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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
II. “Be Awesome at Both”—Make the Most of Hybrid Digital & In-Person Work
Avoid Creating a Two-Tier Workforce
Hybrid work presents a particular challenge for equity. If, as surveys show, most managers prefer more in-person work, and women, caregivers, workers of color, and those with ability challenges prefer more digital work, there is a real danger of creating a two-tier workforce as organizations transition to hybrid work. With proximity bias and ideal worker stereotypes already strong in most American workplaces, managers—the majority of whom are white men—could fall into the trap of rewarding workers who come into workplaces and overlook those working in a digital or virtual way. One study found virtual workers had a 50 percent lower promotion rate than their in-office counterparts, regardless of performance. The answer, as Harvard Business School professor Tsedal Neeley says, is for organizations, managers, and workers to learn to “be awesome” at both in-person and digital work. Here’s how.
- Have a Hybrid Plan
Don’t just expect hybrid work to happen. Work with workers, managers, and teams together to decide how best to get the most important work done. How many days in the office? When? Organization wide? By team? Experiment and iterate. Listen and adapt. At Slack, which, like many organizations, has adopted a hybrid future, some teams require more regular in-person collaboration every week. Others schedule one week of being together per quarter. The key is each team has the autonomy to figure it out for themselves, based on the work they do. - See the Office as a Tool
As Harvard Business School professor Tsedal Neeley, an expert in distributed digital and hybrid work strategies, advises, think of the office as a “tool, not a destination,” and leverage the best of both virtual and in-person settings. In the office, focus on purposeful, “hyper social” connecting, meetings, networking, collaborative work, and brainstorming. During digital work time, focus on quiet, concentrated work, writing, research, and written communication. Some companies are using the switch to hybrid work to completely rethink the office. Microsoft, for example, is redesigning its space with people who aren't in the office in mind. - Use Data
Use data to track how tasks are assigned and promotions decided, and assign tasks intentionally, not just to the person who happens to be walking by the boss’s office at the moment. Data can also shed light on who tends to talk in meetings and for how long to create awareness and open the door for more inclusive conversations and ideation—which Boston Consulting Group research shows leads to more innovation. - Leaders Set the Tone
Hybrid plans are likely to fall apart or result in a two-tier workforce without leaders modeling effective hybrid work and communication styles. If managers are always in the office, more junior workers, or those who can, will likely follow suit, which is likely to reinforce confirmation bias and reinforce “good-old-boy” network patterns of promotion and hierarchy. Some companies, like Synchrony Financial, have decided that no one, including the CEO, can work in the office five days a week in order to counter proximity bias. - Zoom One, Zoom All
To leverage how screens can be a great equalizer, some hybrid organizations are sticking with all-virtual meetings and collaborative work settings, where all have access to the same information and communication tools and it’s easy to see and include every participant. Managers can mention they’ll be hanging out online for another five to 10 minutes for anyone who’d like to have a more informal “hallway chat”—that way, digital workers are less likely to be left out of any after-meeting huddles where ideas are shared or decisions can be made. (Which, in fact, is not where ideas should be shared or decisions made. Remember meeting hygiene: discussion, debate, decisions, collaboration, and ideation all should happen during meetings. If not, you need to ask, why are you meeting at all?) - Build Connection with Onboarding, Mentoring, and Sponsorship
Intentionally use in-office days to set up meetings and informal coffees or lunches for new or younger employees, who may be st and the need to belong, to connect them to those more senior in the organization and help build relationships and better understand organizational culture as well as get them and their work “noticed.” Do the same with women and caregivers and workers of color who may feel marginalized or stressed in-office settings.
Learning to Manage in a New Way
Training managers to manage in new ways for equity is a skill to develop, not just something people will instinctively know how to do. “Managing distributed, hybrid and remote workforces requires more intentionality—which, frankly, should have been there in the first place,” said Christy Johnson, founder of the strategic consulting firm Artemis Connection, which itself is a distributed digital, "remote-first" company. “The people doing it best are data-driven.”
Johnson has seen some organizations use the pandemic disruptions to better analyze who is speaking and how much in both virtual and in-person meetings, potentially offering email summaries with metrics for all to review afterwards. Others are promoting more structured mentoring, sponsorship, and networking opportunities. Some are tracking to ensure that promotions and growth assignments are being distributed fairly between in-office and digital workers. “Good managers set smart goals based on outcomes, and it doesn’t matter where people are,” Johnson said. “We aren’t there yet. Many managers still manage by facetime.” And in a hybrid setting, that can mean long hours in the office, or “virtual presence”—long hours logged in or late night or weekend communication. Johnson says that manager training is “highly variable,” and ranges from good, immersive programs that develop concrete skills, like motivating a team or giving good feedback, to “edutainment” with a motivational speaker to nothing at all. “Management training isn’t exciting. And there isn’t a quick fix,” Johnson said. “But we should be equipping more managers with the skills to manage this new way of work. It’s just going to take time.” Some training programs Johnsons recommends, among others, include Nomadic and Kevin Delaney of Charter’s Hybrid Working training, Josh Bersin Academy, The Management Center and programs put out by the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. Family-supportive Supervisor Training, pioneered by researchers Ellen Ernst-Kossek and Leslie Hammer, has been proven to boost the health and wellbeing of workers, as well as increase job satisfaction and intent to stay.