Remote v office workers: the push for equitable experiences 

More than two years since the first Covid lock­down, many com­pa­nies are embrac­ing hybrid work set-ups. How­ev­er, this has cre­at­ed a new con­cern for lead­er­ship teams: pre­vent­ing divi­sions between remote and in-office employ­ees. 

While com­pa­nies adapt­ed well to the ‘new nor­mal’ of remote work­ing, some are strug­gling to make the work­place equi­table for all. There’s a risk that those who show up at the office and are con­sid­ered ‘vis­i­ble’ will be favoured by lead­er­ship teams over those who choose to work remote­ly.

A sur­vey by Future Forum pub­lished in Jan­u­ary found that 41% of exec­u­tives are wor­ried about prox­im­i­ty bias and favouritism towards in-office col­leagues creep­ing into their busi­ness. This fig­ure was up from 33% three months ear­li­er. 

Keep everyone in the loop

So how can employ­ers deliv­er equi­table expe­ri­ences? First, lead­er­ship teams should ensure they don’t con­fuse equi­ty with equal­i­ty. There’s a sub­tle dis­tinc­tion. Equal­i­ty means every­one is treat­ed the same way regard­less of indi­vid­ual dif­fer­ences, while equi­ty is about giv­ing each indi­vid­ual what­ev­er they need to achieve the same out­come. 

“Equi­ty in the hybrid work­place isn’t about treat­ing every sin­gle per­son the same. Instead, it’s about ensur­ing that every­one has the tools, sup­port and envi­ron­ment – be that phys­i­cal, vir­tu­al, or a com­bi­na­tion of both – to enable them to thrive at work,” explains Kel­ly Met­calf, head of diver­si­ty, inclu­sion and well­be­ing at Fujit­su.

Maria Camp­bell is vice pres­i­dent of peo­ple at fin­tech start­up Grif­fin, and pre­vi­ous­ly held a sim­i­lar role at Mon­zo. “Equi­ty is about mak­ing sure every­one gets a seat at the table, and now the metaphor­i­cal table is half in-office and half on-screen.”

This means the impor­tant con­ver­sa­tions should take place online by default, adds Camp­bell. All key deci­sions and process­es should be doc­u­ment­ed and made acces­si­ble to all employ­ees regard­less of their loca­tion. This helps ensure that those work­ing remote­ly are in the loop and feel as val­ued as their col­leagues in the office. 

Lead with empathy

All employ­ees crave a sense of belong­ing. It’s always been a dri­ver of work­place hap­pi­ness, but the pan­dem­ic crys­tallised its impor­tance. Belong­ing increased employ­ee hap­pi­ness by 12% on aver­age in the first few months of the cri­sis, accord­ing to research by employ­ee engage­ment plat­form Glint. 

Com­pa­nies now need to pre­serve that cama­raderie. Lead­er­ship teams must man­age their hybrid work­forces with empa­thy. Dif­fer­ent peo­ple will have dif­fer­ent work­ing pref­er­ences, while cer­tain per­son­al cir­cum­stances may mean it’s eas­i­er for some to spend most of their week work­ing from home. Lead­er­ship teams must avoid giv­ing pref­er­en­tial treat­ment to those who come into the office more reg­u­lar­ly. 

Fujit­su, for exam­ple, doesn’t ask its employ­ees to come into the office for a fixed num­ber of days per week. Rather, it’s agreed between each work­er and their line man­ag­er based on cir­cum­stances, pref­er­ences, and the scope of their job role. 

Legal tech­nol­o­gy firm Juro has cre­at­ed two ben­e­fits pack­ages for its employ­ees. One is for employ­ees who pre­fer to work in-office; it focus­es on help­ing with com­mut­ing and access to social events. For those who want to be remote-first, anoth­er pack­age pro­vides them with access to a bud­get cov­er­ing office equip­ment pur­chas­es and Wi-Fi costs. 

Ben­e­fits aside, there’s a non-nego­tiable ser­vice that all employ­ees should receive: men­tal health sup­port. 

“Pri­ori­tis­ing men­tal health in the hybrid work­place is crit­i­cal to ensur­ing your employ­ees can achieve their best and feel that sense of belong­ing,” says Tara Ataya, chief peo­ple and diver­si­ty offi­cer at Hoot­suite.

The social media man­age­ment plat­form expand­ed its men­tal health ben­e­fits six-fold in 2021, pro­vid­ing 100% cov­er­age for men­tal health sup­port in the US. These steps meant employ­ees could vis­it the best prac­ti­tion­er that aligned with their needs, accord­ing to Ataya.

Consider career progression

Cre­at­ing equi­table expe­ri­ences is all well and good but the hard work will be undone with­out par­i­ty in career pro­gres­sion. Fujit­su has tak­en steps to guard against favour­ing 

employ­ees who are more vis­i­ble in per­son. This means those who pre­fer to work remote­ly don’t feel they need to be present in an office to get a pro­mo­tion, says Met­calf.  

An easy and effec­tive way com­pa­nies can ques­tion their own bias­es is by sim­ply track­ing rates of pro­gres­sion with­in the com­pa­ny, learn­ing who may have been over­looked for pro­mo­tions. 

No employ­ee pro­mo­tion pol­i­cy will be per­fect, but by being trans­par­ent and demon­strat­ing to employ­ees that hybrid equi­ty is on management’s radar, com­pa­nies can cre­ate a place where peo­ple will want to work, says Ataya. Ulti­mate­ly, this will make a com­pa­ny more inclu­sive and should lead to diverse hires. 

If com­pa­nies fail to cre­ate equi­table expe­ri­ences for all employ­ees regard­less of their loca­tion, cer­tain groups may not feel includ­ed, espe­cial­ly those from under­rep­re­sent­ed back­grounds. This could lead to brain drain. 

“Com­pa­nies who embrace equi­ty suc­cess­ful­ly will thrive, and those who don’t will end up los­ing valu­able peo­ple to a fierce­ly com­pet­i­tive tal­ent mar­ket,” stress­es Camp­bell. 

“Com­pa­nies need to active­ly ensure that remote employ­ees feel as val­ued and heard as their col­leagues in the office. If they don’t, they may end up cre­at­ing new inequities and divi­sions at work.”