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Are you gravitating away from the diversity and inclusion agenda? Is inclusion taking a back seat amidst COVID19? Let this not happen to your organization.
Last week, I was participating in a panel discussion hosted by Gender at work. The topic of discussion was gender lens on work from home. While we discussed several aspects on how WFH is impacting women, blurring definition of what is a workspace, care responsibilities, emotional labour, we discussed that this is an opportunity where organisations can pivot to create more humane workplace.
Now is the time to work towards creating more inclusive workspaces. However, due to the COVID19 pandemic, I am hearing from a lot of my clients that diversity and inclusion will take a back seat due to business demands and several other aspects of business continuity taking over. The reasons are several, I am covering only three for the purpose of this article.
#1. Virtual working threatens sense of belonging…
As more and more organizations consider WFH options for extended period of time, it will be critical for organizations to consider building a sense of belonging. I have been speaking with several clients, friends and family. Most of them talked about feeling overwhelmed due to the time being spend on calls virtually. There is a feeling of loneliness made worse by social distancing.
With workplace definition getting blurred, leaders need to consider creating a sense of belonging for its employees. Google, Facebook, TCS, Twitter, Cisco, Randstand India, Mahindra and several organizations are extending WFH for longer durations. Besides providing the tools, physical infrastructure to work remotely and be productive, organizations should not lose focus on building the emotional connect, providing safe space to connect, acknowledge and support mental wellbeing.
#2. Keep the gender lens and use it…
From a diversity perspective, women are facing disproportionate amount of burden due to the pandemic. Managing home and work priorities, increased care responsibilities due to the health crisis and emotional burden is at an all-time high. There is disproportionate amount of work that women are doing during the pandemic. Per an OECD report, women spend two to ten times more time on unpaid care work than men.
As more organisations move to WFH, the workspaces merge even further, gender lens will be important from a policy, productivity and well-being perspective. There are several reports that indicate that gender ratios will be hit hard due to COVID19. Overall, women workforce numbers are expected to fall.
Instead of setting aside ‘diversity’ positions, I would invite organisations to think about how they can retain their women, what support they can provide through sustained efforts, policies and structures.
#3. Carve out long term solutions
There is a ‘reset’ button that has been hit for the planet. Across the globe, everyone is impacted, across age, ethnicity, color, religion, gender, sector, industry…the degree of impact might vary. We are all in this pandemic together figuring out our way forward.
“Every challenge presents an opportunity”
So does COVID19. It presents an opportunity to reset the ways of working, define workplaces with a humane outlook. As leaders define ‘new normal’, it should focus on creating humane, inclusive workspaces. Weave inclusion as a part of the new normal initiative. Keeping everyone’s interest in mind, sending an inclusive message is the need of the hour. A longer term solution will be to create inclusive, equitable workplaces
What can you do?
You can do several things. Start by ensuring that the communications being distributed to staff create psychological and emotional safety across different groups. As you design new policies for remote working, keep the gender and inclusion lens handy. Involve experts or assign people with this responsibility so that they can continue to guide you and ensure that the diversity and inclusion agenda is served. For example – Is there a group/community that is facing disproportionate burden due to the pandemic? What message do I need to send? Is my ‘new normal’ definition long term or a short term stop gap to emerge from crisis? Am I impacting my org values due to my ‘new normal’ approach? Can I use this as an opportunity to think differently?
Treating people with respect and dignity, providing a safe workplace and equal opportunities to all employees is a basic tenet of an inclusive culture. This is your opportunity to show how you are doing it and how you plan to keep doing it.
If you or your organisation needs helps with driving the diversity and inclusion agenda or incorporating it in the ‘new normal’; I will be happy to discuss.