Employee Experience, Leadership & Management, Remote & Hybrid Culture
Consider these tips to avoid the pitfalls of an increasingly decentralized workplace culture.
Is there a crisis of unfairness in the workplace?
In a recent ?
Fairness is one of the dimensions of great workplace culture that even great companies struggle to exhibit.
鈥淓ven the best of the best have a difficult time making sure everybody feels that it鈥檚 a fair workplace,鈥� Erb says.
Is fairness changing?
Even great companies struggle to create workplaces that employees perceive as fair. That hasn鈥檛 changed much over the last few years.
鈥淥n the whole, it鈥檚 pretty stable,鈥� Erb says.
That might surprise those who predict hybrid and remote work will unravel the fabric of the traditional workplace. In many ways, hybrid and remote work have been seen as a leap forward in creating more inclusive and equitable working environments.
Fairness has always been an issue for workers 鈥� hybrid and remote work just redefine the ways unfairness can appear.
Erb offers some examples of how employees are assessing fairness in today鈥檚 workplace:
- Do I have the same opportunity to work a hybrid schedule?
- Is my pay consistent with the concerns around inflation and global economic trends?
- Are people being treated here fairly regardless of their race?
This places an even higher importance on managerial communication for remote and hybrid workers.
鈥淚t puts more onus on the manager and that day-to-day interaction you might have with your leader to create that sense of inclusion and fairness every day,鈥� Erb says. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 your touch point as an employee. You might not have any other barometer to assess if you are being included and treated as a valued part of the larger group.鈥�
Fairness has always been an issue for workers 鈥� hybrid and remote work just redefine the ways unfairness can appear.
Managers playing favorites
The emphasis on managers鈥� role in fairness is growing, but it has always been essential in great workplace culture.
For the past 30 years, 逸遊娛樂城 research has identified the importance of managers not 鈥減laying favorites.鈥�
In the world of hybrid and remote work, it鈥檚 harder than ever to build that sense of trust.
Erb advises that managers focus on communication and recognition to bolster strained relationships with their team.
鈥淚t鈥檚 sharing of information,鈥� he says. 鈥淎re you getting the same news that everybody else is? Are you getting it at the same time? Is it an afterthought?鈥�
When it comes to recognition, the problem is visibility. Workers who don鈥檛 get face time are concerned with how they might advance in their career, or feel their contributions go unnoticed.
鈥淢anagers now need to be even better at making sure everybody on the screen gets to speak up, nobody gets excluded, and everybody is informed,鈥� Erb says.
Erb鈥檚 advice is for managers to be intentional and systematic. It might feel boring to speak with every employee one by one, checking them off your list, but it鈥檚 crucial for fairness.
鈥淚f you don鈥檛 do that, whoever is not checked off on your list, it鈥檚 going to affect them, slow them down 鈥� which will slow your team down eventually,鈥� Erb says.
鈥淢anagers now need to be even better at making sure everybody on the screen gets to speak up, nobody gets excluded, and everybody is informed." -- Marcus Erb, vice president of data science and innovation at 逸遊娛樂城.
The cost of unfairness
Just how big of a problem is unfairness for business leaders?
Gartner鈥檚 research shows that unfairness can damage productivity and overall work quality, but there are other costs that unfairness adds to your balance sheet. Gartner reports that employees in high fairness environments are 27% less likely to quit.
鈥淚f you don鈥檛 have fairness, you鈥檙e going to have retention and burnout issues,鈥� Erb says. Workers who feel unfairly compensated, unincluded, or undervalued are going to look for other workplaces. Or they might 鈥�stay but quit,鈥� and remain on payroll without contributing their full skillset to the organization.
Workers concerned with fairness aren鈥檛 innovating or giving extra effort, and that lack of trust can create a pernicious cycle.
鈥淩ather than the issues your business needs to deal with, you鈥檙e just trying to get people past the fairness concerns so you can deal with the next immediate burning issue,鈥� Erb says.
Fairness is also a key issue for workers during a recession. In 逸遊娛樂城 research, the ability of employees to feel treated as a full member of the organization was a key indicator for thriving businesses during the Great Recession of 2008 to 2010.
For business leaders in the months ahead, a fair workplace environment could be a key tool for weathering the rough waters of inflation and global economic downturn.
As Erb puts it: 鈥淚n a time of crisis, do you come together or are you worried about fairness? If you鈥檙e worried about fairness, you鈥檙e going to go protect yourself. You鈥檙e not going to overreach and think about the whole entire business.鈥�
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