Kim Rader Subject:
How can we build equity in hybrid communities
How Can We Build Equity In Hybrid Communities? [Greeting] As companies increasingly turn to hybrid work, with adoption jumping from 47% to 90% during the pandemic, how can they ensure that every employee—regardless of their physical location—has an equal seat at the table? Combining remote and in-office work brings a new set of organizational dynamics that can impede diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. Employees certainly benefit from the flexibility of hybrid work, which can offer the comfort and focus of working from home as well as the camaraderie and culture of working from an office. Yet there is an undercurrent of concern that those who work mostly from the office will have an implicit advantage over those who do not. For instance, one study found that 62% of supervisors believe full-time remote work is detrimental to employees’ career objectives, and 67% consider remote employees to be more “replaceable” than employees who work in the office. From a management perspective, equity in hybrid environments depends on an employee’s visibility and accessibility to supervisors and those with decision-making power, as well as their ability to navigate relationships and effectively ask for the resources they need. How can we leverage the built environment to facilitate these objectives while reinforcing an inclusive, supportive hybrid work culture? Here, and in upcoming communications, we explore three essential sources of bias within hybrid work environments along with strategies to address them: • •
Organizational bias: Discrepancies in visibility and access between in-office and remote workers. Community bias: Obstacles to building meaningful relationships within a hybrid workforce. 1