Workplace Inclusion: the COVID-19 impact

There is no denying that 2020 has been a year of uncertainty for our workplaces – and it’s not over yet. Maretha Smit, Chief Executive of Diversity Works New Zealand, takes a closer look at how we can make our workplaces more inclusive, despite the chaos all around us.

A McKinsey global survey of more than 800 business executives, released in September this year, showed that most leaders expect large-scale change stemming from COVID-19 in areas as broad as core processes, use of technology, meeting structure, leadership styles, decision making, approach to innovation and skills needed.

Diversity and inclusion are essential when it comes to navigating those changes – research shows they’re important for building teams that can work together effectively, especially through times of disruption.

But are those inclusive cultures we’ve worked so hard to build also at risk from the COVID-19 fallout? As part of the Diversity Works New Zealand work programme this year, we’ve talked to diversity and inclusion practitioners and business and academic thought leaders about issues that will be crucial for the economy and communities in the months and years ahead.

Protect your progress

Lessons from previous crises show a possible risk that diversity and inclusion may recede as a strategic priority for organisations. This is not as a result of an intentional shift in the mindsets of our companies and leaders to be less diverse and less inclusive, but a priorities shift as the fight for survival focuses attention on the most pressing basic needs, such as dealing with loss of revenue, implementing measures to adapt to new ways of working, and maintaining productivity in ambiguous times.

Yet I would argue a retained focus on diversity and inclusion, from the Board and executive leadership down, is essential to safeguard the advances our organisations have made in creating inclusive cultures.

Executive coach, Hélène Deschamp, says to do this, business leaders need to avoid making important decisions in a state of stress. When faced with disruption, humans enter a state of stress, because our brains are wired for survival, meaning we will detect danger before we detect opportunity.

The part of the brain responsible for logical thinking and deliberation goes on the ‘back-burner’, which is appropriate in dangerous shortterm situations but in the business context is likely to lead to suboptimal decisions, strongly affected by unconscious bias, she says. Leaders need to be aware of their natural tendency to trust more the people who are like them, whether that’s in terms of gender, age, ethnicity, cultural background, education, way of thinking or previous experiences.

Deschamp says leaders can adopt strategies to lessen the impact biases have on decision making, even in a time of crisis. Examine principles and practices that may be detrimental to diversity and inclusion. ‘Last in, first out’ is one that can affect diverse employees disproportionately because they are often the ones with the shortest tenure.

If resizing is necessary, look at the roles being restructured. The tendency is to keep essential line roles that protect revenue in the short term and consider support roles as less crucial. “Staff in support roles tend to have more diversity. It’s not always the case, but it tends to be,” says Deschamp.” An organisation that has put a lot of work into diversity and inclusion in the past five years could just wipe it all out.”

Mind the (gender) gap

New Zealand’s gender pay gap has remained steady at 9.5 per cent, the latest Stats NZ figures show, but the data did not capture the affect COVID-19 is having on women in the workforce. Employment figures released in August 2020 revealed that 90 per cent of New Zealanders who lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 lockdown were women.

Business leaders need to avoid making important decisions in a state of stress.

The numbers reflect the fact that women tend to be more represented in tourism, retail and hospitality, which were particularly affected by the restrictions imposed to stop the spread of the virus.

But COVID-19 has also exposed the structural disadvantages that exist for women in the workplace. The burden of care is still disproportionately skewed towards women, and we will achieve gender equality only when men and women can equally thrive at work and at home. Making the workplace more family friendly for women and having flexible working policies help but will not solve this issue.

Another concern is that many of the new jobs being created are in ‘shovel-ready projects’ within industries that are typically not wellrepresented by women. COVID-19 is also expediting the digital revolution, and technology is yet another sector with poor credentials for gender diversity.

If we are to protect the gains we’ve made in increasing gender equity and reducing the gender pay gap, the government and our private and public sectors will need to work together to reverse the impact COVID-19 is having on women in the workforce.

The flexible factor

Working from our bedrooms, dining rooms and lounges, using remote communication tools, became the new normal for many of us in 2020. So what happens now? Will we return to traditional work practices or will we embrace this opportunity to radically change what work looks like?

Tech Futures Lab founder, Frances Valintine, says the COVID-19 crisis has provided a unique opportunity for people to think about what they want in the workplace, how they value the time contributed to organisations and how they can be most productive.

It’s a chance to consider what really works for people, rather than rely on a model that’s become irrelevant in the scheme of digitalisation and our ability to effectively work remotely. “The supercharging ahead of perhaps two or three years has enabled us to really evidence how significant this shift is. Now we have to work out where the balance is,” Frances says.

Remote working is one type of flexible working, but there are many others.

Rather than rely on the traditional nine-to-five model of work, she believes leaders should encourage people to be productive. “If they are productive and passionate about what they are doing and they work to the rhythm of their body, to the rhythm of their lifestyle, their kids and their travel, you get the most out of people and you never encourage and reward idleness, which is where frustration spills over and the work culture changes quite dramatically,” she says.

Infrastructure company Citycare Ltd is future-proofing its workforce with a focus on attracting young people, Māori, Pasifika and women to be part of its diverse talent pipeline.

Valintine is excited by the bold conversations emerging in workplaces as people explore a blended model, allowing them to come together to collaborate, communicate and socialise, then work from home when it suits.

Constellation Brands New Zealand Managing Director, Simon Towns, also supports a blended model, with the physical workspace filling a couple of important roles: it facilitates problem-solving and collaboration, which proved to be more difficult during the period staff were working remotely; and it acts as a social hub, the place to build intimate and deeper relationships that enable the trust that teams require to be more effective.

Towns sees two big challenges for organisations that want to move to more remote working. One is the physical equipment people need to access the virtual office. “Do all of our people have access to space in their own homes to enable this? Not all my employees will have that. How do we get over that divide, not just within a company but also within society?”

The second challenge is whether people managers have the right leadership skills, Towns says. “Do we have achievement-based leadership and do we have leaders that have built teams based on trust and can be comfortable managing success based on achievement and not on clocking in and clocking out?”

Diversity Works New Zealand Diversity Manager Guillermo Merelo has long been a supporter of the benefits of flexible working but also cautions that organisations need to be aware of a few risks.

One is that too much attention is being given to remote working at the detriment of other forms of flexible working, Merelo says.

“People often talk as though flexible working and remote working are interchangeable concepts, but they are not. Remote working is one type of flexible working, but there are many others.”

Remote working is perfect for a specific worker profile, usually a white-collar worker. But not everyone can work from home – the New Zealand workforce has many different groups, with many different realities and needs.

Lastly, the challenges of accessing the technology required to work remotely can create forms of exclusion in the workplace for some groups, he says.

“We need to involve people in technology, not only to create a new normal but to ensure we include everyone in the new normal.”

Employment figures released in August 2020, revealed that 90 per cent of New Zealanders who lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 lockdown were women.

Future-proofing your workforce

Massey University’s Distinguished Professor Paul Spoonley, one of New Zealand’s leading experts on demographics, says our closed borders mean the supply of temporary and permanent migrant workers has diminished.

The Public Service Gender Pay Taskforce was recognised at the 2020 Diversity Awards NZ™ for its work in bringing together state-sector leaders, employees and unions to tackle the gender pay gap and achieve fairer workplaces for women.

Depending on the visa category, this situation could continue for months or even years. Some relaxation of current bans will happen, but there will be much smaller flows, and some skill categories and sectors will have to be prioritised. Nothing like the numbers will arrive in New Zealand as temporary or permanent workers that we saw in 2019, he says.

This means employers will have to rely on the talent and labour pool that is currently in the country – or returning New Zealanders.

But declining fertility means the size of the cohorts entering the workforce will also decrease. The effect is that the prime working-age population will get smaller, and this will be particularly noticeable in some regions in New Zealand. Also, the younger age groups will be increasingly made up of Māori, Pasifika and Asians. If your business or sector doesn’t recruit these young New Zealanders, you will struggle to get the workers you need, Spoonley says. As well as highlighting the need to invest in our young people, and other groups who have been affected by the shock associated with COVID-19 (women, Māori, Pasifika), potential labour shortages also reinforce the need to engage more with the older generation in the workforce. Employers should be talking to their wisdom workers to find out how they can retain their skills and institutional knowledge while still accommodating the different ways they may want or need to work as they age.

These are just some of the considerations for organisations, but it’s clear that, as we build back the economy, we have an opportunity to put a human-centric lens at the core of our recovery.

Establishing equality in our society is a complex challenge, and organisations and businesses can play a critical role through making the workplace better for everyone.