The Inclusive Potential of Hybrid Working

Hybrid working can remove many barriers for groups of employees who may ordinarily be excluded from a more traditional workplace, with jobs requiring work to be done in an office becoming a disadvantage.

The principles driving hybrid working – flexibility, adaptability and empathy – are not to be confined to remote and hybrid settings and can easily extend to all workplaces. The ability to work remotely, whether full time or in a hybrid way, is likely to help inclusion for several groups of people, including those with caring responsibilities, children or disabilities.

What groups can be impacted by hybrid working?

Carers

Removing the requirement for a daily commute is likely to have a positive impact on those with caring responsibilities. Anyone who can do more of any kind of caring responsibilities or do what they always have but better through flexible working schemes, is likely to be more engaged with their employer with increased productivity as a result. Changing working patterns and working asynchronously can be beneficial for those with caring responsibilities too.

Time spent on caregiving is irreversible, so mandating onsite attendance disproportionately burdens those with caring responsibilities. Hybrid working offers flexibility that empowers employees to balance their caregiving duties and work, making it an attractive option.

Parents

Employees with children make up a greater proportion of hybrid workers than non-parents. For example, parents may want to work remotely in the summer due to school holidays and onsite in term-times. A rigid hybrid model fails to accommodate these employees. Onsite work is a logistical challenge for those with caring responsibilities- adding value to this experience is vital. They may benefit from one day a week onsite if their entire team are present, rather than three days a week with a few colleagues.

Older employees

Providing some form of hybrid working, but tailoring it to the needs of older employees, may convince those who could retire to continue working for longer. Like other groups, purposeful onsite experience is likely to feature highly – employees will find this better than if it is left to chance. Employees want to be able to connect, socialize and share experiences with other employees when onsite. When the home is such an enjoyable and pleasant place to be, bringing older employees onsite to do things that they could and would much rather do at home may convince them to consider leaving the workforce altogether. Effective hybrid working could avoid that.

Workers with disabilities

Data shows that workers with disabilities have experienced both positive and negative impacts from remote and hybrid working. The majority have seen a positive impact on things like having more energy due to less commuting, greater control over their working environment and having more personal time to look after themselves, therefore positively affecting their mental and physical health. Indeed, many workers with long-term health conditions believe that there should be a statutory right to work remotely if there is no strong reason why the job cannot be done from home.

Diverse workforces

Remote working particularly, if done fully, can bring with it greater cultural diversity by allowing employees to be recruited from a variety of geographically dispersed locations. The ability to contribute asynchronously and, in many cases, without being physically seen can also help to minimize the risk of bias in how such contributions (and by extension, the employees) are perceived.

Other research has shown that:

• Non-binary employees are 14% more likely to prefer hybrid working than cisgender colleagues
• LGBTQ+ employees are 13% more likely to prefer hybrid work than heterosexual colleagues, and 24% more likely to quit a job if it did not provide hybrid working
• Black employees are 14% more likely to quit a job if it did not provide hybrid working than their white colleagues
• Employees with disabilities are 14% more likely to quit a job if it did not provide hybrid working than non-disabled employees.
• Managing the stigmas can be much easier with a greater element of remote and hybrid working and opens inclusion possibilities than mandated onsite working could ever do.

Applying hybrid principles beyond hybrid working

Having a diverse and inclusive culture goes hand in hand with a workplace where employees are highly engaged. If you focus the right way on engagement, you’ll get a diverse and inclusive culture and vice versa. This is nothing to do with remote, hybrid or onsite working. It is to do with effort and intentionality. It is true that you reap what you sow at work, in every sense. If organizations are willing to put the effort and energy to make the workplace amazing and inclusive, they’ll achieve it. If they are not, they won’t.

There are several essential ingredients in the recipe for building an amazing, and therefore inclusive, workplace.

• Flexibility: recognizing that, even if employees do the same job, their individual circumstances and ways of working will be different. Adapting job requirements to individual needs can benefit all workplace settings. Examples may include flexible start times, job sharing, alternative working patterns, as well as remote and hybrid options.
• Empathy: individuals have their own challenges which will have an impact on their wellbeing. Managers could unlock more engagement and productivity by showing empathy and understanding to those challenges, offering support where necessary and time and space where appropriate.
• Asynchronous working: effective hybrid working already uses tools, techniques and technology to support asynchronous working, but these aren’t unique to a hybrid environment. All types of work, including those not well-suited to remote and hybrid working like manufacturing or retail, can benefit from using such things. This could allow for more inclusive practices across all work settings, recognizing that individuals will have different levels of energy, creativity and ways of communicating.
• A variety of workspaces: hybrid working teaches us that different work tasks need different environments. Whilst this is often about which tasks need doing onsite and which remotely, the physical workplace itself can be adapted along similar principles. Working out what tasks require quiet, focused work or what tasks need flexible, adaptable spaces or what tasks require intense, vocal collaboration will enable the workplace to be adapted with these things in mind. This will be a more inclusive approach recognizing the nature of the work being undertaken and individual preferences for how they work best.
• Leadership behaviors: a great leader is already inclusive and fosters a sense of belonging across their team. Developing and rewarding leaders who exhibit these behaviours is crucial for the performance of any team and organization. Going further and ensuring that all leaders know how to communicate inclusively and have this as an explicit focus in their team relationships rather than an afterthought, is recommended.

What’s next for hybrid working?

Hybrid working has taught us a lot. But the lessons were there to be learnt before and without the onset of more hybrid working. They can be applied regardless of work environment to create universally inclusive workplaces – if we want that enough.

Inclusivity is a universal need, not confined to (but undoubtedly enhanced by) hybrid settings. If we craft amazing workplaces, everyone - no matter where or how they work – can thrive. But this doesn’t happen by chance. We must make it work.