Inclusion in a Hybrid Work Environment

As you’re planning for the next phase of work and creating policies for a hybrid work environment, it’s critical to lead inclusively—incorporating feedback from throughout the organization, promoting mental health, recognizing the varying impact of the pandemic on diverse members of the workforce and more. It’s a lot. And this environment is new for all of us.

Some employees are eager to get back into the office, while others dread losing the flexibility that was necessary over the last 18 months. So, how can leaders approach the hybrid environment and the next phase of the workplace with an inclusive lens?

Jaime Klein, Julie Wald, and Shatanese Reese share experience and tactics to advance inclusion in a hybrid work environment, with insights including:

• Hybrid work environments can both advance and hinder DEIB in multiple ways—for example, being just 2 squares (instead of 4 floors) away from leadership on a Zoom screen, but experiencing less in-person facetime.
• Mental Health concerns may spike to their highest after the pandemic crisis peaks, as we saw in the Great Depression when suicide rates were at their highest 3 years after Black Tuesday.
• We can’t assume managers will just adjust to managing in a hybrid work environment. We have to provide them with the skills to do so.
• Revisit tactics like listening circles, town halls, and multidisciplinary task forces that have proven impactful for addressing racial inequality and DEIB concerns to gather feedback and input in workforce planning.

Meet our Panelists:

Julie Wald, MSW, RYT, Founder, CEO and Chief Wellness Officer of Namaste Wellness

Julie Wald is a wellness practitioner with over 25 years of experience as a clinical social worker, and yoga and meditation teacher. She is the Founder, CEO and Chief Wellness Officer at Namaste Wellness where she helps organizations and individuals develop meaningful practices to support well-being and performance. Julie is also the bestselling author of “Inner Wealth – how wellness heals, nurtures and optimizes ultra successful people.”

Shatanese Reese, Inspire DEIB Practice Lead

Shatanese Reese is the DEIB Practice Lead at Inspire HR and a certified emotional intelligence coach who has worked in HRBP roles for more than 20 years. Her experience includes coaching and training facilitation, diversity, equity, inclusion + belonging (DEIB), talent acquisition, employee relations, investigations, performance management, and employee engagement.