversity management mechanisms at the organizational level and explicates their interplay at the micro, meso and macro levels to create congruence, both internally and externally, for engaging with LGBTQ talent. Second, this study adopts a practice theory lens to examine the behavior of various actors, their agencies, the “flow” of underlying and emerging structures and processes, the continuous interplay between structure and action and how they enable inclusive culture for the LGBTQ community as a whole. Last, it addresses the call by diversity researchers for context-specific multilevel research design, including qualitative research, focusing on national, cultural and institutional contexts, where socio-organizational and historical factors and interactions among them shape diversity practices. Much of the literature on LGBTQ inclusion has, thus far, been within the Western context. By examining the emergence of inclusion practices in emerging markets like India, this study contributes to diversity and inclusion research.

The metaverse, through artificial intelligence (AI) systems and capabilities, allows considerable data analysis in the workplace, largely exceeding traditional people analytics data collection. While concerns over surveillance and issues associated with privacy and discrimination have been raised, the metaverse has the potential to offer opportunities associated with fairer assessment of employee performance and enhancement of the employee experience, especially with respect to gender and race, inclusiveness and workplace equity. This paper aims at shedding light on the diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) opportunities and challenges of implementing the metaverse in the workplace, and the role played by AI.

This paper draws on our past research on AI and the metaverse and provides insights addressed to human resources (HR) scholars and practitioners.

Our analysis of AI applications to the metaverse in the workplace sheds light on the ambivalent role of and potential trade-offs that may arise with this emerging technology. If used responsibly, the metaverse can enable positive changes concerning the future of work, which can promote DEI. Yet, the same technology can lead to negative DEI outcomes if implementations occur quickly, unsupervised and with a sole focus on efficiencies and productivity (i.e. collecting metrics, models etc.).

Managers and HR leaders should try to be first movers rather than followers when deciding if (or, better, when) to implement metaverse capabilities in their organizations. But how the metaverse is implemented will be strategic. This involves choices concerning the degree of invasive/pervasive monitoring (internal) as well as make or buy decisions concerning outsourcing AI capabilities.

Our paper is one among few (to date) that discusses AI capabilities in the metaverse at the intersection of the HR and information systems(IS) literature and that specifically tackles DEI issues. Also, we take a “balanced” approach when evaluating the metaverse from a DEI perspective. While most studies either demonize or celebrate these technologies from an ethical and DEI standpoint, we aim to highlight challenges and opportunities, with the goal to guide scholars and practitioners towards a responsible use of the metaverse in organizations.

This study aims to reflect on the future of work dimensions through the new concept of inclusive organizational behaviour (IOB) and its practices.

This work is a reflective concept development paper that focuses on new dimensions of organizational behaviour (OB) exploring IOB practices in the new workplace which can broaden the concept of OB that fits into the future of work.

The IOB practices will adapt and help in adapting to the new work dynamics that can create more humane and stimulating workplaces, thereby benefiting society at large. Individual positive psychological traits, team dynamics and a fusion of digital corporate culture with a human-centric approach and sustainability are highlighted in the redefined IOB, expanding the concept of OB from the three levels of analysis (individual, group and the entire organization’s behaviour) in the new normal post-COVID situation.

Limited research studies are being conducted to investigate the future of work dynamics in the new standard post-COVID environment, which is dominated by digitization. The lack of literature and the changing situations that impact OB are the limitations.

Corporate houses, policymakers and leaders who understand the workplace dynamics in the post-COVID scenario can effectively leverage the insights from this work and may chalk out a road map for future work through IOB practices.

This research extends knowledge pertaining to IOB practices and the changing dynamics that need to be followed in the future OB practices.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the incorporation, prioritization and depth of equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) initiatives in tourism industry restart policies of Canadian provinces and territories. This study investigates how the detailing of EDI in policies determine the priority in emancipating tourism workers from the inequities exacerbated during the pandemic. Such investigation enables a better understanding of the complexities, tendencies and rationale of involving EDI in the tourism industry’s recovery.

The research investigated the presence and prioritization of equity, diversity, and inclusion using systematic text analytics of 38 publicly available restart plans and statements from 52 government and non-government agencies. Using web-based software Voyant Tools to assist in text analytics, a hybrid deductive-inductive coding approach was conducted.

Key outcomes from the analysis revealed scarce to no full and dedicated content on EDI as a holistic initiative necessary for tourism industry relaunch. This lack of EDI content was a result of the greater impetus to prioritize economic generation and limited data due to practical and ideological issues. Results also suggested the tokenizing of EDI in some policies.

Difficulties in data used for research include the lack and availability of restart policies specifically for tourism; most policies were generalized and referred to economic recovery as a whole. Studies of tourism-specific EDI issues were also limited.

The research is revelatory for investigating EDI prioritizations in restart policies even among well-developed and worker-diverse tourism industries such as in Canada, where inequities and injustices to women, Black, Indigenous, gender-diverse, and newcomer tourism workers among others have been withstanding.

Neurodivergent employees have atypical needs that require distinctive leadership approaches. In this study, the specific nature of a relationship between neurodivergent employees and their neurotypical leaders is explored through the lens of the leader–member exchange (LMX) theory.

This two-phased qualitative study builds on 12 semi-structured interviews with neurodivergent employees and an unstructured focus group with 15 individuals with professional and/or personal interest in neurodiversity. The researcher spent almost 13 h listening to the lived experiences of research participants concerning neurodiversity and leadership.

Leaders who exhibit empathy and understanding were noted to provide greater support. The findings also highlight the complexity of neuro-inclusion in the workplace. Specifically, the delicate balance between accommodation and avoiding stigmatization is emphasized, addressing the concerns raised regarding the legal risks associated with neurodivergent inclusion. Additionally, the findings underscore the necessity for leaders to avoid patronizing behaviors while catering to the diverse needs of neurodivergent employees. This underscores the importance of supporting both neurodivergent employees and leaders navigating such challenges.

The findings help establish inclusive and accommodating employee relations practices that conscientiously address the requirements of neurodivergent employees while providing support for those in leadership roles.

This study constitutes a direct answer to recent calls to develop a more nuanced understanding of workplace neurodiversity, with a specific focus on neuro-inclusive leadership. Acknowledging that we still use inappropriate, old tools in new situations that require novel approaches to leadership helps set the agenda for future research in this area.

The purpose of this paper is to understand how those involved in executive pay determination in large publicly quoted UK businesses see the role of diversity within remuneration committees (Remcos) as enabling the input of different perspectives, which can enhance their decision-making and potentially improve pay outcomes.

Qualitative, semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 18 high-profile major-enterprise decision-makers and their advisers, i.e. non-executive directors (NEDs) serving Remcos, institutional investors, executive pay consultants and internal human resources (HR) reward specialists, together with data from three focus groups with 10 further reward management practitioners.

Remco members recognise the benefits of social category/demographic diversity but say the likelihood of increasing this is low, given talent pipeline issues. The widening of value diversity is considered problematic for Remcos’ functioning. Informational diversity is used as a proxy for social category/demographic diversity to improve Remcos’ decision-making on executive pay. While the inclusion of members from wider social networks is recognised as potentially bringing a different informational perspective, the social character of Remcos, reflecting their elite nature and experience of wealth, appears ingrained.

Our original contribution is to extend the application of upper echelons theory in the context of Remco decision-making to explain why members do not welcome widening informational diversity by appointing people from different social networks who lack value similarity. Instead, by drawing views from employees, HR acts as a proxy for social network informational diversity. The elite, upper-echelons nature of Remco appointments remains unchanged and team functioning is not disrupted.