Yahoo Finance DIAL Global Summit: Will hybrid work help or hinder D&I?
Global head of diversity and inclusion Margot Slattery of ISS A/S (ISS.CO) is joined by a panel of leaders to discuss their views on how hybrid working can benefit their diversity and inclusion (D&I) agendas, including what the pitfalls and obstacles are to look out for.
PANEL:
Margot Slattery — Global head of diversity and inclusion at ISS A/S
Alice Choi — Chief operating officer of McCann Health Medical Communications
Sara Sewell — Global service line CFO, Observer as Ipsos (IPS.PA)
Clare Thomas — General counsel at Britvic plc (BVIC.L)
MARGOT:
Remote working has lasted longer than anyone first thought, with businesses moving away from crisis mode and into the deliberate. While there’s more than a strong case to get hybrid working right for all, how does it impact diversity and what are the potential inequalities that might arise?
On the positive side, increased flexibility opens jobs to people that were excluded by the practicalities of commuting, the cost of living in certain cities, and the constraints of working fixed office hours.
However, the converse argument shows there is a risk hybrid working could widen existing socioeconomic inequalities. How is hybrid working influencing your D&I agenda within your organisation both positively and negatively?
ALICE:
Hybrid working is relatively new to us all and a learning journey. On the positive, there are fewer geographical restrictions in terms of those we can recruit for remote working, as we’re no longer restricted to office locations and can recruit globally. It can also offer a better work-life balance, meaning we can be more diverse and inclusive in how we work. The caveat to that is if you are working entirely remotely, it can be challenging to divide work and home life.
The challenge moving forward is ensuring those in the early stages of their careers are supported and can learn from a more diverse range of colleagues. If similar groups of people are office-based and similar groups of people work from home, we also need to watch out for fairness and that everything is equitable. Not all being together as before means we could also be in danger of losing that strong sense of connection.
Read more: DIAL Global Summit: CEOs pledge to move the dial on diversity
We need to be developing new processes, practices and etiquettes, with no sense of divide between those who come into the office and those who work remotely, as well as redefining why people should come into the office. It should be about collaboration and reinforcing those connections, not being sat at your desk working alone.
CLARE:
For me, I also have small kids and the extra time I’ve been able to spend with them has been great. From a well-being perspective, the statistics indicate that people working from home do more hours, including at least one extra hour of work per day. That lack of separation from home and work is something to be careful of. From a D&I agenda, statistics tell us that working from home is worse for women and that during lockdown, women took on a disproportionate share of childcare, home school and domestic chores. For the gender debate, there is still more work to do.
MARGOT:
Some people say there is a risk that hybrid working could widen social-economic inequalities. Do you think that’s true and how do we address it?
CLARE:
An average of 45% of workers in the UK can work from home or anywhere, according to the Office of National Statistics. The social-economic divide plays into that. In London, it’s more than 50% but in more economically deprived areas, it is much smaller.
The first risk is trying to create something that doesn’t work for everyone in every role. For those who can work from home, it’s not always optimum. For example, not everyone has a good home set-up. Secondly, there is the risk of office culture being engrained. The sense that you need to be visible in the office to be considered for the next big project or promotion means when working from home, you may be less engaged and ambitious than those in the office. I really hope we’ve come a long way to dispel ideas like that, but we would be naïve if we thought that culture has disappeared in aspects of leadership.
We need to have a hybrid working strategy that’s inclusive and holistic about where work is done. We need to provide people with the right support and kit to work from home, as well as have leaders that visibly role model hybrid working. We also need to give individuals the freedom to establish ways of working that are best for them, without giving a prescriptive number of days in the office and a start, finish and break time.
MARGOT:
When you think about recruitment and talent attraction, what are the big opportunities for the future?
SARA:
What we found in our organisation is that we don’t have a problem with attracting people, it’s about getting them to stay and continue up the leadership ladder.
Read more: DIAL Global Summit: Why the role of chief diversity officer is critical
When we look at elements of D&I, particularly women and ethnic minorities, we are ticking all the boxes when it comes to attracting them. But when we look further up at our gender and ethnicity pay gap, we see that those gaps are created by the lack of senior leadership for women and ethnic minorities and there lies the problem. It’s about internal recruitment and making sure people see someone who looks like them at the top, whether that’s a woman or of an ethnic minority. That’s where our problem is, which we’ve identified and are working to address.
CLARE:
What sits as such an important component of D&I is authenticity and to be our true authentic selves. I found in lockdown the ability to experience my colleagues in their homes, meet their families and pets and see their real lives, which caused us to be more authentic to ourselves. The challenge is maintaining this and if so, we will stand our D&I agendas in good stead.
MARGOT:
Whilst there are challenges and inequalities and many things we need to fix; this is still a very positive move and we’ve seen something that has taken many years suddenly change very quickly. We’ve all got to work hard to ensure we remain inclusive.
