Hybrid working: there is no doubt that it has brought many benefits. New research suggests that Brits value personal life as much as – if not more than – work. And hybrid working has done a lot to provide this balance, including making time for home-focused activities, saving time travelling on packed trains and sitting in traffic jams, as well as often providing greater peace and quiet for people to work uninterrupted.
Unfortunately, hybrid working has also been to the detriment of professional relationships. Fewer casual conversations take place as people don’t see one another around the office as much anymore. As a result, they no longer build professional relationships unless they plan their communication and make a more intentional effort.
Furthermore, being away from the office allows people to ‘hide’ from those they find challenging to deal with, and not dealing with issues rarely has a good outcome.
What this means is that people only engage with those they really have to when they have to; beyond that, people engage only with those they like and want to connect with. The fall-out of this, of course, is that they are less likely to engage with those who are very different from them, setting back the good work that has been done as part of companies’ Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) efforts. Without the ability to practise some of the lessons of EDI – such as listening to diverse/adverse opinions and perspectives – inclusive culture development stalls and, worse, might even devolve into pockets or cliques of ‘birds of a feather’. The more ‘similar’ people stay in their own groups, the more they lose out on the benefits of diversity of thought within their organisation. There is even the possibility of them forgetting the true benefits of EDI and perhaps even questioning the need for it.
In other words, one of the unwanted consequences of hybrid working is the deterioration of EDI efforts and on an individual basis, potentially closing oneself off from diverse thinking.
Given the efforts most companies are making to advance EDI, it is worthwhile encouraging our colleagues to spend some time as individuals considering whether this is what is happening in their own working life.
How to encourage action to work more inclusively
One simple way to assess whether hybrid working is impacting someone’s own working relationships, is for that individual to track who they engage with and how frequently. You might suggest that they try this over a span of two or three weeks and compare it to the circle of people they had engaged with in previous times when everyone was at the office more regularly. You might also suggest that people consider whether there are fewer informal interactions with colleagues, and to also compare the quality or depth of those interactions to previous times.
Once this assessment has been done, and if people find that their circle of interactions has narrowed and perhaps become more homogenous, here are a few steps you can suggest to them to make a change. These actions will help people form closer relationships and be more inclusive whilst still benefitting from hybrid working:
1. Consider overall how you are spending your working time. Are you making enough time to connect with others and collaborate on challenges together?
Since the pandemic, many people have understandably wanted to focus more on non-work activities, which is important. However, positive professional relationships are vital, as none of us can work alone. More than that, we can all benefit from connecting with a variety of people with different experiences, values, beliefs and assumptions. And if people notice that EDI efforts are dissipating as a result of hybrid working, this may be used as yet another reason to recall people into the office on a more regular basis – and who wants that?
As companies are gearing up for a busy time, this is the ideal time to consider the above points and how you can influence your own and others’ more fulfilling and productive professional relationships, even as we all continue to work remotely for part of the time.
Suggested Reading
How to Make the most of a team’s collective intelligence