Some industries, some businesses – and some leaders – can’t shake the old-fashioned viewpoint that ‘working from home is shirking from home’. There’s evidence that minority groups are more likely to be impacted by this perspective: 60% of women in one survey said working remotely led them to feel excluded from important meetings. 94% felt that either requesting or taking advantage of flexible working opportunities would impact their chances of promotion; and three times as many women (35%) as men (12%) in another study felt that hybrid working made them feel they were ‘out of sight, out of mind’. Right now, we’re teetering on the edge of a precipice: we are dangerously close to falling back into old ways of working, benefiting those that can get to a traditional workplace setting and discriminating against those minority groups for whom hybrid working is a lifeline. If we’re to make progress and drive real change for a fairer, equitable world, businesses need clear frameworks for hybrid or flexible working.
Article by a 19 July 2023