Will hybrid kill women’s workplace visibility? (And how to make it sure it won’t.)

I know I wasn’t alone in getting swept up in the excitement of returning to the office. The thought of grabbing a coffee from my favourite café, enjoying lunch with colleagues, and swapping stories in the kitchen while the kettle boils…

And I know I’m certainly not alone in being a bit over it.

We’ve enjoyed the novelty of returning to the office and seeing our colleagues. And now, it’s bliss to sink back into my old-new routine of working from home.

But one thing I’m worried about, in this hybrid workplace, is visibility.

When everyone worked from home, everyone had the same challenges: no one had face-to-face time with each other.

Now, however, people who commute regularly into the office will be seen more.

Where invisibility leads to inequality

So, there are two issues creating a high-risk situation.

First, there’s less visibility for those who prefer (or need) remote working. And it’s likely that men will return to the office, while women want remote – whether that’s because they need flexibility for childcare or to avoid microaggressions they experience in the office.

As Sam Smethers, chief executive of the Fawcett Society, said in an interview with The Guardian: “We’re looking at the prospect of a two-tier workplace where men go back and women stay home. It’s taken us 20 years to get this far on female participation in the workforce, but it could take only months to unravel.”

And already, a 2021 study has found that while women are more likely than men to implement ways to remain visible while working remotely, they’re twice as likely to feel overlooked.

Secondly, if people come into the office but don’t prioritise relationship building – and instead work at their desks – they won’t benefit from that all-important face time.

And this is more likely to affect women – many of whom suffer from the Tiara Syndrome: they’re more likely to get their heads down and work hard, and then expect someone to recognise their excellent work.

So if more women work at home rather than in the office, and if those who do come into the office prioritise long days at their desk – then what?

Well, we could end up in a position where hybrid working kills women’s visibility. And the impact of that on leadership pipelines and overall culture is seriously worrying.

But it’s not time to panic just yet.

There are a few things you can do to help the women in your business retain their visibility, while working wherever (and however) they want.

Prepare to spot worrying patterns

Right now, things are changing by the day: from the number of COVID-19 cases to how businesses (and people) want to work. And this period of flux won’t settle down any time soon. Which means for a while, definitive patterns will be hard to spot.

But just because things are all over the place, doesn’t mean you can put this on the back burner. Over the course of the next six, nine, 12 months, monitor who’s coming in and how often. This isn’t about policing the office – you certainly don’t want to create a Big-Brother set-up – but you do need a way to check for gender imbalances.

So, get a plan together around how you’ll monitor this, and how you’ll spot patterns emerging – with enough time to rectify them. Because if you don’t, you could end up back at square one with your talent pipeline.

Introducing the visibility plan

Monitoring any potential imbalances will help you see things from a macro perspective.

But you need to put measures in place on an individual level too.

And the best way to do that?

Visibility plans.

Now, this shouldn’t be – and doesn’t need to be – an extensive, time-consuming project. (It’s way too important to let people relegate this to their admin piles.)

Setting up a visibility plan looks a little like this:

1. Re-evaluate what visibility is: The past 18 months has shown us that visibility isn’t just being seen in the office. So, your organisation’s understanding of visibility has to change in line with that – and it can’t revert to old definitions once you’re back in the office. And likewise, don’t let shadow visibility sneak into the mix. We don’t want to replicate the whole ‘suit jacket left on the back of a chair’ with digital platforms.
2. Encourage purposeful visibility: Make it clear that visibility isn’t just showing your face in the office. Instead, women should decide what they want to be visible about and how they want to be seen.
3. Bring line managers into the discussion: Managers should work with their reports – especially those continuing to work remotely or hybrid – to develop this plan and understand their team members’ goals – and how visibility will support this. Managers should reflect on how they can tailor this plan to their reports’ duties and responsibilities too.
4. Prioritise relationship building and networking: This is where Tiara Syndrome can scupper plans – when women get their heads down and hope to be ‘crowned’ for their good work, and risk becoming invisible while they wait. Yes, everyone has tough workloads and long to-do lists, but spending part of in-office days desk-hopping and chatting in the kitchen can go a long way towards building relationships.

Don’t be afraid of the long lunch

A key part of protecting visibility is understanding the changing role of the office. In the Before Times, all work happened there. Now, we need to be smart about what we do and where.

If your people spend time physically getting to the office, and then don’t use that office time in a specific way – they’ll wonder whether it’s worth it. And that’s fair enough: why add a couple of hours to your day to sit in the office on Zoom calls?

So, accept that the office is less about quiet, studious work now – and more about creative discussions, forging ideas, and strengthening relationships.

Which means there’s no need to panic if people don’t look as traditionally productive or efficient as before. Ad-hoc coffees and spur-of-the-moment long lunches will foster an openness that’s essential for innovation and creativity.

As part of this, you may want to offer coaching around priority management skills – coaching, rather than training, because there’s no simplistic blueprint here. For this to work, employees will need to decide which tasks are best suited to the office, versus those that are location agnostic.

Hybrid working with a whole-person approach

I won’t sit and regale you with all the benefits that hybrid working has. You’ve no doubt read about them hundreds of times (and experienced them for yourself).

But while there are all these benefits, we need to be frank with the risks. And the detrimental impact on visibility – especially for women – can’t be understated. So, take the time to explore visibility plans and how you can incorporate them into line manager responsibilities.

And above all, listen to your employees. Find out what puts them off coming into the office – and use this to inform and guide your hybrid model.

If you’d like a hand with implementing visibility plans or accelerating progression for women in your workplace, get in touch with me here. And if you’d like to see an example of how we help employees develop their own success strategies for hybrid working, you can watch this on-demand webinar.

By Beks Hourston, MD – Head of Women’s Leadership Programmes