Flexible Work and Gender Equality: Accelerating Inclusive Policies for Women

Flexible work is not gender neutral.

More women want to work from home compared to men – potentially because they are combining work with domestic and childcare responsibilities. Research tells us that when women work flexibly, these responsibilities tend to increase, as can their working hours.

Some forms of flexible working, such as part time work, are dominated by women.  A lack of quality, flexible work (especially part time work) is a contributor to the gender pay gap; too often women have to downshift into roles with fewer responsibilities and less pay in order to access the flexible work that they need.

Flexible work is stigmatized. People undertaking it are often assumed to be less motivated and less productive.  They are different to the ‘ideal worker’ who is able and willing to give full commitment to their work.  Career consequences, such as reduced opportunities for promotion, may result.

Many of these issues are long-standing, but the post-pandemic rise of hybrid work presents new challenges.  Researchers at Kings College identified the risk of a hybrid ceiling, where the reduced visibility resulting from remote work slows career progression.  Early studies on hybrid work from Deloitte have also found that when working hybrid, women feel that they aren’t getting enough exposure to leaders, and they have been excluded from important meetings.

The inclusion paradox

Hybrid and remote work has the potential to support gender inclusion and also work against it.

When women can work remotely, they may be able to avoid an old problem – needing to move to part-time work (sometimes called ‘career death’) to accommodate their childcare responsibilities.  Remote forms of work also allow people to better balance their work and home lives (and those domestic responsibilities which remain gendered).  Remote and hybrid work affords people more time for time with family, for hobbies and exercise, and for friends.  There are therefore considerable wellbeing benefits as well as inclusion ones to flexible forms of work.

When we offer flexible work, we can open up the labour market to those who have previously found themselves excluded from it.  This includes carers and parents as well as disabled workers; in the US the employment of disabled people has increased since the pandemic as a result of working from home.

However, if we don’t make the necessary changes to both ways of working and attitudes and beliefs about flexible work, we create new risks – potentially resulting in worsened gender equality, not better.

The same research that resulted in the idea of the hybrid ceiling also found that women, in order to counter the stereotypes and negative associations found in remote work, felt pressure to work even harder to ‘prove’ themselves worthy of these arrangements.  When women work from home, they may be less visible, which again we know from research has negative outcomes for both progression and pay.

How then, can we create flexible work environments that support women and improve gender equality?

Practical recommendations

Despite the rise in hybrid and remote work that has resulted from the global pandemic, progress on flexible work is fragile, as continuing headlines about ‘return to office’ mandates indicates.  Despite positive evidence on employee productivity, there remains a suspicion that employees who undertake location flexibility are somehow taking advantage or slacking. There is little, if any, evidence to support this belief.

We will continue to have issues around the acceptability of flexible work, not just for women but for everyone, until we can normalize it and remove the stigma.  This, however, requires many people to change deeply entrenched beliefs about work. Flexible work research has established many individual and organizational benefits.  Unfortunately, this debate is often impervious to evidence and driven by bias, beliefs and personal perceptions.

If we want flexible work to support gender equality, we need to make a conscious decision to utilize flexibility to create more gender equal workplaces, but in an external environment where equality, diversity and inclusion initiatives are increasingly coming under attack, this challenge is a significant one.

Here are just a few things that we can do:

• Flexible working for everyone – not just women and care givers.  Flexible work can benefit all employees, and organizations benefit too.  Internal policies should reflect this.  Make it clear that flexibility is available from an entry level role to the top of the organization.
• Leaders role modelling flexible work. If you have leaders who are working flexibly, and they agree, they should be encouraged to talk openly about their experiences and challenges.  This helps to set ‘permission’ throughout the organization and challenges the idea that flexible workers are not career motivated or productive.
• Address ‘flex-shaming’ and micro-aggressions.  Don’t tolerate jokes about skiving from home or putting the washing on.
• Respect work-life balance.  Discouraging overwork, prioritizing wellbeing and addressing presenteeism will all help to normalize prioritizing work-life balance within organizational culture.
• Embrace all forms of flexibility.  For the last few years, the flexible work debate has centred on hybrid and remote work – but there is much more to flexibility than that.  It is time flexibility that brings flexible work to employees who aren’t desk-based, broadening inclusion further.
• Invest in team building and networking. Avoid the visibility issue in flexible work by investing in and supporting activities that maximize in-person time together.
• Support flexible workers to build their careers – however, wherever and whenever they work.  Create shadowing, mentoring or development activities, or provide coaches.
• Train managers to support flexible working. Managers should receive specific training and guidance on managing and supporting flexible workers that include discussions about the potential for bias and steps to support inclusion.

There is no single solution to addressing the inclusion challenges of flexible work.  It will take multiple actions on an ongoing basis, adapting approaches based on data.  Practical actions will only however take us so far; we also need to redefine what we mean by performance and productivity.  When we can truly believe that employees who work flexibly are just as committed, motivated, productive and capable of progression as those who fit traditional workplace norms, we will be on our way to inclusion.