As we face an ease in the COVID- 19 restrictions and head towards the post-pandemic world, businesses are rethinking the way they work, reimagining structures, processes and workplaces in order to adapt to the future of work.
According to the major trends in the future of work, number 1 is not surprisingly “Increase in remote working”. As a consequence, companies are not only focusing on remote solutions – whether we’re talking about hybrid, full, flex. With this rapid shift towards more agile processes, they are facing a general workplace restructuring, not only redesigning the ways of work but the spaces itself. Businesses are moving, relocating, physically changing.
From a general perspective, workplaces are being redesigned to meet business needs and increase creativity. In general, workplace redesign should promote hybrid work interactions, asynchronous collaboration, informal spaces, or shared amenities among others. Indeed, the main challenge in the current context is to make sure that people enjoy being in these spaces.
With the purpose of being inclusive and create a sense of belonging, there is a particular aspect that businesses should pay attention to. How much, in the different trends, recommendations and consultancies, gender is taken into consideration? Is gender a priority that businesses are including in their redesign processes?
In case you’re wondering why I consider this being an issue, here’s two main concerns.
- Discrimination is everywhere and we must be aware about it.
In her book “Invisible Women”, Criado Perez exposes the Gender Data Gap phenomenon, reporting the harmfulness of the lack of data collection about women*. This book is a data consolidation, hard facts exposure about how societies treat men as the default human being, systematically excluding the needs of women and conceiving men as a standard. It goes without saying, this also concerns workplaces in many ways.
In particular, office temperature is male designed. The optimum room temperature has been calculated in the 1960s basing on the default person: a forty-year-old man weighting 70 kg, whom ideal temperature is 22 degrees. The problem is that women are considered to be more comfortable about 3 degrees under, and in addition to this, they have a lower metabolic rate which may affect their temperature perception differently.
- Performances are affected by surroundings.
Hence, we must make sure our workplaces are inclusive. Ambient belonging matters: people need to feel comfortable, accepted and included in a space, and office environments must be designed to prevent from discouragement and discrimination. A research conducted by PhD Sapna Cheryan reveals how “masculine stereotypes prevent women’s interests from developing even in environments entirely populated by other women”.
In this age of discrimination awareness, it would be interesting to see how companies improve their inclusion policies. This is an amazing opportunity for businesses to catch, as redesign processes represent the occasion for them to include minorities and underrepresented categories. Here’s three personal recommendations in terms of inclusive processes.
- Make sure minorities are included in the creative and decision-making processes. As human beings, we are all biased in some ways. We cannot continue making decisions that have impact on others without having everyone sitting at the table. This is harmful as it leads to discrimination and delegitimates minorities’ experiences.
- Focus on daily basic necessities. Sometimes, even smaller things can have an impact on perception and belonging. It does not always have to be artificial or complicated. As an example, restrooms in the workplace could be more welcoming by simply being gender-neutral or by providing hygienic products to persons that menstruate.
- Create community networks. Offering safe spaces to people in organizations could help minorities feeling less isolated, share their experiences and empower themselves.
Following these best practices during organizational processes could help businesses designing meaningful, inclusive and equal workplaces. Indeed, inclusion represents a business advantage as it improves performances. But, most importantly, it helps people feel comfortable and accepted and that is something that should not be foreclosed to anyone.
*Criado Perez’s “Invisible Women” refers to cisgender women and men – throughout the book, gender binarism is implied. While reporting information from this book please be aware that “women” and “men” will refer to cisgender women and men only.
References
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Cheryan, S., Plaut, V. C., Davies, P. G., & Steele, C. M. (2009). Ambient belonging: How stereotypical cues impact gender participation in computer science. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97(6), 1045‑1060. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0016239
Caroline Criado Perez. (2019). Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men.
Design an Office that People Want to Come Back to. (2022, 26 janvier). Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2022/01/design-an-office-that-people-want-to-come-back-to
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