Care is needed to ensure the hybrid office works for all

What can companies do to prevent these kinds of hidden inequities as they move toward a future where remote work is fully blended into how we do business? The solution isn’t to reject a hybrid approach, but it’s critical that companies bring the same deliberation and care to ensuring equitable hybrid work as they bring to designing an approach that maximizes productivity and efficiency. The ongoing reconfiguration of work offers an opportunity for organizations to step back and reflect on their systems and processes. In surveying executive women for our recent book, Glass Half Broken: Shattering the Barriers That Still Hold Women Back at Work, we found that the vast majority saw embedded gender bias as a continued barrier to women’s advancement across all aspects of people management, from hiring to compensation to promotion and retention. They told us that companies in their fields were not doing nearly enough to engage and retain women employees. Indeed, many recounted how they gradually became the only woman in the room as their female peers got stuck in middle management. Without attention, these patterns will persist and even worsen in the workplace of the future, but it is possible to leverage this moment of unprecedented transition to forge a different path.

It starts with taking a clear-eyed look at both formal processes and informal practices. The survey we conducted with executive women was carried out pre-pandemic, and revealed that core HR processes, such as interviewing, performance evaluation and promotion, were already skewed in ways that produced systematic disadvantages for people in the minority. In a world where these processes are being reshaped by digital tools, it’s more urgent than ever that companies understand how to mitigate and prevent these structural inequities. (This is why our book takes an action-oriented approach, linking the drivers of bias in seven key management processes with evidence-based measures to combat them.) At the same time, it’s never been more important for individual managers at all levels to practice inclusive leadership and ensure that the good intentions behind equitable policies and practices are carried out effectively. Network structures are a crucial intervention point for addressing both structural and cultural disparities, because differences in male and female networks can translate into differential access to opportunities.

Research has demonstrated that when diverse groups of employees collaborate on meaningful shared goals, connections deepen and people are able to appreciate and learn from one another’s different perspectives. However, fostering inclusion through meaningful connections requires more than just a reliance on virtual or in-person social events.  Social activities can encourage or spark bonds, but opportunities for substantive collaboration are key relationship building blocks. How managers treat employees also matters for people’s ability to build robust networks. Are only certain team members seen as “go-to” employees for important projects? Are the people receiving informal mentoring and advice those who look like their managers? These patterns send subtle (and not so subtle) messages about who is valued and worth knowing, which lead to some employees becoming isolated and others being seen as central to the most important work.

There has never been a more important time to step back and examine what’s really happening as people move through your organization. According to recently released research, one in three women in America has considered stepping out of the workforce or ratcheting back their careers in the past year, as compared to one in four women in early 2020. Hybrid offices have the potential to steer us back toward work environments that are truly inclusive and enable everyone to thrive or, alternatively, to widen gaps that are rolling back progress. It’s up to us to choose which future we want to create.