As we slowly emerge from the pandemic, there’s one thing we can all agree on: the world of work has been changed forever. With many workplaces either switching to a hybrid approach or going 100% remote, many challenges and opportunities have appeared alongside an increased sense of freedom for employees.
A decentralized workforce has plenty of benefits, from reducing the costs associated with expensive rental offices to giving workers greater flexibility and a better work-life balance. However, the remote working environment can also present hurdles, many of which can hinder your organization’s approach to diversity and inclusion.
Below, we’ll detail 3 great ways you can ensure your diversity and inclusion initiatives aren’t hampered by the remote working revolution.
Replicate the traditional break room
Thankfully, remote working is capable of replicating many aspects of the traditional office-based model. However, there’s a cornerstone of the office experience that seems to have been left behind: human interaction. Lunchrooms and water coolers usually provide an open space for employees to socialize, informally discuss matters both business and personal, and generally decompress from the day’s stresses.
Having spaces like these is crucial for your employee’s health and wellness, so we’d recommend creating virtual ‘breakout zones’ for those who work from home.
Private chat clients like Slack enable workplaces to create their own ‘channels’. Why not consider setting up a few for non-work conversations? A channel to discuss films or music can provide a good common ground for your employees, while a ‘general’ channel can serve as a social hub to chat about anything and everything.
The objective is to ensure all of your employees are able to socialize away from the formalities of an email or zoom meeting. Promote candor and create open forums where employees can be their authentic selves and you’ll ensure they feel included and integrated.
Rethink your hiring process
Diverse and inclusive teams perform better, as years of research on the topic have clearly demonstrated. This is as much true for the individual members of the team as it is for the business as a whole. Don’t make the mistake of being all talk and no action: your company’s attitude to D&I should be reflected in the makeup of your team.
One of the best ways to promote diversity and inclusion is through your hiring process. Remote working enables hiring managers to cast a wider net than ever before. Recruitment is no longer limited to the small radius around the company’s HQ, so why not source your employees from farther afield?
In years gone by you’d have been forgiven for avoiding hiring overseas. You’d have needed to fill in countless forms and cut through enough red tape to discourage even the most dedicated business leaders. Thankfully, this is no longer the case. An employer of record service (Remote has a great explanation of this) can take care of the legal and administrative work, leaving you to focus on onboarding your new team members.
Sourcing your workforce from across the globe will ensure your business is staffed with employees with distinct ranges of experiences, cultural backgrounds, and perspectives on so many things. What better way to promote inclusion than to manage a team representative of the world rather than just the town you’re based in?
Fully embrace worker flexibility
The idea of the 9-5 working days is slowly disappearing (and for good reason!). If your team works remotely, it’s worth questioning whether every employee should be confined to such a rigid framework. Some people like it, of course, but you don’t need to forbid it. Instead, create a system that works for professionals with varying preferences.
To this end, consider implementing ‘core hours’: blocks of time during which all team members are expected to work. This is handy for events that require all your employees (such as company meetings or project-planning sessions). These core hours can then be bookended by flexible start and finish times, allowing workers to begin and end their days earlier or later than usual.
Giving your team members the autonomy to complete tasks on their own time will help them balance work and life, increasing happiness and promoting productivity. Want to make the transition to flexi-time as smooth as possible? Time management software like Float can help team leaders monitor employee productivity, and task handling systems such as Asana can ensure workers are able to manage their days effectively, no matter their schedules.
Remote working provides a fantastic foundation for diversity and inclusion initiatives, so it’s just a matter of building on it. Hopefully, we’ve provided you with some good starting points that you can implement within your own team. For more pointers on inclusivity, check out our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Guide.
