As explored in a recent article, only 3% of Black knowledge workers want to return to working in the office. Some of the reasons included microaggressions, less of a feeling of belonging and lack of recovery and processing time for systemic issues. Though there are a myriad of reasons why employees would prefer to choose to work from home, companies will need to find ways to address these issues for a successful transition back to the routine of working in the office.
Let’s first take a look at what’s important to Black employees as demonstrated in our Diversity & Inclusion Climate survey. Then, discuss some ways you can help create an environment where employees can be engaged and productive in the office. Keep in mind that Black employees aren’t the only ones who are hesitant about returning to the office, so you’ll find that these suggestions will benefit all employees.
What’s Important to Black Employees – According to the Data
Talmetrix fielded a Diversity & Inclusion Climate survey to assess the current experience in organizations for diverse groups, including Black employees. Our intent was to uncover which systemic items have the biggest impact on the employee experience by analyzing the data via different diversity dimensions and demographics.
Our survey sought to uncover how several factors impact two key business outcomes:
Employee Commitment
An employee’s sense of emotional attachment and willingness to recommend the organization
Employee’s Intent to Stay
An employee’s thought of leaving and action of staying
The survey gathered feedback from respondents from across work industries and represented diversity in race, gender and ethnicity. The findings revealed key discoveries about what an organization can do to ensure that the culture can attract diverse talent, engage, retain and create an inclusive and equitable environment.
For Black employees, the findings were:
Employee Commitment
The top driver was Discrimination & Harrassment, defined as the frequency of discriminating and harassing behaviors at work.
Intent to Stay
The top driver was Fair & Inclusive treatment, defined as equitable treatment, manager support, and inclusive culture.
This data demonstrates that employees’ ability to experience engagement and commitment to the company, both which directly impact performance, are most affected by the frequency they perceive or experience discriminating and harassing behaviors at work. According to the survey, 42% of Black employees experienced discrimination/harassment, while 43% were bystanders to this behavior.
For intent to stay, the data tells us that the top driver is fair & inclusive treatment which includes variables, such as:
- Fair performance review process
- Employees being treated well
- Feeling like a valued member of the company
- Policies being applied the same way for everyone, including management
- Everyone being treated respectfully, regardless of background
- Feeling like a real part of the company
These items certainly apply
How to Improve Black Employees’ Experience When Returning to the Office
1. Offer Flexibility
As you determine your return to office plan, be sure to consider your motives.
- Have your employees been productive working remotely?
- Do your business results demonstrate that?
- Are you using data to make the decision to return workers to the office?
- Can some roles continue to work remotely? Under what circumstances?
- What percentage of time do employees need to spend in the office?
These are just a few of the questions to ask to determine a back to the office plan? Although it may seem straightforward to simply establish a date and ask employees to return to the office, they are not returning to an office that will be the same as it was pre-pandemic in February 2020. For example, many employers are easing the transition back to the office by offering a hybrid plan – or a mix of days spent in the office and working remotely.
Take the time to evaluate your best approach. Keep in mind that it will take months to implement any plan you choose.
2. Prepare Your Managers
As the saying goes, employees don’t often leave bad companies, they leave bad managers. Black employees are no different. Effective manager behavior is key to helping Black employees stay engaged and connected to the company and the work they are doing.
Providing Feedback
Some managers have reported feeling more concerned about giving feedback to Black employees because of a heightened sensitivity. That concern may be based on saying the right things or appropriately handling the employee’s reaction. It could be discomfort with individuals who are different from themselves. Either way, managers and leaders can’t fail to engage with diverse employees.
Managers must be effective at providing feedback and managing performance with all their employees.
Making Decisions on Opportunities
Managers assign work, provide opportunities for new assignments and stretch opportunities. And, importantly, they open the doorway to promotion. It’s critical that managers don’t do these tasks from a place of bias. If a Black employee feels like their manager doesn’t “see” them or communicate with them, they may perceive it as bias.
Managers have to be effective at communication and recognizing contributions.
Does your organization offer managers the tools, training and feedback they need to be able to excel at these tasks? If not, or if you don’t know consider contacting Talmetrix to learn about our Manager Effectiveness assessment and other learning & development tools such as our Managing for Engagement workshop which helps those in positions of leadership understand their role in creating inclusive environments that promote the highest levels of engagement for their teams.
3. Increase the Feeling of Belonging
In addition to interpersonal relationships, the psyche of Black employees is greatly impacted by company culture. The organization culture drives what it feels like to work for the organization. Culture is difficult to define, but also hard to ignore.
As employees head back to the office, it’s never too late to evaluate your culture and plan adjustments that will ensure that all employees feel valued. Some of the ways to do that include:
- Providing specific support to Black employees to help them further their development
- Offer safe ways to voice concerns and express true feelings
- Ensure that all people can feel accepted
- Make diversity and inclusion a priority in the workplace
How can you identify if your organizational culture needs to change?
Contact Talmetrix to learn how to understand the unique culture in your organization and how to improve culture to improve performance.
