DE&I and hybrid working

You don’t fit in, and you know it. Every morning before work, the sinking feeling begins. Filled with hope, but worried about the microaggressions coming your way.

For black, Asian and other ethnic minorities, women and neurodiverse people, the professional world can be a dispiriting place to work.

This article shows leaders how to develop diverse, equitable and inclusive workforces that thrive in a hybrid working environment.

Race, gender, and age affect your remote working experience

If you’re a woman, you’re less likely to have enjoyed remote working, according to research. Female employees reported experiencing longer, unsociable hours and fewer opportunities to build valuable work relationships.¹

While working remotely during the pandemic, black knowledge workers saw a 64% improvement in their ability to manage stress and a 25% greater improvement in their work-life balance. One of the key reasons is the reduced pressure to ‘code-switch’ at home, compared to the office.² By contrast, younger employees were more productive in the office. Nearly two-fifths (38%) of workers aged 18 to 49 years old felt too distracted while working from home, compared to employees aged 50 and older.³

Does hybrid working lead to exclusion?

Working in the office is a tried-and-tested way to build strong, collaborative relationships with managers and key decision-makers. As a result, it could lead to an imbalance in the career progression opportunities presented to office-based workers vs remote employees.4

The Society for Human Resource Management, found that nearly 70% of managers believe remote workers are “more easily replaceable than onsite workers.” By shunning people who prefer to work from home frequently, leaders risk excluding many of their diverse talent from promotions and leadership positions and harming business growth. Companies with more diverse management teams have 19% higher revenues from innovation, with EBIT margins 9% higher than below-average companies.5

How to build diverse and inclusive hybrid teams

Empowering your employees’ identities is at the heart of inclusion. It shapes how they think, feel and behave at work. Leaders must create a culture that respects their team’s identity and builds their sense of belonging to the wider organisation.

Here are examples of how to achieve this, using MindGym’s scientifically proven four cornerstones approach:

1. Recognise your team’s headwinds and tailwinds

Every person has unique qualities, but not all differences are equal in weight. Some personal traits are headwinds, which make it harder for an individual to progress in work or life. Other attributes are tailwinds, which gives that person an advantage.

In a hybrid team, someone regarded as an “in office” worker, who has a knack for forming strong connections with key organisational figures, has a tailwind that lets them climb up the ladder quicker. This is an advantage home-based workers are unlikely to have.

As a leader, encourage your whole team to acknowledge their own headwinds and tailwinds, and how they can use their advantages to help others who are less fortunate.

2. Mitigate against bias

Rather than trying to eradicate biases, leaders should focus on improving your team’s judgement. Through creating inclusive workplace habits and nudges, leaders can prevent unconscious bias from dictating decision making.

3. Managers can do the following:

• Ensure everyone in a meeting gets time to speak
• Giving priority to the remote workers for informal chats
• Include people working from home in team building exercises and networking opportunities

4. Everyone is responsible for inclusion

Leaders must make it clear that both hybrid and full office-based people are responsible for challenging and reporting incidences of discrimination and exclusion at work.

Being a ‘hybrid’ worker is a new identity and includes people who historically never felt excluded. Being someone that works at home more than others can quickly lead to a feeling that they are being “cut out” of major decision-making conversations. When this feeling spreads across the group, those at home and in the office become adversaries rather than teammates.

5. Evaluate mistakes objectively and transparently

Managers need to develop a robust framework for distinguishing between an unfortunate mistake vs intentionally malicious behaviour, and create appropriate punishments that reflect both. The key is to be transparent and demonstrate to employees that you’re truly taking DE&I seriously.

Microaggressions and offensive behaviour are common when using videoconferencing and text-based messaging tools. Unlike in-person discussions, remote conversations feel distant. It’s difficult to pick up on body language and other social cues, which leads to misinterpretation and uncomfortable situations.

Together, these four tips form a solid framework that encourages inclusion and unity within hybrid working teams. Discover more science-backed insights for leading an inclusive and high-performing hybrid team by watching our free webinar Happy with Hybrid.

References:

1. Kathy Gurchiek, “Viewpoint on Remote Work Depends on Gender, Ethnicity, Industry,” Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) (Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), August 19, 2021), https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/hr-news/pages/viewpoint-on-remote-work-depends-on-gender-ethnicity-industry.aspx.
2. “Winning the ‘War for Talent’ in the Post-Pandemic World.” Future Forum Pulse Whitepaper June 2021. Future Forum, June 2021. https://futureforum.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Future-Forum-Pulse-Whitepaper-June-2021-1.pdf.
3. Parker, Kim, Juliana Menasce Horowitz, and Rachel Minkin. “How Coronavirus Has Changed the Way Americans Work.” Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends Project. Pew Research Center, May 25, 2021. https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/12/09/how-the-coronavirus-outbreak-has-and-hasnt-changed-the-way-americans-work/.
4. Yang, L., Holtz, D., Jaffe, S. et al. The effects of remote work on collaboration among information workers. Nat Hum Behav (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01196-4
5. Lorenzo, R., Voigt, N., Tsusaka, M., Krentz, M., & Abouzahr, K. (2018). How diverse leadership teams boost innovation. Boston Consulting Group, January, 23.