#11 Creating an inclusive workplace

The past weeks were a bit of an up and down for me as I had to additionally manage an injury (the person in the picture is me). Walking with crutches, I realized even more what a relief remote work can be for many. I love it already anyway because of the freedom and flexibility it offers, but the benefits are even greater and should be inclusively thought about for people with disabilities, younger children, or people who take care of their parents, etc. Now that I need to carefully regard how I can best get from a to b, I wonder why it took us so long to approach remote work with such open arms. Thus today, the topic is around remote work and inclusion, the current state, the good and the bad, and how to attain an inclusive culture and mitigate the bad.

Remote work and inclusion

Remote work changes the workplace and with it, some doors are opened, others got closed. People feel isolated, disconnected, have problems communicating and managing their lives – the list goes on. Listing all these problems, we need to continually work on making Remote Work work, but I have no doubt that we won't succeed because there are many benefits to working remotely, also on topics surrounding inclusion.

Which doors got closed?

• Disconnection from the company's culture – the people forming the workforce. People feel less connected to their co-workers (Jostle, 2021). The more people are disconnected, the less safe they will feel to share information about their background, identity, health, etc. According to a survey by LinkedIn performed in 2021

"Nearly a quarter (24%) of surveyed professionals were not open about their identity in their workplace"

• Less open conversations. If you don't talk about it, you can't work on it. As 92% of conversations are for work-related reasons only, much of the informal chit-chat driving culture, awareness, and the evoking of challenges, got lost. Open discussions among diverse individuals which promote a greater understanding of and appreciation for diverse experiences and backgrounds declined. (Hopefully, Instill can be an added benefit to proactively create those opportunities)

Which doors got opened?

• Inclusivity became a topic. Should we maybe just start with the fact that the DEI topic gained a lot of importance throughout the past two years because of the fact that companies were confronted with it? Office-life made everything tangible, but it didn't mean those specific topics were actually discussed – such as, how inclusive of a company are we actually even though we have an office where people can gather.
• Hiring talent globally drives opportunities for greater diversity within the workforce and the potential to include a greater variety of cultures
• Digital learning is now possible and gained respect. Adding on to topics around upskilling, we can now hire people that might not have the best opportunities before and teach them digitally so that we can give disadvantaged a chance to grow faster, catch up or even outgrow others and proof they are worthy of more responsibility.
• Intentionality in remote as a supporter. As everything within the remote world needs to be intentional, the specific mindset can bring greater recognition to the DEI topic. Integrating and treating people equally is not possible to let it be ruled through spontaneity, either someone takes it into the hands or nothing actionable is done about it – this goes for every aspect within the organizational ecosystem.
• Greater possibilities for people with disabilities, younger children, caretakers, etc. If one thing became very clear for me this week, then it's the aspect of how difficult a commute can be for some, how much energy and organization might go into office life. Let's say you sit in a wheelchair – in order to be considered for a job the office, if not on the ground floor, needs to have an elevator. The candidate can be perfectly suiting but if your office is not accessible for that person, hiring someone in a wheelchair was impossible – luckily we are seeing proven alternatives now.

What can we do to be more inclusive remotely?

• Be aware. I've had a wonderfully insightful phone call last week with a DEI manager. I asked her how company cultures can make sure DEI is considered and tried to improve every day within the organization. Her answer: Data. As with most everything, we got the opportunity to analyze data and draw conclusions from it to take actionable steps, the same goes for DEI, too. Run a survey or in-depth interviews to discover the current state of it and present the topic with recognition.
• Make it the norm. Once the exact challenges that need proactive approaching, we can get to work. Committees can be formed, people people can take the matter into their hands or even leaders for their own teams can enact values, policies, create a blurb and create events that are being shared with co-worker to illustrate and set norms around what it means to be a diverse, equal, and inclusive workplace.
• A space to raise one's voice. People have different opinions, those opinions want to be heard, specifically if inclusion shall be enhanced in a diverse culture. With trust as a basis show everyone that they can speak up if they disagree with something, create a culture of respectfully enabling everyone to voice their thoughts and viewpoints.

• Recognize. The tip of the iceberg, as we all know, is not showing the whole iceberg. The same goes for recognition, be mindful and inclusive around recognizing. Nevertheless, recognize people for the work they've done!
• Informal conversations. If open conversations are missing, people feel disconnected and isolated, then we should create room for connection, open communication, and a sense of togetherness even when in distance. Social connections are not a maybe or nice-to-have, as many studies have shown, we need them – after all, we are social beings. In the short-term they can motivate to do better work, long-term they increase the well-being of employees and drive happiness, creativity, and productivity (I can't wait to show you the exact data of all the improvements Instill has because of the platforms support on promoting social connections, soon!)

Overall I think it is fair to say that remote work advanced inclusion – with more importance, more awareness, more options. We can approach it with an open mind, open ears, and eyes and improve DEI day by day. Challenges are there and will only grow if not approached proactively. Nevertheless, at least we now are more intentional and figure out which challenges exist and approach those employee-focused.

Thanks for taking the time to read the 10th newsletter of Remote Workplace Instilled, where topics and trends of the remote world are discussed weekly with actionable tips on how to master a remote workplace, people-first.

Cheers,

Franzi