While remote work and hybrid workdays were once considered distinct benefits, the 2020s have made them almost necessary for the majority of job searchers and employees. According to a McKinsey analysis from 2022, 75% of employees view hybrid working as a long-term option, while only 25% want to work in the office full-time. Who likes hybrid work the most?

The LGBTQ community, non-binary persons, women, and those with BIPOC identities are among the groups represented. Let’s look at why you should strengthen your hybrid inclusion environment and how to do it in a way that benefits all types of workers.

Great Place to Work discovered that diversity and inclusion (D&I) is an excellent method to succeed despite economic challenges. Diversity broadens your applicant pool to include exceptional individuals from many origins and identities. You will have the opportunity to hear about novel approaches to challenges and distinctive solutions.

Representation in the workplace is also important. When personnel in C-suite positions represent your new hires, they will feel more at ease and secure in their efforts to progress their careers. A 2021 Future Forum analysis discovered five favorable outcomes for businesses that provide hybrid work environments:

1. Improved work-life balance: Employees have the chance to better align their everyday and work lives when they have a hybrid or remote option available.
2. Sense of belonging: Hybrid offices offer employees a greater sense of companionship, value, and acceptance by others on their team.
3. Productivity: Employees have the chance to work at a pace that makes sense for them when they have the chance to work in a hybrid environment.
4. Satisfaction in their working environment: Overall, the hybrid workforce has a better outlook on their job based on their perceived infrastructure support.
5. Managed work-related stress: Business hires can better manage their work-related stress and anxiety with a hybrid work structure.

Despite these advantages, improving your inclusiveness practices in a hybrid workplace can be challenging. It could include significant system changes ranging from organizational principles to culture and day-to-day interaction norms. Let’s look at the various ways you can create a more inclusive work environment for your hybrid workforce.

1. Eliminate proximity bias

Many remote employees have faced this predicament. They are concerned that if they are not as visible around the office as others, they may lose favor with their supervisors and upper management.

Their concerns are not unjustified. Managers continue to favor in-office workers; according to a Gartner survey, 64% of managers believe that office workers perform better than remote workers and are more likely to award in-office workers higher pay than those who work from home.

Another SHRM study discovered that 67% of polled supervisors believed remote workers were more easily replaceable than onsite employees. Furthermore, 62% considered that full-time remote work would be damaging to employees’ career ambitions, while 72% preferred that their subordinates work from the office.

Unfortunately, traditional attitudes continue to connect productivity with ‘facetime’ and visibility at work. Companies must recognize that physically working in the office full-time does not always equate to strong outcomes and great productivity; the same can be achieved while working remotely.

To ensure an inclusive, hybrid environment, everyone must have equal opportunities for advancement. Leaders should treat and engage employees equally, regardless of their physical presence. Don’t play favorites. It’s essential for managers to recognise if they have an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ mentality, and correct that unconscious bias immediately.

2. Be a good role model

Employees look to superiors as role models, so managers, it’s on you to lead by example. Strike a balance between working from home and from the office, so employees know that you’re fully supportive of the hybrid work model, and feel comfortable enough to do the same too.

Rather than leaving remote workers feeling left out of meetings, or waiting on the company to implement hybrid meeting etiquette, take the reins and be proactive about how you lead your team. Be intentional about each meeting — ensure that all the relevant employees are included, and that there is enough time for everyone to make themselves heard.

Most meetings that combine a mixture of in-office employees and remote workers aren’t equitable no matter how well it’s organised — the majority of the discussion ends up amongst those who are in the office physically, whilst the remote workers dialling in struggle to listen clearly and keep up with the conversation.

Read Also: The Future of Work: How Hybrid Work Models Are Shaping the Workplace

Hybrid will not work if every employee is creating their own adventure. As a manager or team lead, dictate a hybrid schedule that works best for your team. Set aside on-site days for brainstorming meetings that require more collaborative and creative thinking, and reserve off-site days for virtual meetings and deep focus work.

3. Cover all bases with onboarding

Interviews have become increasingly virtual. Recruitment and onboarding practices are now done online, where geographical locations are no longer a barrier. With the rapid shift towards digital transformation, being technologically capable has become an essential skill in most workplaces.

Prior to the pandemic, employees could just rock up to the office on their first day, and have their desks all set up and ready to go. If they ran into any network or software issues on their monitor, laptop, or phones, they could walk over to the IT department or ping an IT technician to come over and get some help with troubleshooting. Alternatively, they could also ask the colleagues sitting around them on how to do things.

With hybrid working however, if the new hire starts their first day or week remotely, it would be helpful to give them a key point of contact they can reach out to for IT assistance, and a detailed checklist of things they need to complete, such as creating user accounts and relevant login details. We’ve got a handy employee onboarding and induction checklist template here that you can use, to create a standout employee induction experience your new starters will never forget.

For remote new hires who have started in their roles, the quality of training depends solely on their manager. Unlike in-office employees who can quickly pick up on accepted ways of working, network naturally and hear valuable information, remote workers might struggle with a steep learning curve, or be seen as less competent than their onsite peers because of the lack of office exposure.

To combat this inequality, companies should consider implementing a buddy system, so new hires have someone they can lean on for help. It’s always reassuring to have a go-to friend or mentor within the company that they can reach out to for all kinds of informal questions regarding office culture and the company, so they aren’t disadvantaged by their working arrangement.

4. Check in regularly

The physical distance makes it difficult to check in on coworkers and see how they’re doing, especially when you only see their faces online for a brief period of time. You can’t tell if they’re having a poor day or dealing with something personal if they put on a strong front during internet meetings versus seeing them in person at work. Employees who are unable to interact with their coworkers in person may also struggle with remoteliness.

A smart option would be to use statuses on messaging services – whether you’re using Microsoft Teams or Slack, simply expressing you’re ‘available to speak!’ or ‘eager to hang out!’ is an excellent way to bridge the gap.

Sometimes all it takes is a little nudge to get conversations going. A simple message like ‘How was your weekend?’ or ‘Wanna hop on for a quick chat?’ gets the ball rolling for a no-frills, chill session with your colleagues where you can talk about anything and everything, or pour out any grievances and discuss solutions to difficulties you are facing.

It’s easy to get carried away working independently in a hybrid workplace, but connecting with your teammates is important in building stronger relationships.

5. Create a psychologically safe environment

Hybrid working also raises the possibility of interpersonal conflict or quiet bullying, which is only visible to the parties involved. While remote work allows individuals to avoid physically uncomfortable colleagues, it can have a negative impact on teamwork and employee engagement if open, honest communication is not used to resolve concerns.

Employees who feel marginalized, targeted, or assaulted will be less likely to express their ideas and will instead choose to suffer in quiet. This can have a negative impact on overall team performance and morale, as having varied opinions and conversations is critical.

Fostering a psychologically safe environment where all voices feel comfortable to be heard is important, so employees will speak up if they are experiencing interpersonal conflict. This is why 1:1 meetings are crucial especially when dealing with hybrid work — managers can check in on an employee’s wellbeing regardless of their location, whilst employees can have candid conversations in a safe space. Managers can then take relevant next steps to mediate and resolve the conflict in an amicable way.

It’s also ideal for managers to show in group meetings that having healthy debates is beneficial for everyone. Employees can have conflicting viewpoints, but the end goal is to discuss them together and arrive at a consensus. Each individual’s opinion should be carefully considered and treated respectfully, not haphazardly dismissed.

6. Break up silos

Hybrid work unintentionally produces in- and out-groups based on an employee’s job preferences. Some people enjoy returning to the workplace on a regular basis, while others limit their visits to a minimum and prefer to work remotely.

This, however, may result in distant employees being excluded from essential conversations or missing out on information about key projects and accounts. Cliques may also form inside teams, with individuals who return to the office perceived as more engaged in resolving difficulties or sharing expertise than their remote colleagues.

A great way to break these in-groups up is to ensure that all crucial information is recorded or written down, and communicated throughout the organization smoothly. This ensures that every employee has access to it, and can refer back to it or slowly digest it in their own time — regardless of whether they are working from home or the office.

Another great way is to appoint someone who works onsite most of the time to provide updates to the rest of the team. It’s always handy having a key point of contact that everyone can rely on to represent the team’s interests and glean any insights or noteworthy updates they’ve received from casual conversations in the office.

Ultimately, team meetings are great for aligning everyone on the same page and providing transparency. Encourage a culture of learning and sharing amongst the team, so there won’t be any ‘groups within groups’, but a supportive and collaborative environment instead.

7. Embrace tools that help with DEI and hybrid working

Digital technologies have become synonymous with hybrid work. With so many software tools available, there’s no reason not to equip everyone with a voice, no matter where they are. It’s all about establishing collaborative equity in the workplace, and platforms such as Google Workspaces have attempted to bridge hybrid work gaps whenever possible.

Did you know that, in addition to declaring whether you’ll be joining physically or remotely when accepting meeting invitations, Google Calendar now allows you to set your location for each workday? All of these skills contribute to increased visibility in hybrid teams, as well as more effective meeting planning on-site or virtually.

AI has also brought huge advancements to video conferencing capabilities, which now have transcription and translation functions to aid those who are hearing or vision-impaired, as well as employees who speak different languages. In addition, AI hiring platforms can now help to remove racial, gender, disability and other biases — something companies should really adopt to have a diverse and inclusive hiring program.

Messaging platforms like Slack also enable you to create all kinds of channels for easy communication and information sharing, integrate with various work applications for collaborative working, and most of all, facilitate asynchronous working across time zones. Recorded meetings also enable employees in different countries to access the same updates and information, despite not being physically or virtually present.

Apart from digital tools, physical set-ups are equally important too. Many employees were forced by the pandemic to work from their dining tables at home, with nothing but a laptop and a stiff seat — leading to neck aches and back pain after a whole day of work. This is in stark contrast to pre-pandemic conditions where they had access to ergonomic office desks and chairs, widescreen monitors, meeting rooms for complete privacy and more.

For companies offering a hybrid work arrangement, consider providing a small stipend for employees to improve their workspaces at home. Having a good pair of headphones or a huge monitor makes all the difference in driving productivity and efficiency. If you want hybrid work to be a successful option for your company, you need to make sure that employees are well-provided for wherever they are, so they can produce their best work.

To create a more inclusive hybrid work environment, you must hire everyone in the organization who aligns with your aims. A diverse staff may propel your business to new heights, but everyone must be on board to make it happen.