‘Phased return to work’ or phased set-back for collaboration?

Many employees are finding themselves in a phased return to the office, some are being called back into the office whilst some are told to stay home. Whether those still remote working are comfortable at home or not - permanent home working is forecasted to be detrimental to their long term career prospects as time goes on. 

Three-quarters of C-suite executives expect the typical “core” employees to be back in the office three or more days a week; yet in contrast, nearly three-quarters of 5,000 employees would like to work from home two or more days per week, with more than half wanting at least three days of remote work, a survey by McKinsey report finds (De Smet et al, 2021). Although this statement seems logical for a company wanting to return back to normal, it is problematic for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion strategies that have taken years to build up. And what is ‘normal’ now, anyway?

The idea that core employees return to the workplace first sets up a two-tier system for those working in the office, compared to those working at home. "One fear is definitely the idea that remote workers could be treated as second-class members of an organization, in part because they lose a lot in being unable to be present in the workplace," suggested by Dan Wang, an associate professor of business and sociology at Columbia Business School (Cerullo, 2021). Revealing a real risk for favoritism for in-office workers for companies that are not seeking external guidance on the approach to ‘the new normal’. 

Realistically, these “core” employees, expected to be back in the office three or more days a week, are leadership teams and those more senior. And statistically, we know that leadership teams lack diversity and inclusivity as black employees hold just 1.5% of top management roles in the UK private sector (Palmer, 2020), and we’ve seen women unable to return to the workplace as easily as men due to parenting responsibilities (Cerullo, 2021). Meaning these employees are out of their manager's sight day-to-day and could be passed over for pay increases and promotions, and excluded from meetings, projects and opportunities, compared to the core employees who are in the office and will benefit from more opportunities. . 

Yet, many employees want to work from home, or embrace the new hybrid working mix, of between home and in-office, which organisations now need to navigate. Surely, the old leadership styles need to adapt to the new hybrid working? In order to keep collaboration and diverse teams alive and create equal opportunities for all in their teams, regardless of where they are physically working?

We are helping businesses to build equitable and transparent hybrid working models, policies and guidance. Get in touch to find out about how we have helped other businesses at hello@workwellpcs.co.uk and join our mailing list!

References:

Palmer, S. (2020) Black employees hold just 1.5 per cent of senior roles, research reveals. People Management [online]. Available from: https://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/news/articles/black-employees-hold-just-1-5-per-cent-of-senior-roles#gref 

Cerullo, M. (2021) “Hybrid” return-to-office models could create subcaste of workers. CBS News [online]. Available from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hybrid-return-to-office-models-could-create-subcaste-of-workers/. 

De Smet, A., Downling, B., Mysore, M., and Reich, A. (2021) It’s time for leaders to get real about hybrid. McKinsey & Company [online]. Available from: https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/its-time-for-leaders-to-get-real-about-hybrid