Allyship: Why We Need to Work Together to Bring About Real Change

Mixing actual office hours with some time spent working remotely, often from home has become the norm. This occurred during the peak of COVID-19 pandemic due to digital technology. Many people as well as organisations now prefer it. Employers must first mitigate its unintended consequences so that they can benefit from it.

Fewer than 5% of UK workers regularly worked from their own homes before COVID and just 66% of employers didn’t have this option for any or only a tenth of their workforce. However, according to ONS statistics for July 2022, the number of people in the country who did homework has increased by more than two times between October – December 2019 and January – March 2022; reaching to 4.7 million by July.

However, going forward, while there are employees who would like to work entirely from home at present and in future; most want a mix; there are those days when one is in an organisation’s place and others they do it from their houses What is this? It simply means that hybrid work allows an employee to enjoy both benefits regarding freedom of location but without jeopardising relationships built through employment. Furthermore, making your talent pool larger—e.g., extending where you recruit employees geographically.

However, hybrid working arrangements can have negative side effects. Among these are creation of two different levels among workers.

CIPD cautioned last year against UK turning into “two-tier” society where certain parts were already camouflaged as flexible “notspots”, according to Office for National Statistics' Labour Force Survey analysis.

In addition, even within one firm there may be two different kinds of jobs: workers physically located at the company’s offices and remote ones. Clear disparities exist if on-site people get privileges which other remote colleagues cannot access while out-of-sight remote staffs experience little visibility or appreciation. These impair individual career prospects such as promotion and progression rates within organisations. Yet, it can also damage a company by accelerating turnover and reducing productivity while inflaming worker grievances and distrust.

Some groups will be disproportionately disadvantaged – for example women are 26% more likely to apply for remote work than men. In one study, college educated women with young children said they wanted to work from home 50% more often than men did. Similarly, younger employees especially those at an early stage of their careers where there is so much learning simply through the physical presence of others or mentoring is best done in person.

Moreover, some already underrepresented minorities may be negatively affected. For instance, different studies have found that digital access varies greatly by race, location and income level. Also, hybrid working would present difficulties to underserved communities who lack space and technology,

However, if a two-tiered labor force includes ethnic minorities as well as people living in rural areas or without wealth then diversity equity & inclusion (DEI) goals may become unattainable for many organisations today that try hard towards them.

This makes it necessary for business to address hybrid equity concerns thus. Hence, a plan should be formulated to achieve a truly inclusive hybrid workforce by considering which of the following:

Eliminate Relationship Bias: Do not underrate those who are not physically present in favor of office goers. For instance, let no one be left out on remote participation during hybrid meeting. For example, Google’s approach to inclusivity is centred around ‘collaborative equity.’ This means that everyone has access to the tools, resources and information they need in order to collaborate with their teams and do their job in an efficient manner. This involves asking remote participants for their opinions, using interactive tools to enhance inclusiveness in conversations and making meetings as open as possible.

Inclusive Culture Promotion: It helps because there must be a good culture within the workplace so that every person knows what organisation stands for and moving together. In addition, this can help foster a sense of community among all staff members rather than just those who are present physically. For example, allow remote workers take part in team building activities or find new ones they can join if they cannot be included. However, Culture Amp uses its platform to create clubs based on interests such as knitting, cooking as well as dog appreciation and has Slack channel dedicated for each city where it operates. Consequently Canva maintains Disco — its integrated virtual culture platform that enables colleagues across borders recognise each other.

Advocate Top-down Hybrid Working Approach: Given these circumstances managers may better understand proximity bias thus know how best minimise them consequently increasing their knowledge about off-site workforces and two-tiered dynamics.

Close Your Workforce’s Technological Gap: Provide the necessary devices so that your employees have access regardless of whether they are able or unable meet them while working at home. This is particularly crucial for low-income earners or people living in rural areas with poor infrastructure network connections from which people often commute from far away places every day. Therefore, Google’s hybrid strategy is inclusive and provides the infrastructural base that allows each employee to assist in creating environments whereby they can socialise with their colleagues, foster shared identity by supporting them through flexible office spaces and provide for all necessary resources as well as aid ones.