Tag: #diversity

Companies Are Losing Out on An Untapped Resource of Business by Not Promoting Remote Work:  The Resource Being Differently Abled Employee Inclusivity.

Posted on by Leave a comment

By Stephanie Diana Eubank

So, I comment a lot on my research blog and on my personal social media about the fact that I am finishing my dissertation towards completing my doctorate degree in Business Administration.  I also note how I have taught Operations Compliance in the financial sector and Operations Management in the California State University System to help share my earned skills with future leadership.  I don’t discuss much while I practice more authentic leadership because I am a disabled student, instructor, and Business Subject Matter Expert. 

I am both dyslexic and have ADHD.  The Yale Center for Dyslexia, Shaywitz & Shaywitz (2020); notes that 20% of the American population has dyslexia.  Further, Shaywitz & Shaywitz (2020); notes that dyslexia is an uncurable disability that can cause issues with reading, spelling, and learning additional languages.  However, Shaywitz & Shaywitz (2020); goes on to note that those with dyslexia are slower readers but are intelligent, mentally fast, and creative problem solvers.   (You can find more information on Dyslexia from the text, https://amzn.to/3KNsKrC, which is the book cited for this information Shaywitz & Shaywitz (2020).) 

The CDC, on their link https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/adhd/facts.html defines ADHD as one of the most common neurodevelopment disabilities/ different abilities.  However, when those who support and care for those with ADHD and those with different abilities learn how to manage ADHD symptoms, people learn how to capitalize on it.  Such as, I use my hyper-focus on my educational goals and writing.  However, it can make me seem scattered to others even though I can get multiple things done at once and need sound to balance myself.  I even used musical playlists to memorize cross-country running trails in High School and College. It helped me focus and remember landmarks so I didn’t get lost.  I even still, to this day, have songs I hum when I run on a track or on my home treadmill to keep and set my running pace.  Also, what I thought was insomnia and waking up super early in my high school and undergrad program was, in fact, ADHD-induced insomnia.

This fact about my life and my different abilities is part of what inspires my research in leadership because studies have found that remote work helps increase diversity.  However, when we think of diversity, we often consider race, gender, family status, and sexual orientation.  Disabilities or more Different Abilities are often not considered in business regarding developing more inclusive workplaces.

Remote work allows for a more inclusive workplace and creates more diversity.  I speak from my experience of working remotely for over ten years. Work from home (WFH) workplaces gives me room to be more productive and use the tools to focus I need without bothering others.  It also gives me room to mask my different abilities to not be outed. (And yes, I understand I am outing myself by disclosing my disabilities.  However, this is an important conversation that needs to be had, and those of us in the community need to bring awareness to the ongoing issues).  In both the academic sector as a student and in the business arena, when I disclose my different abilities, I am told it is a disability, and I often receive negative or retaliatory treatment. 

My personal experience is supported by the research found in Ameri & Kurtzberg (2022) and Howard (2022); about the difficulty the differently abled community finds in working onsite and obtaining work. Further, the research of Farrer (2022), Kanter (2022), and Willingham (2021); supports my findings that remote work tends to make it easier for differently-abled community members to find and retain work. 

So, as a business Subject Matter Expert (SME), I can’t resist pointing out the brass tax.  Otherwise known as why business leaders should care about the differently-abled community.  The biggest reason, besides discrimination, is illegal since the community is a protected class. That reason is that research shows that diversity in a workplace develops a staff of employees that are more creative and have more out-of-the-box methods for solving problems.  With our economy hitched on the development of creative ideas, tangible and intangible goods, out-of-the-box thinking, and creative problem solving are just what every company wants to give them a competitive advantage.  Thus, promoting remote work helps attract more dynamic workers, including those in the differently-abled community. 

Conclusion: Companies and managers need to learn to embrace remote work.  Remote work is a good concept for the goose and the gander.  It allows differently-abled workers to have a supportive workplace without really having to create a need to be othered in the workplace. In return, companies get creative problem solvers who help increase out-of-the-box thinking in the workplace.  I keep quoting one of my mentors when she constantly repeats, “Learn to manage the work and not the people.”  The ability of leadership to do this is more easily found in a remote work environment.  All while contributing to more diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

If you are interested in reading up more on this topic, here are some books you may be interested in.

Work Cited

Ameri, M., & Kurtzberg , T. R. (2022, February 15). Leveling the playing field through remote work. MIT Sloan Management Review. Retrieved September 3, 2022, from https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/leveling-the-playing-field-through-remote-work/

Baines, A. M. D. (2014). (Un)learning disability: Recognizing and changing restrictive views of student ability. Teachers College Press, Teachers College, Columbia University.

Chin, J. L., & Trimble, J. E. (2015). Diversity and leadership. Sage.

Farrer, L. (2022, April 14). Accommodating disabilities in remote and hybrid work. Forbes. Retrieved September 3, 2022, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurelfarrer/2022/03/30/accommodating-disabilities-in-remote–hybrid-work/?sh=54434a1c2c17

Howard, J. (2022, March 22). The benefits of remote work for people with disabilities. InclusionHub Digital Inclusion Resources. Retrieved September 3, 2022, from https://www.inclusionhub.com/articles/benefits-of-remote-work

Kanter, A. S. (2022, March 10). Our new remote workplace culture creates opportunities for disabled employees. Bill of Health. Retrieved September 3, 2022, from https://blog.petrieflom.law.harvard.edu/2022/03/10/remote-work-disability-ada/

KEMP, J. O. H. N. D. (2022). Disability-friendly workplace. JOHN WILEY & SONS.

Patel, A. B. (2020). Humanity at work: Diversity, inclusion and wellbeing in an increasingly distributed workforce. New Degree Press.

Reisman, F. K., & Severino, L. (2021). Using creativity to address dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia: Assessments and techniques. Routledge.

Shaywitz, S. E., & Shaywitz, J. (2020). Overcoming dyslexia: A major update and revision of the Essential Program for reading problems at any level, incorporating the latest breakthroughs in science, educational methods, technology, and legal accommodations (2nd ed., Ser. pp.143-24.). Alfred A. Knopf.

https://dyslexia.yale.edu/dyslexia/what-is-dyslexia/

Willingham, A. J. (2021, August 10). Remote work made life easier for many people with disabilities. they want the option to stay. CNN. Retrieved September 3, 2022, from https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/10/health/remote-work-disabilities-pandemic-wellness-trnd/index.html

Remote Work is the Key to Increasing Creativity in the Workplace by Encouraging Diversity.

Posted on by Leave a comment

By: Stephanie Diana Eubank

The topic of diversity in the workplace is a stimulant for creative problem solving and has been well researched and embraced in business.  In the Forbes article, Agona (2021); explains in layman’s terms why diversity creates more creative problem-solving.  In a nutshell, as detailed in, Agona (2021), workplaces with people with the same culture and similar backgrounds can create group thinking and, yes, people.  The article, Agona (2021); goes on to note that workplaces with diverse workforces have more dissenting ideas.  It may seem counterintuitive to have “no” people on one’s team, but as detailed in, Agona (2021); the diversity and difference of opinions and views leave room for developing creative problem-solving.

Companies that want to expand diversity to increase collaboration and creative problem-solving have a unique opportunity to do so in remote workplaces.  Sadly, many companies are missing out by pushing back against remote work.  As detailed in, Hunt (2021); remote workplaces allow for people from diverse, social, ethnic, and geographic locations.  Additionally, in the Forbes article, Hunt (2021); notes that single parents and women benefit from remote work as it allows more balance between life and work.

In the past companies often had to address geographic issues by transplanting or having to relocate workers from one area to a mecca of the industry like Silicon Valley.  Other issues when companies relocated to areas such as Texas to cut costs of running a business and paying to relocate employees or losing a large proportion of the staff because relocation would cause professional isolation.  As detailed in Cascio (2000), professional and geographical isolation has been long documented issues in remote work. The pandemic has since made this into an opportunity.   

In a LinkedIn article, McLaren (2021); details how the pandemic made many companies convert to remote, allowing expanded use of telecommunications tools like Zoom and Teams to be used more frequently and normalized.  Further detailed in the article, McLaren (2021); the wide utilization of remote work has helped dwindle the need for relocation and the costs for companies.  Further remote work has helped expand the use of telecommunication systems to dispel the age-old argument that remote work in business dulls collaboration and productivity. 

The facts about remote work and diversity and how remote work aids inclusivity shifts the conversation to ask how does a company battling the Great Resignation deal with attracting and retaining a diverse workforce?  As detailed in the article by White (2021), there are three ways to accomplish this.

  1. Encourage remote work and be willing to negotiate remote or hybrid work.
  2. Develop more comprehensive PTO plans and make proper accommodations regarding COVID and family leave. 
  3. Hiring managers who understand that employees are humans and respect the boundaries of their personal time. 

To quote one of my industry mentors, leaders need to remember to “Focus on managing the work not managing the people”.  Developing that concept in a nutshell as part of remote organizational culture will encourage employee retention and curb the stress on leaders and followers.

In conclusion, companies need to encourage remote work as a tool to increase diversity in the workplace.  The recession and the great resignation are teaching all sectors of business the value of creative problem solving and how diversity helps encourage collaborative thoughts.  Remote work is an underused tool to help give organizations the competitive advantage needed to survive the trials ahead.

If you would like to read more on remote work and diversity, please see the citations below. Also, if you like this post, be sure to leave a comment, like, and subscribe. Sharing is caring, so please share far and wide.

Work Cited

Agona, L. (2021, October 13). Council post: Is remote work a diversity and inclusion issue? Forbes. Retrieved July 11, 2022, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescommunicationscouncil/2021/10/13/is-remote-work-a-diversity-and-inclusion-issue/?sh=3f16d771626c

Cascio, W. F. (2000). Managing a virtual workplace. Academy of Management Perspectives, 14(3), 81–90. https://doi.org/10.5465/ame.2000.4468068

Hunt, S. T. (2021, May 12). SAP brandvoice: How hybrid remote work improves diversity and inclusion. Forbes. Retrieved July 8, 2022, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/sap/2021/05/12/how-hybrid-remote-work-improves-diversity-and-inclusion/?sh=8965f01321fe

McLaren, S. (2021, February 3). Why the rise of remote work may help companies become more diverse – and more inclusive. LinkedIn. Retrieved July 11, 2022, from https://www.linkedin.com/business/talent/blog/talent-acquisition/why-remote-work-may-help-companies-become-more-diverse

White, N. (2021, May 27). Here’s how to foster diversity, equity and inclusion in a remote-work world. Entrepreneur. Retrieved July 11, 2022, from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/372149

Six Reasons Why Companies Should Promote Remote Work as the Primary Workplace Environment?

Posted on by Leave a comment

By: Stephanie Diana Eubank

There are a number of articles in the news about companies pushing back against remote workers.  A particularly glaring example is the NBC News article, Bendix (2022), which is cited below, commenting on Elon Musk stating that remote work is “no longer acceptable.”  There have been a number of old-school comments that have, according to the article written by Cascio (2000), noted excuses about hindrances to collaboration that have been bought up since the 1980s.  (Yes, remote work has been a concept researched in business since the 1980s.  Sadly, it took a pandemic for the world to see that remote work is the future.)  The research cited from SHRM, Maurer (2021); comments on how comments of lack of productivity and lack of collaboration in remote workplaces that have been spouted sing the ’80s is flat out wrong, and the lockdowns during the pandemic proved it.

These arguments from leadership on the validity of remote work are causing the round in circles argument that has sparked what is coined “The Great Resignation.”  The Great Resignation is famous for employees no longer asking for remote workplaces but rather demanding remote workplaces.

As an effort to stop the merry-go-round of arguments from leadership, this article is to address why companies should encourage remote work as it is for their (business industry as a whole) best interests. Here is a list of why businesses should work to pivot and encourage the expansion of remote work.

  1. Remote workers take less time off.  This is a true statement about remote workers as they have a better ability to coordinate doctor’s appointments and family and friends engagements, among other personal needs, during break and lunch hours in a remote workplace.  Where in an onsite capacity, there is often the physical distance between work and home, and this can create delays, and tardiness for employees before, during, and after work.  Remote workers also take fewer sick days as they power through work while sick and do not infect the entire workforce when these workers work from home. This offers employees a level of freedom not seen in previous generations.
  2. Investors crave more transparency of the work and products being created.  Remote work gives businesses more transparency to show investors.  Remote work is also an easy way to provide additional transparency to investors. 
  3. Remote work allows for more workers to balance work and family.  Which, I hear a lot of business owners ask me, “why does that benefit business”?  According to the most recent PEWs research, Kramer (2021); the United States of America has the highest single-parent household demographic in the country. According to the PEWs Research, Kramer (2021), 23% of American households are single-parent households.  For business leaders who may have staffing issues finding quality workers to come onsite is difficult.  And those they can hire may have attendance issues, tardiness, and issues with obtaining childcare.

Remote work allows employees to balance this issue and make child care more affordable.  (Speaking from a mother’s perspective, it is easier and cheaper to get a nanny in the home while I am at home than to drop my children at daycare. Moreover, businesses forget or discriminate against those employees who have families. In the Forbes article, Ibarra et al. (2017); noted that men, especially single men without children, tend to be promoted more. They are promoted more than women or men with children, regardless of marital status. According to Ibarra et al. (2017), businesses tend to view single men as “hungry” and more “go-getters.” 

However, now that we are in a pandemic and unprecedented recession, businesses are undervaluing people with families.  People with families are both skilled and show commitment.  Giving these employees a remote workplace allows for increasing employee retention and maintaining a skilled workforce.  Another thing major corporation forgets on this topic is that employee retention is both cheaper than recruiting and looks better to investors and the public compared to a publicized revolving door of employees.

  • Companies argue that there is a skilled labor shortage.  This is a misnomer because companies are not working to attract one of the biggest demographic of educated and skilled labor.  Specifically women. As detailed in the research article, Perry (2021); noted that women for the twelve years of the research project have consistently all the doctorate degrees awarded in the United States been awarded to women. In the master’s degree article, Perry (2021); notes women earned 60% of the awarded master’s degrees.  In the article, Perry (2021); goes on to talk about how these women did not get advanced degrees in underwater basket weaving or other nonsensical programs.  The women detailed in the research of Perry (2021); earned degrees in STEM, business, and other marketable and needed skills. According to the Washington Post article, Collins et al. (2021); show that mothers’ employment has dropped by over 7% as of 2021.  This information is further supported by Kramer (2021); which noted that of the 23% of single parents in the US, single moms are the biggest demographic of single parents.  Women are slow to return to the workforce because of a lack of childcare.  This means companies not investing in remote work are missing out on the opportunity to get the edge on the completion by having the skilled and highly educated demographic of women. 
  • Two basic principles are taught in business school regarding leadership and development.  One of your employees is an organization’s greatest resource.  The second is that diversity in an organization allows for more creative problem-solving.  In the Forbes article, Hunt (2021); Professor Hunt notes that remote work encourages diversity.  In the article, Hunt (2021); goes on to repeat the concept that diversity in the workplace increases creativity.  This flies in the face of the argument used since the 1980s that remote work decreases creativity and collaboration. 
  • So, many companies get subsidies and tax write-offs, among other governmental benefits in the United States.  This is not a well-hidden secret. With remote work, employees have the ability to spread out and live in less expensive areas.  The real estate market has noted since the start of the pandemic of remote workers moving to lower-income areas such as Texas, Kentucky, and Mississippi.  With these workers relocating, they are bringing their “big city money.”  As such, this has made it so many of these communities experience unprecedented growth.   Showing that business is doing what the government has been unable to do with regard to lifting up struggling communities.  This gives businesses more wiggle room to negotiate more benefits within governmental support.  However, this negotiating power that companies now have predicates on companies’ willingness to let go of old management concepts and evolve with how the world has changed. This change to remote work will benefit all around if the fear of change is managed more.

All six of these reasons are in addition to the fact remote workplaces allow for lower overhead costs, and give companies the ability to pare down the real estate and other physical operations costs.  Making remote work even more of a win-win scenario.  The reasons noted above are topics that have been researched since at least 80’, especially in relation to remote work specifically. All the research cited in this article is noted below in the work cited in case you want to read further. 

The conclusion to this article is that remote work is an unprecedented opportunity for business, and many of the most outspoken thought leaders are giving pushback to all industries’ detriment.  Especially these thought leaders saying no to remote work are influencing other leaders to cut their own noses off despite their faces.   The business world and the workplace where business is conducted are changing, and companies either evolve or share the fate of dinosaurs.

Work Cited

Bendix, A. (2022, June 8). Musk is pushing staff back to the office, but the research is only partly on his side. NBCNews.com. Retrieved July 7, 2022, from https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/elon-musk-staff-back-office-research-mixed-rcna32136

Cascio, W. F. (2000). Managing a virtual workplace. Academy of Management Perspectives, 14(3), 81–90. https://doi.org/10.5465/ame.2000.4468068

https://journals.aom.org/doi/abs/10.5465/ame.2000.4468068

Collins, C., Ruppanner, L., & Scarborough, W. J. (2021, November 8). Analysis | why haven’t U.S. mothers returned to work? the child-care infrastructure they need is still missing. The Washington Post. Retrieved July 8, 2022, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/11/08/why-havent-us-mothers-returned-work-child-care-infrastructure-they-need-is-still-missing/

Hunt, S. T. (2021, May 12). SAP brandvoice: How hybrid remote work improves diversity and inclusion. Forbes. Retrieved July 8, 2022, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/sap/2021/05/12/how-hybrid-remote-work-improves-diversity-and-inclusion/?sh=8965f01321fe

Ibarra, H., Carter, N. M., & Silva, C. (2017, September 7). Why men still get more promotions than women. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved July 8, 2022, from https://hbr.org/2010/09/why-men-still-get-more-promotions-than-women

Kramer, S. (2021, May 28). U.S. has world’s highest rate of children living in single-parent households. Pew Research Center. Retrieved July 8, 2022, from https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/12/12/u-s-children-more-likely-than-children-in-other-countries-to-live-with-just-one-parent/

Maurer, R. (2021, July 6). Study finds productivity not deterred by shift to remote work. SHRM. Retrieved July 7, 2022, from https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/hr-news/pages/study-productivity-shift-remote-work-covid-coronavirus.aspx

Perry, M. (2021, October 14). Women earned the majority of doctoral degrees in 2020 for the 12th … American Enterprise Institute. Retrieved July 8, 2022, from https://www.aei.org/carpe-diem/women-earned-the-majority-of-doctoral-degrees-in-2020-for-the-12th-straight-year-and-outnumber-men-in-grad-school-148-to-100/