Distributed Work Tips & Tricks: an Equity and Inclusion Lens (Copy)
Like many of you, we are adjusting to the daily reality of working from home. At ReadySet, we’re already somewhat accustomed to this kind of virtual work -- many of us use our homes as our main offices, coming into our shared office a few times a week and leveraging virtual tools for our clients outside of the Bay Area. However, even if we’re already pretty good at it, this feels...different.
While many of you have come across the myriad of tips and tricks to distributed working, we wanted to take a bit of a different approach -- how do we most effectively leverage these tools but, especially, how do we ensure that our approach is equitable and inclusive? We know that the pandemic isn’t affecting everyone the same way. Older staff; immunocompromised folks; parents and caregivers; people balancing additional mental health considerations; and those facing increased xenophobia, bias, or discrimination may be having an even harder time with what is a big adjustment. Similarly, inclusion challenges that already exist in non-remote communication can be exacerbated or pop up in different ways when in a virtual context.
So, what can we do as managers and leaders to facilitate effective and inclusive distributed work?
On setting up home workspaces and expectations:
Acknowledge that working from home is easier for some than others. Kids, shared space, the total amount of space, distractions, good quality WiFi, etc can drastically impact the efficacy of those working from home.
Establish a stipend for people to set up a comfortable and effective home workspace. Can you reimburse for establishing/upgrading WiFi, for example, or provide a subsidy for a decent chair, desk or noise-canceling headphones? For creative reallocation of funds to this stipend, consider using money previously earmarked for in-person events that would have otherwise gone unused during this time.
Have your IT team check-in with people on their equipment and cyber-security needs.
Reimburse for Ubers or Lyfts for people who need to get equipment from the office to avoid public transit.
Create a space (for example, in slack) for people to share what’s working for them.
Have people fully complete their Slack profiles so that colleagues can reach them by phone as well and that number is accessible.
Establish “core” working hours where most people can be online. Work out specific schedules for parents and caregivers whose schools and daycares are closed. Encourage them to be as proactive as they can about when they will and won’t be available.
Get clear on which tools you’re using and for what -- Google, Slack, Zoom, etc.
Encourage people to take breaks!
On running inclusive meetings:
Keep a regular cadence of all-staffs, team meetings, 1:1’s, etc. -- routine and ritual is important! Set cameras on as the norm for connection.
Switch to meetings if conversations are taking too long over chat (3 slacks back and forth? Switch to a call or video call!).
Normalize kids “popping up” in video calls (say hi!) and more background noise with a general “mute when not talking’ guideline.
Check-ins at the beginning of meetings are fun and silly and create personal connections. One tool is to pull up a "chair" around a "table" (drag an icon around a circle in a google slide), so that the team can "go around the table.” It saves time waiting for someone to talk and, while clunky at first, it can take a bunch of the awkwardness away. Another tool is “popcorn” where the last person who talks, “popcorns” to the next person.
Some example check-in questions:
Share a gif that describes how you’re feeling today
What’s your most-used emoji?
What’s something that surprised you today?
Remember that the introverts or people who take up less space are going to have an *even harder* time unmuting to say something in virtual meetings. Make space for those who haven’t spoken if you’re facilitating meetings: “I’d love to hear from someone who hasn’t spoken yet.”
Use the chatbox to organize a speaker’s list so nobody gets lost in the shuffle. And have a second facilitator to *just* manage the chatbox.
On creating social and fun time for connection:
Encourage video chat over lunch -- it’s important for mental health and productivity to take breaks. And we can still chat with our colleagues at a virtual water cooler.
If you’d typically have food at an All Staff or event, encourage people to order in food to their house (give them a budget). Note: this is still considered okay by most in terms of social distancing but could change.
Consider a zoom trivia night or virtual movie night (peanut gallery on slack!) or something else in lieu of other after-hour events you’d typically do.
Create non-work Slack channels with specific missions or topics in mind, for example: “Share Daily: take a picture of something you’re grateful for” or group chat around TV/Movies.
Use existing or new channels to encourage folks who might be facing mental health, xenophobia or bias challenges to talk about it.
Create slack channels or other ways to share what’s working and what’s not for people when it comes to working from home.