If the pandemic has been good for one thing, it’s that it has finally showed us a better way of living where we can integrate our professional livelihood with our personal lives, family commitments and non-work related goals. The pandemic has forced us to reconsider the workplace, and employers have finally had to adopt measures that some employees, such as those who are disabled, have been advocating for years; a flexible, hybrid workplace.
Organisations that willingly give the option of hybrid working to their employees will reap their own benefits; they will be more appealing to potential applicants, they will have a lower rate of employee turnover, and their employees are less likely to suffer from burnout so their quality of work will be better. Crucially, it will also help to diversify their employee pool as it offers more opportunities for people to work in a way that suits them. That’s without even mentioning the money saved on office space!
On top of this, as you are likely aware by now, a hybrid workforce appeals to almost everyone in some shape or form – and you’re probably one of them. It will offer more opportunities to a wider group of employees and potential employees and retain individuals who might have left as it opens doors to those who might need to stay home, perhaps due to childcare responsibilities or those who are disabled or have chronic illnesses. It gives employees more opportunities about where to live if they’re not consistently required in the office, meaning that individuals who cannot afford to (or do not wish to) live in a city can still work in a central location. Additionally, it appeals to individuals who have hobbies and interests that two hours of travelling a day into the office significantly detracts from. The potential for a genuinely enjoyable work/life balance is finally within reach. These are just a few of the key areas that we can identify where hybrid working caters to the individual; undoubtedly there will be hundreds more reasons why hybrid working will be the better option for employees everywhere.
However, whilst the switch to home working at the beginning of the pandemic was abrupt, we need to make sure that the transition back to a hybrid split of home/office working is carried out intentionally and systematically. There are risks associated with badly executed hybrid working, particularly in the context of exacerbating existing inequalities, or even creating new divides between groups of people. To mitigate and decrease the likelihood of a dichotomised workforce, we need managers who lead inclusively and hybrid working policies that have diversity, equity and inclusion at the heart of them.
Presenteeism: One practice that we need to consider as we move toward a hybrid workforce is that of presenteeism, which occurs far more than we may expect. Flexible and/or hybrid workers are often unfairly seen as less committed, and those who work long hours in the office are often seen as the best and most valuable employees. On top of this, the “mere exposure effect” means that people are more likely to feel an affinity with people they’re familiar with – so before you know it, managers are unconsciously favouring the employees they often see in person and these individuals are the ones benefitting from promotions and pay rises. Being in the office has long been known to be associated with career progression. This is, of course, going to pose a problem for employees who spend less time in the physical workplace – be this due to commitments, health or even a preference towards introversion – but regardless of this, it’s actually a misguided way of judging employee value. It’s important for managers to focus on output and not input – after all, it makes sense that the employee who gets the job done well in half the time is the most valuable!
Magnifying unconscious bias: If it’s not managed well, hybrid working can actually serve to exacerbate existing biases and presumptions about certain individuals in the workplace. Remote working is most likely to be taken up by women as they typically shoulder the majority of the care burden, and thus due to the effects of presenteeism, working parents are more likely to be seen as “less committed” to their job and will miss out on crucial opportunities. This is also true for disabled employees who may choose to work from home more often to cater to their personal circumstances. Unfortunately, this means that the individuals who often already suffer from a lack of career progression opportunities could see this magnified unless inclusive hybrid working policies are put into place. If hybrid working isn’t implemented with D&I at the core of its policies, it could become ‘the worst of both worlds’ (9).
Divide between office and remote workers: A split workforce needs careful thought. There’s actually a significant level of privilege associated with working in an office – it assumes that someone can afford to live in bigger cities or pay significant transport costs, have good daily health or are able bodied, and can afford childcare. This means that the proportion of employees who choose to work remotely are likely to be more diverse from the baseline population, and this could create an ever-widening privilege gap (2). On top of this – as we already know, these employees already typically suffer the most in career progression, and this could be exacerbated. As more male and able-bodied workers are most likely to return to the office, they’ll reap the benefits of presenteeism, creating a two-tiered workforce.
There is also the problem of a potential split between home and office workers that could result in in-group and out-group bias, where one feels more closely affiliated with individuals who closely resemble them. This could lead to reduced levels of collaboration within hybrid working teams, and even increase the potential for conflict if unconscious biases go unchecked. As we’ve all discovered over the past year, connecting with people over video calls is much harder than in real life – it feels stilted, artificial and forced, and makes it difficult to form new relationships. This means that employees are more likely to reinvest in existing relationships rather than fostering new ones with remote employees, decreasing networking opportunities for home workers. Finally, those who work from home are less likely to engage in those spontaneous ‘water-cooler’ moments which are great sources of bonding and provide fuel for innovative idea generation.
By now it is clear that there are several significant pitfalls that we can fall into if we don’t consciously design our hybrid working policies. Everyone’s circumstances are different, and so it’s unlikely that there will be a “one size fits all” solution, but it will help everyone if we keep inclusivity at the core of our decision making. This means that we need leaders who consistently act inclusively and are well versed in the potential snags of hybrid working.
Recent Deloitte research points to leaders making up to a 70% difference to whether an individual feels included, and inclusivity as a leadership trait is about to be more important than ever as we move towards a split workforce. This means that key characteristics such as empathy and emotional intelligence need to be actively cultivated in leaders through workshops and training to help them manage this new workplace dynamic. It is essential that organisations are mindful that the way they go about this workplace upheaval will affect the different groups of people that they employ (5). As we’ve explored in our previous article surrounding the value of inclusive leadership, traditional leadership models are growing steadily more outdated, and hierarchical models of leadership are beginning to dissipate. The most important trait for managers today is their ability to lead inclusively.
Inclusive leaders will naturally help mitigate some of these hybrid working pitfalls as they’ll be more tuned in to their employees’ specific circumstances. They’ll be more conscious about levelling the playing field for home workers, be more aware of their own presenteeism bias, understand the existing gender, race, ethnicity and disability gaps, and appreciate that these groups need to be prioritised when creating a new hybrid working culture.