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Table of Contents
- Introduction: A Pivotal Moment to Transform the Way We Work
- Five Key Principles for Designing an Equitable and Effective Future of Work
- I. Doing Digital Work Right (Digital and Hybrid Workplaces)
- II. “Be Awesome at Both”—Make the Most of Hybrid Digital & In-Person Work
- III. Make Essential Work Good Work
- IV. Human-centered Public Policies are Good for Business
- V. Case Studies
- VI. Resources
I. Doing Digital Work Right (Digital and Hybrid Workplaces)
Digital Work is Here to Stay
Under extremely trying circumstances during the pandemic, worker productivity actually rose. Many workers working digitally actually put in longer hours, but reported feeling happier and more in control of that time. So much so that workers say they value the flexibility that digital work gives them, equivalent to a 7 percent pay raise. Surveys show that more than 40 percent of the U.S. workforce would start looking for another job or quit immediately if ordered to return to office full time.
Before the pandemic, flexible, digital work was stigmatized as something lesser workers, mothers, or caregivers did. This attitude still prevails, most notably in places like Goldman Sachs and—obviously—WeWork, where CEOs have called for 100 percent return to in-office and maintained that the best and most committed workers will be the ones who’ll come back and be in the office full time. That attitude reinforces pre-pandemic “ideal worker” norms—that the best workers put work first—that typically have favored the ascension largely of white men.
Planning
- Go Slow and Be Intentional
As Stanford economist Nick Bloom says, “We’re in the middle of a revolution in the way we work.” Just 2 percent of the workforce worked digitally before the pandemic. After two years and counting of working differently in the pandemic, a majority of employees who can, want either a fully digital or a hybrid work arrangement. Essential workers want the option of doing some administrative tasks offsite digitally. And a majority of companies say they’re planning to make that transition. - Get the Digital Tools Right
Digital work will only work if workers have proper equipment, good space to work in, reliable internet connections and training to use digital tools. Make that happen, with audits, assessments, and subsidies, where needed. - Watch Your Language
Try not to use the word “remote” to describe digital work. That implies the “real” work is done in an office. Instead, think of a “distributed” digital network work model, where the work doesn’t rely on being done in a particular place. - Survey Staff and Respond to their Needs
Start by understanding where people are and what they need. Different groups may want and need different work arrangements. When a number of firms began announcing return to worksite plans in the past two years, many hadn’t asked their employees about what they needed or wanted, and didn’t seem to realize that many childcare facilities were still not open or closed for good, that summer camps weren’t running and school plans were still uncertain. That fostered ill-will, and the sense that employers were out of touch or uncaring about the lives of employees—a moral injury that could drive workers away. - Communicate Transparently
Give at least 30 to 45 days of advance notice of any change of work model. That employees are brought in on the planning and thinking through the model, the reasoning made clear. And that there is regular evaluation, feedback and adapting. Be honest that no one has this figured out, and we need to figure it out together as we go.
Digital Work Hygiene
- Divide Time Between Collaboration and Concentrated Work
Decide when and how your team will collaborate. Will your team have “core hours” where everyone is expected to work synchronously? Dropbox, which has shifted to a “virtual first” company, asks employees to be online between 9 am and 1 pm Pacific for collaborative work. Will you “time shift” to accommodate different time zones or work-family schedules? - Protect Time for Concentrated Work
Digital work heightens the focus on tasks. Set priorities and communicate them, then schedule work blocks of 30 to 90 minutes in your calendar to share with your team. If something comes up, move the blocks. That will help ensure the most important work gets done and not spill over into evenings and weekends and workers can have time for their lives. - Practice Good Meeting Hygiene
No, you don’t need an hour and a half meeting every week because you’ve always had one. No, not everyone needs to be invited. Be deliberate about when and how long to meet. Every meeting should have a purpose, action and outcome. Prioritize discussion, debate, collaboration, ideation, and decisions. All other work can be done asynchronously. And be mindful of Zoom fatigue and meeting overload across organizations. Some organizations, like Citigroup, have instituted Zoom/meeting-free Fridays. And give people the choice to appear on screen or off. - Set Availability Protocols
One of the biggest sources of stress and anxiety for workers is anticipating an after-hours email from a boss. And, the pandemic showed that many workers tended to work longer or extended hours because communications protocols weren’t clearly defined. We all want to relieve cognitive load and get a thought into an email or Slack message, but workers wondering if they need to respond to a manager’s email leaves the brain in a hyper vigilant mode and can lead to burnout. Set times to communicate and be clear when responses are expected. Consider having team members communicate with weekly write ups—what they planned to do, what they did, rather than over-rely on meetings or synchronous work out of habit. - Make Boundary Management a Priority
Avoid what can often feel like an endless, “shapeless work day,” as the American Psychological Association calls it. Normalize taking breaks throughout the day. Clearer expectations and communication and focus on tasks can empower workers to decide they’ve done enough for the day and log off. Set rituals to both begin and end the work day and create better boundaries between work and life. And encourage taking time to rest, reset and have a life, on weekends and on vacation.
Balancing Paid and Unpaid Work at Home
A majority of working Americans are also caregivers, responsible for the care of children, aging parents, or other loved ones. And the bulk of the responsibility still falls on women. Before the pandemic, women spent about twice the amount of time as men on caregiving and the unpaid labor of running households. Throughout the pandemic, research found that, while many men did increase the time they spent on care and housework, women’s time and heavy responsibility increased exponentially. In making the shift to digital and hybrid work, at work, managers must be aware of this cultural dynamic and use the new tools of flexibility, performance-based management and time shifting to support and fairly review caregiving workers, particularly women. And at home, families must continue to raise awareness and work together to create systems to more fairly share the load of unpaid labor at home. Tools like Better Life Lab Experiments, and Fair Play can be a good place to start, as well as resources at ThirdPath Institute.
Manage in a New Way
- Train for Performance and Output Management, not Attendance and Hours
Too many offices and managers rely on “input” management styles, using long work hours and face time—virtually or in real life—as a marker of good work. That’s reinforced biased notions of who a good worker is and who gets promoted, typically men and those without care responsibilities. Manage instead by outputs. That will require dissecting jobs into tasks and setting clear priorities, expectations, standards, and goals, being flexible and adapting to changing conditions, and managing excessive work demands. - Design Systems that Promote Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Especially now, when millions of women and those with caregiving responsibilities—particularly women of color and single mothers—remain out of the workforce because of a lack of childcare, make sure that you prioritize making flexible digital work work for everyone. Systematic, evidence-based approaches to hiring and retaining employees, assigning tasks and growth assignments, and giving promotions can break down the confirmation bias—leaders favoring those who think, look, and act like them—that is so rampant in workplaces, and build the best, most effective workforce. Where possible, use blind résumé review, structured interviews, and base reviews and promotions on clear performance metrics and expectations. - Screens Can Be an Equalizer
Surveys show that more workers of color favor digital work than their white peers. They cite a reduction in stress from microaggressions and code-switching and a greater sense of belonging and that digital work, done well, is more equitable. Pregnant and disabled and neurodivergent workers report that digital work keeps the focus on their work, performance, and contributions, not on their situation or condition, which can spur unconscious bias, disadvantage, and all-too-common discrimination. The flexibility to control their own schedule and work at times when they are at their best, as well as avoiding what can be arduous commutes, enables many workers to be more productive.Everyone’s head is the same size in a virtual window. It’s easy to turn on live transcript functions. It’s easier to be more intentionally inclusive in conversations and meetings—to see who’s talking and when, to track and give credit to the person with the new idea rather than the typical dynamic of a male, white, or more senior person who later says the same thing and gets acknowledged.
- Build and Maintain an Empathetic Culture
Know your team and their caregiving and other responsibilities and interests outside of work. Give grace and space. Expand virtual mentoring and networking opportunities to create authentic connections. Support not just physical health and wellbeing, but mental health. Trust. Don’t micromanage or surveil. During the pandemic, surveillance software, known as “bossware” or “tattleware,” that takes screenshots or tracks employee keystrokes, skyrocketed 50 percent. But that kind of mistrust can dampen morale, lower job satisfaction, and lead to higher turnover. - Flexibility is for Everybody
Prior to the pandemic, flexible work was often stigmatized as something for women, mothers, or caregivers, an accommodation for “lesser” workers. That wasn’t true then, it certainly isn’t true now. Recognize that surveys show most workers want and need flexibility and control, where possible, over the time, manner, and place of work.
Will Digital Work Kill Innovation?
It may come as a surprise that, despite the conventional wisdom and all the handwringing that digital work will mean less innovation, research has found that brainstorming and innovation is actually better in a virtual setting. No one person tends to dominate the sessions. The right virtual tools, anonymity, and the ability to think, process, and contribute over time in an asynchronous manner leads to more creative thinking and solutions.
OK, but what about random serendipitous collisions and “hallway moments” that can spark fresh ideas? Well, in truth, though those collisions may have been few and far between—and likely reinforced status and privilege. At heart, these moments of serendipity are all about nurturing meaningful social connections. That takes more effort, but it can be done in a virtual setting. Teams can create informal “huddle time” after formal virtual meetings to debrief, as Harvard Business School’s Ashley Whillans and Leslie Perlow write. And ideas can continue to flow with asynchronous tools like Slack or messaging apps.