5 Practices to Make Your Hybrid Workplace Inclusive

隨著疫情限制措施放寬，我們迎來了一個新的工作方式：混合工作制。然而，新變化可能導(dǎo)致新的不平等，甚至拉大已有差距。為了在實施混合工作制時確保公平、業(yè)績最大化和維系文化凝聚力，雇主需要在設(shè)計混合工作制政策和探索新工作方式時考慮以下五個實際維度的包容性。 As pandemic restrictions ease, it’s clear that one big change to the way we work is here to stay: hybrid working. However, these environments run the risk of creating new inequities and exacerbating those that already exist. For employers to ensure fairness, maximize performance, and maintain cultural cohesion in hybrid work arrangements, they need to consider these five practical dimensions of inclusion when designing hybrid policies and navigating new ways of working.

招聘與遠(yuǎn)程入職

Recruitment and Remote Onboarding

2020年的招聘和入職培訓(xùn)轉(zhuǎn)為線上，許多新員工在接受工作前從未見過同事本人。許多人力資源管理者認(rèn)為，未來還會繼續(xù)線上面試應(yīng)屆生。這種方法的好處是：首先，降低了經(jīng)濟(jì)條件有限、可能無法為工作搬家的畢業(yè)生的入職成本。此外，可以借機(jī)審視現(xiàn)有的入職流程，并考慮新團(tuán)隊成員帶來的不同經(jīng)驗、背景和期望。 With recruitment and onboarding practices shifting to virtual in the last year, many new hires had never met their future teams in person before accepting their jobs. Many HR decision-makers believe?they will continue interviewing graduates virtually?in the future. This approach has benefits: First, it reduces the cost of entry for graduates from lower socioeconomic backgrounds who may not be able to relocate for a job. It also provides an opportunity to review existing onboarding practices and take into account the different experiences, backgrounds, and expectations new team members bring in. 為了打造更一致的入職體驗，我們可以借鑒疫情居家期間人們接收信息的最佳方式，從中汲取經(jīng)驗。例如，將教學(xué)轉(zhuǎn)移到線上的大學(xué)發(fā)現(xiàn)，將長時間的課程切分成大約15分鐘的分段教學(xué)效果最好。公司可以錄制一套短視頻，涵蓋入職的所有方面，比如工作電腦設(shè)置和入職流程，然后集中新員工開一次會，讓五人或以下的新員工組成小組，針對視頻提出問題。短視頻和研討會相結(jié)合既可以確保入職體驗的一致性，也可以照顧到個人需求。 To create a more consistent onboarding experience, we can take lessons from what we learned during the pandemic about how people best received information while at home. For example, universities that moved their teaching online found that chunking long lectures into?approximately 15-minute bursts?worked best. Firms can create a catalog of short videos that describe all aspects of onboarding, such as walkthroughs on how to set up technology and navigate processes. The employer can then bring together new joiners for a session where they ask questions about the videos in small groups of five people or fewer. Together, the video catalog and intimate seminar set the scene for a consistent onboarding experience while catering to individual needs. 職場成功的一個重要條件是，有完成工作所需的技術(shù)環(huán)境和培訓(xùn)。遠(yuǎn)程辦公突顯了技術(shù)能力的價值，而在家工作時啟動電腦、運行相應(yīng)程序已經(jīng)成為一項必備技能。對于不太懂技術(shù)的人來說，建立一個臨時家庭辦公室并不容易。甚至還有一些員工可能沒有必需的設(shè)備或無力承擔(dān)費用，這就暴露了經(jīng)濟(jì)差距。疫情暴發(fā)前，公司IT技術(shù)人員通常會為員工設(shè)置筆記本電腦、電話和顯示器，排除網(wǎng)絡(luò)或軟件問題，并在聽到“我該怎么做？”時施以援手。讓員工在入職時選擇自己的技術(shù)水平，可以幫助雇主決定和安排遠(yuǎn)程IT協(xié)助，為員工提供相應(yīng)的幫助。 An important part of being successful at work is having the right setup and training to do your job. Remote work places increasing value on being technically capable, and getting up and running when working from home has become an essential skill. For those who are less tech savvy, setting up a makeshift home office did not come naturally. Others may not have even been provided with the necessary equipment or have the means to purchase it — exposing an equity gap. Before the pandemic, an onsite IT technician would typically set up an employee’s laptop, phone, and monitor; troubleshoot any network or software issues; and generally be on hand for those prevalent “How do I do…?” questions. Giving people an option during onboarding to self-select their level of technological savviness can help employers determine and schedule remote IT assistance so employees are provided for. 此外，員工入職后接受的培訓(xùn)可能因上司的個人素質(zhì)而產(chǎn)生差異。在辦公室里，新人更容易潛移默化地了解信息和工作方式。遠(yuǎn)程工作者的學(xué)習(xí)曲線可能比經(jīng)常去辦公室的人更陡峭，因此可能被貼上能力或效率不如現(xiàn)場辦公同事的標(biāo)簽。 Furthermore, once in the role training may be inconsistent and dependent on the quality of one’s manager. In an office, it’s easier to pick up information and the ways of working via osmosis. Remote workers’ learning curve could be steeper than those who go into the office frequently — and thus they might get labeled as less competent or productive than their onsite peers. 公司可以實行搭檔制度，將新人和更有經(jīng)驗的員工配對。老員工負(fù)責(zé)回答日常問題，傳遞公司信息，這樣有助于確保遠(yuǎn)程辦公的員工不錯過現(xiàn)場辦公的益處。 Companies can implement a buddy system, pairing new starters with a more experienced employee. This person becomes the go-to for the day-to-day informal questions and company information, which helps ensure that remote employees don’t miss out on the informal learning those in the office benefit from.

共同協(xié)作

Working Together

物理距離會影響心理距離。同處一片屋檐下更容易確認(rèn)同事狀況。通常情況下，大家一眼就能看出負(fù)責(zé)財務(wù)的莎拉這一天過得怎么樣。員工與工作區(qū)域或部門以外的同事交流，對組織運作有積極影響，還有助于提高效率。與電子郵件和即時通信工具相比，這些私下交流對企業(yè)文化和職能部門的貢獻(xiàn)更大。 Physical distance can lead to psychological distance. It’s much easier to check in on colleagues when sharing a physical space. Often, one glance is enough to tell if Sarah over in finance is having a bad day. Office exchanges with colleagues outside immediate working areas or departments have a positive effect on organizational functioning and can impact?effective performance. These informal communications contribute to an organization’s?culture and functionality?more than communication tools like email and instant messaging do. 對此，一種解決方案是“打開”虛擬辦公室的門。過去，一扇敞開的門意味著你可以走進(jìn)去和同事交談。沒有看到明確的信號，其他人可能不會主動打擾同事。遠(yuǎn)程辦公時員工可以利用實時狀態(tài)欄。一條“歡迎找我聊天！”的信息，加上一個表示有空的綠圈，相當(dāng)于為溝通亮起綠燈，可以縮小距離感。公司也可以通過虛擬會議室來營造歸屬感和共享感。虛擬會議技術(shù)將線上會議室打造得栩栩如生，這項技術(shù)的蓬勃發(fā)展也為雇主提供了越來越多的選擇。 One solution is to open the virtual office door. In the past, an open physical door signaled that it was okay to walk in and speak with your colleague. Without visible cues for how busy a colleague is, people might hesitate to reach out to them. When working remotely, make use of the trusty status bar. A message like “Open for chats!” along with a green status circle gives permission to bridge the distance gap. Companies can also develop a sense of place with virtual reality and virtual meeting rooms to create a sense of belonging and sharing. The virtual meeting technology space is burgeoning, giving employers more and more options for how to bring these rooms to life.

解決矛盾

Resolving Conflict

混合工作制的另一個影響是潛在的沉默霸凌。雖然遠(yuǎn)程工作的一個優(yōu)點是在某種程度上緩解辦公室霸凌，但也可能導(dǎo)致更多人際沖突，一個人感到被邊緣化后可能更難發(fā)聲。失去這些人的觀點會導(dǎo)致團(tuán)隊整體表現(xiàn)下滑，特別是在高度復(fù)雜或需要創(chuàng)造性的任務(wù)中，備選方案和討論才是關(guān)鍵。 Another inclusion impact of hybrid working is the potential for silent bullying. While one advantage of remote work is that it’s somewhat easier to avoid the office bully, a downside is that it can also lead to?more interpersonal conflict?in general. When someone already feels marginalized, it may be harder for them to speak up. Losing those perspectives decreases the quality of a team’s performance, particularly on high-complexity or creative tasks where alternatives and discussion can be?pivotal. 營造一個鼓勵所有人勇敢發(fā)聲的環(huán)境需要提升員工的心理安全感，如此一來，當(dāng)出現(xiàn)人際沖突時，員工才敢站出來說話。對于這個問題，一種方法是展現(xiàn)健康的沖突，讓員工覺得可以在一個高效、沒有評判的區(qū)域開展必要的艱難對話。畢竟，參與理性辯論是健康的行為，它表明團(tuán)隊中的成員能夠持有相互沖突的觀點，這樣是沒問題的。 Fostering an environment where all voices are heard requires increasing?psychological safety?so that your people feel they can speak up when there’s interpersonal conflict. One way to do this is to show what healthy conflict looks like. Employees must feel they can have the necessary hard conversations in a productive and judgment-free zone. After all, engaging in civil debate is healthy! It shows that people within teams can hold conflicting viewpoints, and that that’s okay.

凝聚團(tuán)隊

Team Cohesion

此外，在經(jīng)濟(jì)不確定時期，員工更有可能遵循某些相似點而在內(nèi)部形成小團(tuán)體。雖然這些小團(tuán)隊內(nèi)部更讓人有歸屬感，但對業(yè)務(wù)的影響就不那么積極了。小團(tuán)體可能將他人排除在關(guān)鍵對話之外，不愿分享信息，甚至可以決定重要項目或客戶分配給誰。當(dāng)其他人遠(yuǎn)程工作時，回到辦公室的團(tuán)隊成員可能會形成一個“小組中的小組”，而在家的成員較少參與解決團(tuán)隊問題或分享知識，可能會被認(rèn)為不如在辦公室的同事。 Additionally, in times of economic uncertainty, employees are more likely to form in-groups, usually along some?dimension of similarity. While the impact of these in-groups on belonging may be obvious, the business impacts are less so. Unfortunate side effects include exclusion from key conversations and reluctance to share information. These groups can even dictate who gets assigned key projects or?accounts. Team members who return to the office while others work remotely might form a “group within a group” where those at home are less involved in resolving team issues and knowledge sharing and can be seen as less helpful than?colleagues in the office. 打破小團(tuán)體的一個有效方法是，通過識別“薄弱紐帶”，確保信息在組織中大范圍通暢流動。在社會網(wǎng)絡(luò)中，紐帶是人與人之間的關(guān)系，其強(qiáng)度取決于交流的時間、頻率和親密程度。比如同個團(tuán)隊同事之間牢固的紐帶是人際網(wǎng)的一部分，且對建立團(tuán)隊內(nèi)部的凝聚力很重要。熟人或點頭之交的薄弱紐帶也不應(yīng)被忽視，因為它們對于整個組織的信息傳播至關(guān)重要：這種紐帶可以在兩點之間提供獨特聯(lián)系，充當(dāng)信息孤島間的橋梁。 One effective way to break up these in-groups is to ensure information flows smoothly and diffusely through an organization by identifying “weak ties.” In social networks, ties are the relationships between different people, and their strength depends on the amount of time, intensity, and proximity between people. Strong ties, such as those between colleagues on the same team, form part of dense networks and are important for building intra-team cohesion. However, weak ties, such as acquaintances or casual contacts, should not be overlooked, as they’re critical in diffusing information throughout organizations: They provide unique connections between two points, acting as a?bridge?between?information silos. 在團(tuán)隊中，確保人們不會歸因錯誤，即將個人或同事的失敗歸因于所處環(huán)境，居家辦公者將失敗歸因于配置，也很重要。物理距離較遠(yuǎn)的人更難互相理解對方處境，所以要鼓勵員工解釋自己的行為，這樣有助于其他同事理解他們的處境，打造更強(qiáng)的團(tuán)隊凝聚力。 Within teams, it’s also important to ensure people don’t fall into the fundamental attribution error, where personal or co-located workers’ failures are attributed to the situation while the failures of those working from home are attributed to their?dispositions. It’s harder to understand the context of people who are far away, so encouraging people to provide an explanation for their actions can help others understand their situation and build stronger?team cohesion.

晉升

Promotions

研究表明，當(dāng)上司和下屬同為男性時，下屬與上司越親近，升職率越高。這可能是由生產(chǎn)力和可見性的關(guān)系引起的，雖然這種聯(lián)系并未得到明確證實。歸根結(jié)底，決定薪酬、晉升和機(jī)會的是上司對下屬生產(chǎn)力和績效的信任。在后疫情時代，我們很可能會看到遠(yuǎn)程辦公者和在辦公室工作、有機(jī)會與老板面對面的人之間，存在難以解釋的差距。 Proximity to managers has been shown to?increase promotion rates?when men report to other men. This may be caused by a perceived relationship between productivity and visibility, even though no such relationship has ever been established. In the end, it’s the beliefs about productivity and performance that determine pay, promotions, and opportunities. In a post-pandemic world, we may well see unexplained gaps between those who work remotely and those who get onsite face time with the boss. 生產(chǎn)力及績效會因個人所處環(huán)境存在很大差異，例如你可能在附近的咖啡店時更有創(chuàng)意。在工作場所擺放植物可以提高注意力，在通風(fēng)和空氣質(zhì)量好的地方工作也可以提高工作效率。 Productivity — and therefore performance — varies widely based on one’s environment. For example, you really are?more creative in the neighborhood coffee shop. Having plants in the workplace can improve attention and?productivity levels. And working in a space with good ventilation and air quality?improves performance. 在混合工作制下，家庭環(huán)境將對工作成果產(chǎn)生重要影響。經(jīng)濟(jì)條件好的人可能有一個專門的家庭辦公室，而其他人更有可能在合租公寓里一個不太理想的地點工作。同一空間中，隨著辦公人數(shù)的增加，人均占用面積減少，可以預(yù)期工作效率會下降。這也引發(fā)了另一個問題：Wi-Fi之爭。在一項針對微軟員工的內(nèi)部研究中，59%的人表示，為了避免連接中斷，他們不得不啟用手機(jī)熱點。辦公環(huán)境中是否有小孩也會影響工作效率。一項研究顯示，有育兒責(zé)任的女性中85%表示，育兒在一定程度或很大程度上增加了工作難度，育兒男性中則有70%有同感。 In a hybrid working world, one’s home environment will play a starring role in terms of output. Those with money and privilege likely have a dedicated home office, whereas others may be more likely to be in a shared apartment and work from a less-than-ideal space, like the kitchen counter. As the number of people working together in a space rises and the square footage per person decreases, a decline in productivity?can be expected. This also causes another problem: the fight for Wi-Fi bandwidth. In an internal study of Microsoft employees,?59% reported?having to use their phone as a hotspot in order to avoid connection disruptions. Whether children are in the working environment also impacts productivity.?According to one study, 85% of women with childcare responsibilities reported that their caregiving responsibilities were making it somewhat or much more difficult to attend to work, as did 70% of men who were caregivers. 混合工作制下，獎勵機(jī)制也會隨之改變，有些獎勵機(jī)制可能會將部分員工排除在外。誰受到了關(guān)注？為什么產(chǎn)生這種變化？在面對面的辦公場所中被認(rèn)為有價值、值得褒獎的特質(zhì)，在遠(yuǎn)程工作中可能不再有效。例如，在遠(yuǎn)程辦公環(huán)境下，可能少有人愿意溝通和主動建立社交關(guān)系。 In a hybrid world, it’s also natural to see shifting reward mechanisms, some of which can leave people out. How has who gets paid attention to and why changed? Traits that were perceived as valuable in an in-person office and subsequently rewarded may not be as effective virtually. For instance, having a greater willingness to communicate and feeling comfortable initiating social relationships may be harder to see in remote environments. 留意獎勵機(jī)制改變所產(chǎn)生的影響，一種方法是審查晉升對象和原因——并確保其他員工也清楚這些。這樣做可以實現(xiàn)兩個目標(biāo)。首先，你會開始發(fā)現(xiàn)傾向于特定群體的一些模式。其次，讓員工注意到公司在監(jiān)督得到晉升的人，也會鼓勵管理者公平分配。 One way to keep an eye on the impact of shifting reward mechanisms is to audit who gets what and why — and make sure people know about it. This accomplishes two things. First, you’ll start to see patterns emerging that favor one group over others. Second, drawing attention to the fact that this monitoring of who gets promoted is happening encourages managers to pay attention to their allocations. 制定混合工作制和政策時，管理者要意識到混合工作制可能導(dǎo)致或加深不平等現(xiàn)象。在設(shè)計時充分考慮以上實際層面的包容性，對于創(chuàng)建一個公平的組織至關(guān)重要。 As you craft your company’s hybrid work plans and policies, be aware of the inequities hybrid work can create or make worse. Designing with these practical dimensions of inclusion in mind is critical for creating an equitable organization. 格蕾絲·洛丹是倫敦政治經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)院行為科學(xué)副教授，是偏見、歧視和技術(shù)變革影響方面的專家。特蕾莎·阿爾梅達(dá)是“包容行動”的行為研究員。琳賽·科勒是應(yīng)用行為學(xué)家，為財富500強(qiáng)公司提供員工敬業(yè)度方面的咨詢。 格蕾絲·洛丹（Grace Lordan） 特蕾莎·阿爾梅達(dá)（Teresa Almeida） 琳賽·科勒（Lindsay Kohler）|文?? 柴茁 | 譯??蔣薈蓉 | 校??孫燕 | 編輯