Navigating the VUCA World: Dealing with Us vs. Them in a Hybrid Workplace

With commuters trickling back into the office amid the realities of inflation and constantly mutating subvariants, the VUCA world presents ever more hurdles to inclusion in a transformed workplace. From simmering tensions around who has to come into the office and who gets to work remotely, to the very real anxieties concerning returning to an environment where microaggressions and harm abound for marginalized workers, it is imperative that organizations prevent an “us vs. them” mentality from taking root during what is an already stressful time. As Mary-Frances Winters points out in her piece about creating and sustaining inclusive cultures in a VUCA world, “leaders will need to be intentional in creating inclusive remote and in-office environments.” Following are a few tips for making that happen.  

Clear Communication Keeps Everyone on the Same Page 

Among the key findings in The Predictive Index 2021 People Managers Report, communication is the number one skill that employees feel managers lack. According to the report, “forced remote and hybrid work has opened employees’ eyes to the need for clear communication and information sharing. Remote employees often feel ‘out of the loop,’ and the problem only gets worse when some team members are working from the office.” Being able to drive team morale and asking for feedback were also cited as top skills for leaders to work on. Unsurprisingly, both are tied to good communication.

So, what does that look like? Depending on the situation, a leader can build trust by conveying important information in a timely manner so that all employees have enough of a heads up to adjust to an upcoming shift. For example, knowing in advance what days workers will be expected to be in office or at in-person meetings allows those looking after children, new pets, or even their own aging parents enough time to arrange for alternative care. This also accommodates the new phenomenon of supercommuters who may have moved farther away from the office during the pandemic, allowing them ample time plan out their weekly or monthly treks to the office. 

Transparency is another must for building trust. I remember working in an organization where those in the corporate office enjoyed a more liberal summer Friday policy while the rest of us in the field made do with limited time off. While knowledge of the differing policies did have the potential to divide, the fact that it wasn’t openly communicated and perceived as a “secret” led to many disgruntled conversations around the office and a decrease in morale due to what workers saw as unfair treatment. However, had the company practiced transparency, it’s possible the uneven treatment may not have happened in the first place, as more open communication paves the way for empathy — another key factor for effective communication. 

Staying Flexible Ensures Inclusivity 

Just as priorities can constantly shift in VUCA times, it’s even more important to keep working conditions as flexible as possible. As we are now seeing from the waves of outrage and protest over the potential Roe v. Wade decision, going from expanded freedoms to more restrictions undoubtedly leads to resistance. To build buy-in for returning to the office, for example, provide employees with opportunities to choose how and when they show up—whether that means allowing for flexible schedules in light of the “triple peak” day or even just inviting remote employees to participate in meetings with cameras off.  

Keeping biases in check is especially important for maintaining flexibility. A recent study found that more than 90% of executives believe that employees who don’t turn on their cameras during virtual meetings and those who generally work remotely are at a disadvantage in comparison to colleagues who regularly work in the office. Yet knowing what we know after these past couple of years about the realities of working from home with kids, roommates, and partners often in the same room; working moms needing to pump or nurse; and particularly the insidious ways showing up in one’s home office lends itself to explicit and implicit biases and judgments of Black employees’ professionalism, there are many good reasons for leaders to be more accepting of cameras off, including that it removes an unnecessary burden that disproportionately affects already marginalized groups. Not to mention how the pressure to be “camera ready” affects women who traditionally have paid a makeup tax: spending thousands of dollars on beauty products and an average of two weeks a year applying them in order to be seen as competent, likeable, and worthy of prestigious jobs.

Centering Those Most Impacted Benefits All 

This brings us to one of the most important questions leaders in a VUCA world must ask themselves: Who is most impacted by these decisions? Workers are the ones who ultimately have to foot the bill for their commuting costs, which have recently skyrocketed: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, pay for workers has increased by 4%, which lags behind the 7% increase in prices. This means transportation, meals, and even the occasional fancy coffee will set commuters back even more than before the pandemic. Some companies are attempting to help alleviate this additional cost with incentives, from Bloomberg offering a $75-a-day stipend to Goldman Sachs providing some workers free breakfast and lunch to Google lining up a private Lizzo concert. While not every company can afford all that, organizations can certainly take the time to think through flexible and fair ways to keep businesses running without burdening employees with unnecessary costs.

Even more importantly, consider how the return to office affects those from marginalized groups. For some BIPOC employees, the specter of going back to how things used to be can be stomach-churning. As one worker of color shared with BuzzFeed: “No matter how inclusive your workspace tries to be, as a Black person and especially as a Black woman, you always have to be thinking three steps ahead, because you always have to manage the way they’ll perceive you. It’s exhausting.” Investing in learning and education that supports ongoing inclusive culture building can help with addressing these issues in real time, so that everyone can re-enter and feel comfortable showing up as their whole selves.  

While much of the onus is on leaders to communicate timely information to team members both on and off site, and to offer return-to-office policies that are flexible and fair to all, employees from underrepresented groups can also lead the way by voicing their concerns and unique perspectives. As another person shared with BuzzFeed, “No one else will be thinking about the lens of people of color, the lens of microaggressions, the lens of what that means for everybody in the office, not just your cisgender white male.”