Flexible working: the challenges of a two-tier workforce

Combining hours in an actual office setting and a portion of the time remotely, frequently from home, is becoming normal. It happened during the height of the COVID-19 crisis due to digital technology. Many people and organisations are now preferring it. To benefit from it, employers must first deal with its unintended consequences.

Before the pandemic, only about 5% of UK workforce worked primarily from home and 66% of employers did not offer regular working from home at all or offered it to 10% or fewer of their staffs. However, according to ONS figures for July 2022, the number of people in the UK who did their homework more than doubled between October-December 2019 and January-March 2022, reaching 4.7 million people by July.

Although some employees now want to work exclusively from home; this research suggests most would like a mix; some days in the company’s premises while others they do it at their houses Why? Because hybrid work gives both ways best for an employee as regards flexibility in place but without losing out on connection made at work. In addition to that, growing an employer’s talent pool e.g., through extending its geographic recruitment catchment area.

Nonetheless, there may be harmful side effects as a result of hybrid working arrangements. The significance of these include the emergence two tiers among workers.

Last year CIPD issued warning that UK was morphing into two-tier workforce where certain regions were already becoming flexible “notspots”, as exposed by Office for National Statistics' Labour Force Survey analysis.

Furthermore single company can also have a two-tier workforce when there is discrepancy between those who work in-office and remote workers experiences. Obvious disparities exist when people physically present receive perks that those working remotely cannot get hold off or when remote workers are sidelined or ignored due lesser visibility. This negatively affects individuals’ career prospects such as promotion and progression rates within workplaces. However, it can also harm a business by increasing churn and lowering productivity levels as well as fuelling employee resentment and mistrust.

Some groups will be disproportionately disadvantaged – women, for instance, are 26% more likely than men to apply for remote work. In one study, women with college degrees and young children indicated that they want to work from home 50% more frequently than men. Similarly, younger employees particularly those in the early stages of their careers where much is learned just by being around others physically and mentoring works best when done face-to-face.

There is also potential negative impact on different minorities already underrepresented in the workforce. For example, various researches have established that digital access differs significantly between races, regions or income levels. Moreover, underrepresented minorities confront hybrid working challenges like lack of space and technology,

However if ethnic minority populations along with those in rural areas or who lack wealth become part of two-tier labour force then organisations will find it hard to achieve the Diversity Equity and Inclusion goals so many are currently striving towards.

For this reason, it is important for business to deal with hybrid equity issues. Consequently, it is essential that a plan is developed in order to make a hybrid workforce genuinely inclusive by taking into account which of the following:

Avoid Proximity Bias: Do not favor the people who are physically present over those who are absent. For example, do not overrate face-to-face working such as during performance appraisal. Just like no one should feel left out on remote participation in a hybrid meeting. For example, Google’s approach to creating an inclusive workforce focuses on “collaboration equity” whereby every person is provided with resources, tools and knowledge required for collaboration within their teams and performing their work effectively. This involves ensuring that remote participants are asked for their input, using interactive tools to improve inclusiveness in discussions and making meetings as accessible as possible.

Promote Inclusive Culture: It matters because there must be a positive culture at the workplace so that everyone knows what organisation stands for and moving in the same direction. Make sure that this is also open to fostering a sense of community among all employees instead of only those who are physically present. For instance, allow remote workers to participate 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. Thereby Canva maintains an integrated virtual culture platform called Disco where colleagues can give recognition to each other across countries.

Support Top-down Hybrid Working Appoach: By doing so business executives may get acquainted with proximity bias better and learn how better mitigate these disparities thereby gaining more insight into remote working and two-tiered workforce dynamics.

Bridge Your Workforce’s Digital Divide: Provide necessary equipment so that your staff members can have access to them regardless of whether they themselves can afford or not while working remotely. This becomes very important especially for the lower earners and those who reside in and work from rural areas that are not well infrastructured. Inclusive hybrid approach of Google ensures the provision of infrastructure that makes it possible for every employee to help them build environments where they can interact with one another, create shared identity and by this means support each other through flexible office spaces as well as providing them with needed resources and assistance.