Remote work can go terribly wrong
The brand-new study from projectinclude.org shows how threatening increased pressure, gender harassment and mental health can be if companies don’t have a holistic strategy for the new type of work.
⏱ 64% are working longer hours since Covid-19
⏰ 37% say their managers expect them to be available on demand
🥱 54% feel the pressure to be online outside of work hours
😱 85% experience increased anxiety since Covid-19
Alarming: the gap between race/ethnicity, age, gender and sexual orientation sharpens rapidly!
😡 45% of Black women experienced race-based hostility at work
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“Women, genderqueer people, or nonbinary people were 40 times as likely on average to have experienced an increase in gender-based harassment than white men since Covid-19.”
So what are possible solutions:
Out of my experience, you need to start at the roots: your company culture.
- Lead by example. Especially if you are a manager, leader or teamlead. Do not accept any kind of dangerous behavior. Be strikt and show no mercy to those who are overstepping clear lines.
- Be a friend to your teammates. Put the individual in the middle and react early to signs of danger. Start meetings or 1on1s with a short “trip-report”: “How was your weekend? How are you dealing with homeschooling? What are you planning to do once the movies are open again?”
- Transparency by default. If your tool of communication is public, you can add a layer of shared regulation. Harassers won’t get away with stuff that easy. You can also slowly nudge people towards a behavioral change.
👉 Someone makes a slippery comment in slack? Nudge him with the eggplant 🍆 emoji in public and show him: that’s not ok!
Leave me a comment: What are your hacks for a holistic healthy strategy?