Diversity Part 2: Fostering Diversity Through Workplace

The English language has a word defined as “a person who is obstinately or unreasonably attached to a belief, opinion, or faction, especially one who is prejudiced against or antagonistic toward a person or people on the basis of their membership of a particular group.” Take for example business leaders of whom we spoke last time: those who want their company culture to reflect themselves and their values - whether they be old white men in suits or young boho hipsters in beanies - and who dismiss and even actively resist hiring people who don’t fit that “culture”. The word is bigot, and most of us humans are, to some extent, bigoted.

We like to think who we are and what we do represents the best others would do in our same situation. It’s extremely difficult to think otherwise due to cognitive dissonance. It’s hard for us to accept that others can be different, or make different choices, but be just as good or better than we are, and we take a very binary approach to dealing with that: usually “us” and “them”. Even when we try to see differences as a rainbow spectrum, we tend to see them more as a series of either/or categories: black and white, eastern and western, gay and straight, male and female, young and old, white collar and blue collar, neurodivergent and neurotypical, etc. We are naturally binary, bigoted thinkers.

In business, we are also burdened with the mindset that’s resulted from the Industrial Revolution and assembly-line manufacturing. Workers were seen as cogs in the machine. They weren’t people, they simply served a business purpose - whether that was turning a series of bolts over and over or processing paperwork over and over. When seen as parts of a machine, you don’t want everyone different, you want them the same. The same language, the same values, the same work ethic. In fact, the remnants are still all around us. Real estate brokers, gardeners, cops, accountants, construction workers, designers - they are often a “type.” That type may vary somewhat, but there is a certain stereotype associated with positions and companies - a “normal” that’s perpetuated through hiring, management, and evaluative practices - and it’s often difficult for someone from outside that “normal” to break into those positions or those companies.

Even in the largely postindustrial societies many of us live in today that carries on, and there has been resistance to changing it. It’s sort of a “don’t fix what isn’t broken” philosophy, even though we know it is broken. People aren’t judged by their potential, or even the work they produce. They are hired, paid, and fired based on what is perceived as “normal.” Despite repeated efforts by lawmakers, bigotry remains. People are still hired because they fit a stereotype. They’re paid what they’re paid because that’s what that “type” of person gets paid. They’re fired because they aren’t the “type” of person they’re supposed to be. In offices all around the world, managers walk up and down like factory foremen, wanting all the cogs to fit together - rewarding those that do, and penalizing those that don’t, often absolutely irrespective of the work being done.

Then came COVID.

Suddenly, the factory floor mentality had to go away. Leaders kicked and screamed that they had to release their people to work from home. Many refused until they were threatened with fines or even in some cases jail. Many insisted that their employees couldn’t be trusted, and claimed financial stresses and even that coming into an office during a global pandemic was good for their people, that the workers’ quality of life would decline if they weren’t socializing in an office setting. They squealed and squawked and pitched fits, and then something amazing happened: Things started to be OK. It wasn’t easy, and adapting was an ongoing process for everyone involved, but it worked. In fact for many it was fantastic. As office occupancy plummeted, so did rent. Many companies found increased productivity and greater employee satisfaction. Without having to commute, people had time for hobbies, spent more time with loved ones, and realized how much time was wasted when working in the industrialized office.

People also were allowed to break away from stereotypes. People were judged on the work being accomplished and not whether they looked busy. The idea of “normal” melted away, and people were allowed to be themselves. We don’t even know what “normal” is anymore, and that’s added strength and adaptability to many companies which have embraced it. Global teams have collaborated asymmetrically and seamlessly. We found many of our coworkers were being held back because of tradition. Ethnicity, gender, neurodiversity, age, lifestyle, and other labels we once applied to stereotypes melted away as we all became talking heads on the screen, and then got down to work as we all saw best. Humanity overcame and has flourished.

One of the things we learned through COVID is that people, when left to their own devices, choose to work differently. Some missed the office, but many did not. Some were far more productive working asymmetrically to their own schedule, and some kept to strict time disciplines. Some could work at the dining room table, and some needed to build a home office. Some longed for workplace camaraderie, and some were happy to escape the cliquish social strata of the cubicle farm. Technologists stepped up and allowed us all to adapt, and the outcome was obvious: despite a global epidemic, many, many people found their work and their life improved when they weren’t going to the office.

How we accommodate that moving forward is still a bit elusive, but we’re learning quickly. We learned that what most people hate is the commute, not working near others. We learned that many people would prefer to work independently much of the time, but not all of the time. We learned that small groups collaborate more effectively than big groups (Amazon calls this the “two-pizza rule”, meaning keep the groups small enough to be fed by two pizzas). We learned that mentoring is a one-on-one effort and not a large group exercise. We learned that working from home simply isn’t possible for everyone, and we established that a commute of more than a few minutes often has a detrimental effect on people’s quality of life.

We also learned that the old guard is a dying breed. Demands to return to the office have often gone ignored. People have risen up and quit, and companies who wish to retain their best have made hybrid work the norm. Bosses have been forced to see employees as individuals. It seems that coming into an office is good for many people, but it doesn’t have to be the office. #Coworking or #flexspace is a great option for many companies, but most of the coworking space available is in the same urban centers which people hate to commute to (we’re working on that!). The point is that we’re adapting, and it’s very unlikely that we will ever return to the office (#RTO) or return to the past (#RTP). Just as humanity didn’t go back to bronze or stone, we won’t go back to the industrial revolution. We are postindustrial, individual, and hopefully some day we will be post-bigots.

Work is not a place, it is an activity. It is not a noun, it is a verb. People aren’t cogs, they are individuals with individual strengths, and to best embrace that in their work, they should be allowed - as much as possible - to work when, where, and how they work best. COVID pushed us ahead, and allowed us to escape from an attitude toward work that no longer fits the work we do or the world we live in. We can now foster #diversity by encouraging it, celebrating it, and profiting off of it. Few times in human history have we seen such sudden, dramatic change in the way people live and work. This is bigger than the space age and bigger than the internet age. This is nothing short of a revolution, and it’s just barely begun.

What an amazing time to be alive!

Brad Hampton is a dad who took a couple weeks' off from this newsletter to observe Spring Break, and to launch a new venture. He has been called a tech pioneer (and worse!), and has been a leader in remote work technology since 2006. He once ran several companies from a sailboat, cruising between San Francisco and British Columbia.