Making the hybrid workplace fair

THE pandemic has upended much about the way we work. What comes next is neither the death of the office nor a return to the way things were. Instead, our new reality will be a hybrid: Some employees will be in the same physical space, while others will work remotely.

Hybrid working arrangements promise organizations the benefits of remote working (increased flexibility, a reduced carbon footprint, labor-cost optimization and increased employee satisfaction) along with the critical strengths of traditional, co-located work (smoother coordination, informal networking, stronger cultural socialization, greater creativity and face-to-face collaboration). But such arrangements will inevitably create power differentials within teams that can damage relationships, impede effective collaboration and ultimately reduce performance.

Hybrid work arrangements mean that employees will have different access to resources and different levels of visibility — both key sources of power and influence. Employees in the office have ready and quick access to technology and infrastructure to support their work. They tend to have faster and easier access to information, and that information tends to be more current, which provides them with an edge when it comes to facing the rapid changes of today’s work environment. Being in the office also provides workers with access to the emotional support provided by peers.

In contrast, employees who work remotely often find that their weaker technological setup and infrastructure (slow connections, inability to access certain resources from home, a less sophisticated home office setup) makes it more difficult to demonstrate competence. Not being present for informal interactions leaves remote workers feeling out of the loop. Being remote may also lead employees to feel more isolated and lacking in the relationships and connections that provide social support.

A person's visibility, or the ability to be seen by those in power, is also shaped by an employee’s location. Working in the same space as their boss increases the likelihood that employees’ efforts and actions will be recognized. Employees who are seen in the hallways are likely to come to mind when it’s time to staff an important new project, and their actions on that project are likely to be recognized, resulting in credit for a job well done. Even if the boss is working remotely, when an employee is based in the office, it increases the likelihood that person's actions will be seen by others and reported to the boss. When working remotely, no one sees the late nights or early mornings employees are working to deliver on their obligations. Credit for a collective output is likely to be unevenly attributed most to those who are there in the office and more visible.

Managers are also confronted with challenges in hybrid settings. While employees need to ensure that they’re visible to their managers and can access the resources they need for their work, managers need to make sure that they stay informed about what their employees are doing and facilitate their access to those resources. Managers who are colocated with their employees tend to have more information about what and how those employees are doing, while managers who work remotely and are far from their employees may feel like they’re operating in the dark.

In short, hybrid work models are a real threat to fairness. Here are four ways managers can address manage the structurally inevitable differences in power that arise in a hybrid environment:

Track and communicate:

Create an accurate map of your team’s “hybrid configuration”: who is working where, and when. Once you’ve mapped this out, you need to have a conversation with the individual employees to bring to the surface the challenges they face and discuss what you can do to overcome them. Always bear in mind that your employees’ resource access depends on their location, and their visibility depends on their location relative to you.

Design:

While some degree of power imbalance is structurally inevitable in a hybrid team, when necessary and possible managers should intervene to redistribute power by shifting access to resources and visibility levels. Policies and procedures should also be revisited regularly to ensure they don’t provide an unfair advantage based on the power imbalance—such as when key performance indicators don’t align with resource accessibility or evaluations don’t account for differences in visibility levels.

Educate: Many issues don't arise solely from hybrid work arrangements; the real problem is the lack of awareness of the power imbalances it creates. To effectively manage in hybrid environments, managers must promote awareness of the issues in question and educate employees and themselves on how to avoid bias. Particularly important is establishing a culture of psychological safety and trust.

Monitor: With this understanding in mind, it’s important that managers keep an eye out for key intervention moments. Through our discussions with executives, we’ve identified a number of key opportunities to address the potential challenges of hybrid work as far as power dynamics are concerned:

1. Performance reviews and evaluations

MANAGERS must remain acutely aware of how hybrid work arrangements create an imbalance in relations to employees’ access to resources and visibility levels. Performance evaluations present an opportunity for managers and employees to review and discuss imbalances and how to address them going forward.

2. Team launches

HYBRID teams start with team members who are not on the same footing. Team launches are an opportunity for managers and team members to recognize, acknowledge and discuss power differences and to decide how collectively to manage them.

3. Onboarding

HOW can managers bring people into the organization when not everyone can physically come to the office? How can they put their new remote hires on a comparable footing to those who are brought into a face-to-face office environment? The effect of hybrid work models on group dynamics needs to be incorporated into onboarding sessions and discussions.

For companies to reap the many benefits of hybrid working, managers must be aware of the power dynamics at play. It’s critical that they develop an understanding of them and take steps to level the playing field for their teams.