Does remote working mean lack of belonging?

New research from Globalization Partners Inc., claims more than 90 percent of employees who work for a global organisation describe their companies as diverse. However, a lack of understanding by the organisations themselves around how to manage this growing disparate and diverse workforce means that three out of ten respondents don’t feel a sense of inclusion or belonging due to remote working. This negatively impacts employee engagement, trust, happiness, as well as staff turnover.

The 2020 global employee survey ‘Examining the Impact of Diversity on Distributed Global Teams’, asked 1,725 randomly selected employees about their experience as distributed global team members and remote working. The research suggests that global teams are struggling to make communications work for them with 46 percent of employees still relying most frequently on email, but only 31 percent finding it effective.

Other key points include:

• Two thirds of companies are finding it challenging to align with and be sensitive to local culture and communication styles, especially when a company spans multiple geographies.
• Organisations that embrace multilingualism are seeing better team results across the board.
• Nearly nine out of ten employees (89 percent) say their company would benefit from the assistance of outside experts to help with cultural training and cross-organisation education.

“Gartner predicts that by the end of 2022, 75 percent of organisations with frontline decision-making teams in distributed geographies and with diverse mindsets will exceed their financial targets. As a large multinational company, I’ve seen thee business advantage in hiring and building diverse teams,” said Nicole Sahin, CEO of Globalization Partners. “I also know that now more than ever, in these trying times it is critical to have the right communication tools in place to ensure success. The employee experience matters now more than ever, and collaboration tools can make a positive impact on the ability for teams to collaborate on projects and provide a social connection for employees around the world.”

For the full report click here.

Image by Goumbik