Can Women Thrive in a Hybrid Workplace?

For many women, hybrid work is not yet delivering the benefits it could, with many women in hybrid working arrangements experiencing more non-inclusive behaviours like microaggressions compared to those who are back in the workplace on a more regular basis. The most common microaggressions reported by women working remotely are being interrupted or talked over.

For working mums who have primary caring roles, a hybrid working arrangement provides more flexibility to structure their working day around school pickups and drop-offs. But for many, that greater flexibility comes at the risk of less exposure to the team and leaders in the business and more exclusion from important meetings.

Mass enforced working from home has shifted the power balance of workplace choice to employees and this has been unsettling for many managers. Many are struggling to trust team members to deliver work to expectations, find collaboration difficult in a remote working environment and are concerned about the mental health impacts of those employees not connecting into the workplace on a regular basis.

And with women working flexibly reporting a higher level of stress and burnout in a post pandemic environment, it’s important to keep an eye out for the more obvious signs of burnout and mental health challenges which include:

1.??????Blurring of boundaries between home and work time.

2.??????Being unable to switch off from work — “always on mindset”.

3.??????Difficulty in maintaining a routine.

4.??????Increased caring expectations from families because of greater time spent working from home.

5.??????Declining work performance.

6.??????Increased mental or physical illnesses.

The key to making hybrid working work for women is having clear and consistent principles around team meetings and behaviours and setting realistic expectations on workload and deadlines. Some simple rules that work to promote an inclusive working environment for women include:

Click here for the four-step approach every manager should be implementing to ensure a productive and mutually beneficial hybrid working arrangement for women in your team.

?If you'd like to hear directly from Jane Counsel leading expert in diversity, flexibility, and women leadership, email me at?[email protected] to arrange a time.?