Inclusive or isolated? New DEI considerations when working from anywhere

Remote work and advancements in technology have opened opportunities for PWD, bringing down the unemployment rate for PWD in the United States from 12% before the pandemic to 6% in November 2022. Although this is still double the unemployment rate for all workers, it is close to what’s considered full employment in the US (5%) and the lowest unemployment rate for PWD in the U.S. since 2008.⁸

Work flexibility could also enhance the inclusion of neurodivergent individuals in the workforce.⁹ And, while flexible work arrangements are overall a positive development that have enabled increased participation of PWD in the workforce, it is important to note that some challenges do not entirely disappear in the work-from-anywhere environment. For example, PWD responding to our survey reported being 2.2 times as likely as professionals with no disabilities to always or often “cover”¹⁰ (cover up or downplay certain aspects of their identities to avoid stigma, judgment, or discrimination) while working remotely.

Additionally, when compared with people with no disabilities, PWD can be more stressed than others about career growth and progression (figure 1).PWD professionals responding to our survey who work remotely some or all of the time report being twice as anxious about the ability to demonstrate their work contributions and accomplishments.

Additionally, some newer considerations emerge in the work-from-anywhere environment:

PWD may face challenges in virtual collaboration as colleagues could be unaware of their requirements. “On calls, people start sharing their screen and discussing,” said one visually impaired survey respondent. “I have to often interrupt and ask them to read aloud since I cannot see the screen.”¹¹ Such instances are more likely to happen when team composition changes frequently and new team members are not aware of the accommodations.

Neurodivergent workers may experience more distraction and communication overload when working remotely. One professional in our study said, “For me (folks with dyslexia) and ADHD in particular, there are more distractions while working from home. Also, there’s a lot more reading because I'm reading and responding to a lot more emails versus working alongside colleagues in the office.”¹² In addition, many organizations have multiple communication channels that can spread people’s attention thin. One of the neurodivergent professionals we interviewed said, “We’ve got one application for email. Then, we have three different applications, all of which are interchangeably used by folks to send messages, schedule meetings, etc. There are too many things that I have to check.”¹³

What leaders can consider:

• Support career-progression models that include PWD in remote teams. Building a PWD-inclusive recruitment pipeline can be a step forward, but the work doesn’t stop there. Organizations should help PWD grow organically within the organization by providing them with upskilling and growth opportunities. This could enable them to emerge as leaders and mentors to other employees with disabilities. Learning and development programs should be built on universal design principles with full functionality available in a virtual environment to ensure accessibility for all.
• Provide PWD-sensitization trainings in remote teams. There could be a need to refresh disability awareness and sensitization sessions. These sessions could cover hiring managers (since they are the first point of contact for PWD applicants), leaders, and professionals on PWD-inclusive language and respectful behaviors specifically for the remote and hybrid work environment.
• Leverage technology to embed accessibility. Assess the sophistication of work technology used by remote teams and build accessibility in the organization’s resources by default. Some examples include:
  • Meeting notes can be immediately transcribed for those with diagnoses such as dysgraphia or dyslexia to improve participation among neurodiverse teams.
  • Accessibility of content can be improved by providing lip-reading recognition and/or captioning for people with hearing impairments, facial or image recognition for people with visual impairments, and text summarization for professionals who may have difficulties digesting large bodies of text in one sitting.¹⁴
• Assess the impact of hot desking for PWD in hybrid work. If an organization engages in hot desking (where employees do not have a fixed seat and can reserve and use any available seat on the days when they choose to work onsite) as part of its hybrid work arrangements, there may be a need to assess and identify the impact on PWD. Workers who require assistive technology (such as screen magnifiers, desk alterations, etc.) may not be comfortable sitting on randomly available seats and perform at their best. Also, for some neurodivergent individuals who prefer consistency and routine, a change in seats could cause anxiety and hinder productivity at work.
• Streamline communications to mitigate information overload. Streamline communication channels used by remote teams and drive a common understanding of the purpose of each technology and tool available. This could help ease the information overload experienced by some neurodivergent individuals.

Income: Providing for additional costs and addressing background bias

A slice of respondents across income levels¹⁵ experienced some challenges adapting to remote work, whether having difficulties carving out a space to work uninterrupted or securing adequate childcare. However, organizations should be mindful of additional challenges faced by lower-income workers. This is particularly important because, while lower-income respondents were far less likely to report working fully remote or in a hybrid environment (55% compared with 78% of high-income respondents). Those who did so reported working remotely a similar number of days per week on average as high-income respondents (2.89 vs. 2.98 for high-income respondents). In other words, no matter the income level, those who do work from anywhere do so about the same number of days.

Is having access to information technology (IT) equipment and connectivity enough? Despite the availability of co-working spaces, libraries, and cafés, 93% of survey respondents who work remotely some or all the time do so from their home. Thus, the home-office setup is an important component of remote work. Home-office setup may necessitate multiple technical and nontechnical support structures including laptops, headsets, keyboards, second monitors, IT connectivity, power backup, a well-lit room, and the ability to have a space that is adequately private or quiet enough, among other necessities.

While work nonnegotiables such as internet connectivity are equal across all income levels at nearly 90%, some discrepancies emerge elsewhere. Close to 80% of respondents across income levels have access to appropriate IT equipment including laptops, headsets, second monitors, etc. (figure 2). Relatively fewer respondents at the lower-income levels have access to tools such as printers (25% vs. 31% of higher-income respondents), and ergonomic chairs (37% vs. 51%). People may have equal access to the internet, but that’s not the only thing that affects one’s remote-work experience. Other resources and tools can contribute to a more comfortable and efficient working environment. And, in those areas, income can be a factor in the ability to access the required resources.

Remote work can carry greater relative cost impacts for low- and mid-income groups—both positively and negatively. Working from anywhere carries with it both financial and career impacts that can affect individuals differently depending on economic status. In this study, for example, mid- and low-income groups were far likelier to cite increased costs in utilities such as electricity, heating, faster broadband, etc. as a key challenge when working remotely compared to high-income respondents (figure 2). On the positive financial side, however, low- and mid-income respondents were also far likelier to cite decreased commuting costs as a key benefit of working from anywhere compared to high-income respondents.

From a career standpoint, lower-income respondents were also much likelier to feel they were losing learning opportunities when they are not physically onsite; 33% felt they had better opportunities for on-the-job training when working onsite, compared with just 25% of high-income respondents.

On-camera calls can lead to background bias. Research suggests that professionals across socio-economic levels are concerned about background bias—unconscious judgments made about a person based on what is visible in the background of their video call.¹⁶ High-income respondents were most likely to have their camera on (31%), with numbers decreasing to 23% and 18% among mid- and low-income respondents. Interestingly, high-income professionals surveyed are 1.5 times as likely as low- or middle-income professionals to always or often cover an aspect of their identity while working remotely, indicating that covering may be a concern for respondents across income levels.

What leaders can consider:

• Provide home-office subsidies. Organizations could formulate a subsidized program for procuring necessary workforce items, such as headsets, monitors, IT equipment, etc. They could provide financial reimbursements specifically for the purpose of increased costs for working from home. This could include costs related to broadband access, power backup, etc.

• Increase remote learning and development opportunities. It’s important to create learning opportunities for workers to continue their learning and development when working in a remote location. This can improve access to career-development tools for workers no matter where they are located.

• Address background bias. Managers can help counter background bias by providing uniform backgrounds that still allow for the freedom to personalize. Remote teams can design a common virtual background that represents their team and can be used in video calls. Further, team members could have the flexibility to personalize the team background with additional information as they choose, such as names, pronouns, and any accommodations they need so that everyone is aware.

Caregiving: Providing more support, less stereotyping

“Before the pandemic, I didn't want people to know I had children because I thought that there would be a perception of being seen as not capable of doing my job or not being able to travel for work,” said one caregiver in our study. “With remote work, I couldn’t hide that part of my life anymore; my kids were in the background. And I’m glad that happened because that helped me think hard and reset my priorities. Now, I am able to own and be proud of the fact that I’m a working parent. With remote work, I have the flexibility to center my work around my life rather than the other way around.”

We analyzed the remote-work experience of caregivers of children as well as those caring for adults (parents or other relatives). Both categories surveyed were appreciative of the flexibility that remote work offers, but the data also suggests some challenges. Surveyed caregivers of children and surveyed caregivers of adults are 1.6 times and 1.7 times, respectively, as likely as noncaregivers to always or often cover (may be related to their role as a caregiver or generally) while working remotely. Those with simultaneous caregiving responsibilities for both children and adults are 3.6 times as likely as noncaregivers to always or often cover while working remotely.

Many caregivers would consider leaving for an organization with more flexible policies. For surveyed caregivers, key benefits of remote working include the ability to juggle work and care and the flexibility to structure daily tasks (figure 3). Also, many caregivers surveyed are more attracted to the flexible work policies of their organization and would switch/leave jobs for it compared to noncaregivers.

Caregivers often face microaggressions, report feeling the need to be “always on,” being watched, needing to mirror others, and feeling isolated when working remotely. In these aspects, a higher percentage of surveyed caregivers of adults faced challenges compared to those respondents providing care to children (figure 4).

What leaders can consider:

• Foster virtual safe zones. In a virtual setting, leaders should avoid mandating personal discussions as part of “getting to know the team” or team bonding activities. People tend to open up more comfortably and more naturally in in-person settings, in part because of the commonalities created through being in the same physical space. In a remote environment, some workers who are also caregivers may not feel comfortable sharing personal and family details with colleagues, particularly if those for whom they are caring are nearby.

• Support adult caregivers. While organizations may have well-established parental leave and support policies for caregivers of children, they may lack adult caregiver support programs. If so, leaders can draw attention to needs specific to adult caregiving in their organization and consider what organizational policies may help to provide support.¹⁷

• Facilitate official caregiver support groups. Leaders could enable (voluntary) buddy relationships within the organization for adult and child caregivers. Work buddies can serve as trusted support groups that professionals can lean on should they wish to discuss concerns, approaches to caregiving, etc. Some of these support groups can emerge organically in office environments but may also need to be intentionally set up and fostered in remote teams.

Age: Driving purpose and connection in remote work

Working from anywhere impacts different workers at different ages: Generation Z, millennials, Generation X, and baby boomers are all at different stages in their professional arcs. They may also have different personal and financial obligations, and expectations for work/life fit.

Less access to technology may challenge younger generations. While 94% of baby boomer respondents reported that they had good internet connectivity when working offsite, 87% of millennials and 84% of Gen Z respondents said the same. Further, 87% of baby boomers report having access to good IT equipment, compared with 79% of both millennial and Gen Z respondents. While these are still quite high percentages, it is important for leaders to be aware that younger generations may still lag in access.

Decreased social interaction and technology issues may challenge older generations. When asked about the key challenges faced when working remotely, older generations surveyed (60% of baby boomers and 51% of Gen X) said that they miss the social camaraderie, compared to 49% of millennials and 54% of Gen Z. Also, close to a third of baby boomers and Gen X surveyed said that they face challenges navigating remote working tools and experience virtual meeting fatigue.

Lower sense of belonging could challenge and demotivate workers. People hired during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially those entering the workforce for the first time, often experienced a suite of challenges. One study showed that 70% of the new hires during the pandemic were proud of their place of work, which is 10 percentage points less than prepandemic hires.

What leaders can consider:

• Facilitate cross-generational relationships. Leaders could consider having a generational mix in remote teams with opportunities for reverse mentoring (where junior professionals mentor more senior professionals). Such pairings can provide multiple benefits. They can help older generations master emerging tools and technologies and provide a way for younger workers to tap into the institutional knowledge and network bases of older workers.

• Drive a sense of purpose among remote workers. When remote employees are unclear about the organization’s long-term vision and plan, they are likely to feel disengaged and may not focus on service delivery. It’s important that leaders describe (in clear terms) how the organizational vision translates into function- and team-level priorities and individuals’ goals to drive a clear sense of purpose for the workforce, especially in a remote/hybrid work model. Some of these low-engagement issues in the remote environment can be addressed by implementing both tech-enabled virtual opportunities and in-person opportunities for networking, on-the-job training, and social interactions.

Considerations for organizations and leaders

There are several steps organizations and leaders can take to help enhance the remote-work experience for various identities. However, before the remote-work experience can be improved, organizations should work to better understand their workforce and particular experiences they may have, and they may consider gathering that information through a detailed self-identification (self-ID) effort. If they haven’t already, they should work with their counsel and human resources functions to assess whether it may make sense to launch an organizational self-ID exercise to understand the composition of the workforce and repeat it periodically (at least once a year) to stay up to date. The self-ID exercise should take into consideration any applicable legal and privacy restrictions and requirements. Based on the results of the self-ID exercise, organizations may consider conducting focus group discussions and interviews of different groups to understand particular experiences and ways to support them better. Overall, obtaining a better understanding of the workforce composition, their work arrangement, and their work experiences could be a useful input to improving the remote-work experience.

When asked what their employer can do to be more supportive in remote/hybrid work, 65% of respondents in our survey chose “normalize not being in the office” as their top response. This highlights a cultural change that many organizations and leaders can adopt to help improve the remote-work experience. Additional tactical recommendations leaders and managers can leverage to support remote work in their organizations are listed below. These approaches could improve both physical and digital workplaces and help organizations deliver a superior work from anywhere experience.

1. Establish clear organizational policies and empower managers to take decisions for marginalized groups. There should be well-defined organizational policies and no ambiguity on the business accommodations that can or cannot be provided to systemically disadvantaged groups. Managers should be aware of the extent of their decision-making power when it comes to hiring, promotion, and flexibility requests of marginalized individuals.
2. Address productivity concerns, especially for marginalized individuals. Some employers may continue to question whether employees are productive while working remotely, and some employees may go to great lengths (such as getting online before their shift time, sending or responding to emails outside office hours, etc.) to appear productive throughout the day. To help eliminate perceptions and biases that may play out, work outcomes should be well-defined and measurable.¹⁸
3. Use tech nudges to protect personal time in remote work. Across demographic groups, most professionals working remotely may feel there is no divide between personal and professional time which can lead to “always on” fatigue. To manage this, professionals will often send an email to shift a task from their plate to the email recipient’s plate. This can create a problem when the recipient receives the email during their personal time. While the recipient isn’t working on the request, the email has prompted them to start thinking about and mentally preparing for the task. Tech nudges could help in such cases. For example, if a sender is sending an email beyond the recipient’s usual work hours, they would get two options: send now or delay delivery until the recipient’s login time. Likewise, a recipient can manage their mailbox settings to either receive emails as and when they’re sent or receive emails in bulk at the start of their work hours. In the latter approach, the sender gets to check things off their list while the recipient receives requests during their work hours.
4. Make job tasks, processes, and outcomes agnostic of work location. The “out of sight, out of mind” challenge in remote work can be addressed by both managers and team members.¹⁹ Through regular check-ins with team members working remotely, managers can have a line of sight into their team’s work and drive equity in performance management processes. Likewise, team members should be proactive in making the best use of every virtual connect. They should regularly share updates about agreed-upon goals, progress against the goals, any additional contributions beyond the agreed goals, and how their contributions are adding value to the team and the organization.
5. Provide tools and resources for everyone to collaborate and contribute effectively. Remote workers should have access to the tools and resources that are needed (such as language translation, image recognition, lip-reading tools, or virtual whiteboards for collaboration) to accomplish the required outcomes irrespective of their location. Also, there are tools that can enable everyone to participate. For example, based on voice detection, AI can identify individuals and groups that take over a conversation, leaving no space for others to contribute to the discussion.²⁰ Such in-the-moment analysis could be helpful especially in hybrid/virtual settings to help ensure everyone can speak and contribute to a discussion.²¹ One of the best things about in-person meetings can be the ability for everyone to be in the same room, interacting together. Virtual reality applications can also allow participants to join the same room in their digital avatars, thus more easily enabling contributions and interactions with each other.
6. Be thoughtful in the use of video meetings to improve empathy in teams. Video meetings can help attendees by enabling people to experience both verbal and nonverbal cues that can help build empathy among the group. It’s important that at the right times, workers feel empowered and have the freedom to choose whether or not to be on camera. To mitigate video-call fatigue, it can be important for leaders and managers to establish a common understanding of video presence. For example, video meetings may generally be well-suited for one-on-one introductory calls, coaching and mentoring conversations, or collaborative brainstorming sessions. On the other hand, project update calls and large group meetings could largely be audio only while allowing everyone the freedom to choose as they prefer.

Enhancing workforce experience in a “work from anywhere” model is likely a journey of continuous learning and improvement for organizations. Establishing relationships, resolving conflicts, and building consensus can be difficult when in-person interactions are reduced or absent.²² This may require organizations to double down on their efforts to support the mental well-being of their remote workforce.

Our research demonstrates that, although emerging challenges in remote work may impact individuals across demographic groups, applicants continue to look for remote-work opportunities.²³ This highlights a potential strategic opportunity for organizations to broaden their talent pool and access talent from different locations who are not located in (or willing to move to) specific geographies. Organizations that work toward understanding the nuances of remote-work experience and seek feedback from their workforce can look toward building a better work environment to attract and retain their talent.