DIVING INTO DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION

Insights and strategies to nurture diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace. In your mailbox every two weeks.

Hybrid work isn’t going away. That’s great for diverse workforces, but not so great for building a more inclusive work culture, as we reveal in this issue. We also examine the workplace perk that employees want most (hint: it’s not coffee or free lunches), and why setting a vision for flexible work is so important. Plus, a celebration of Native American Heritage Month, and our take on one reader’s question about managing resistance to change.

SPOTLIGHT

Two out of three employees say they are likely to look for other opportunities if asked to return to the office five days a week. But employees’ experiences with hybrid work varies when it comes to inclusion—and that variability is even more pronounced for workers in traditionally underrepresented groups. There is little doubt that hybrid work enhances organizations’ diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts by providing more flexibility, better work–life balance, and more personalized employee experiences. But it can also create an unequal playing field by amplifying differences among groups. In workplaces that are already struggling to diversify and retain their employees, poorly executed hybrid work models could harm employee performance, decrease inclusion, and speed up departures. Leaders seeking to build inclusion can focus on three foundational practices: mutual respect, support, and team building.

DATA DROP

To attract and retain top talent, an inclusive culture is increasingly becoming a competitive advantage.

LISTEN IN

What do workers really want? Flexibility—especially as workplaces become more diverse. The purpose and design of the office of the future may need to change accordingly. While this shift in workplace design largely took hold during the COVID-19 pandemic, it had been in the works for a decade prior, according to McKinsey’s Phil Kirschner. Now, with so many workers untethered from their desks and managers rethinking how to best measure productivity, organizations have an opportunity to embrace a wider variety of spaces than ever before. Listen to a recent episode of the McKinsey Talks Talent podcast to learn more about designing and configuring offices that match your organization’s tasks, roles, and culture.

MAKE IT RIGHT

The nature of work has changed—and so have expectations about work. Most employees don’t want to work in the office five days a week, and executives are listening. But managing in a hybrid environment marks a considerable shift for most leaders. McKinsey has found that four management shifts, which include managing performance through impact, outcomes, and ownership, are proving helpful for both employers and employees. And since our research shows that two-thirds of companies don’t have a detailed plan or approach for hybrid work, setting a vision for hybrid work is another critical area for leaders to consider.

CELEBRATING NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH

Native American Heritage Month is observed in the United States throughout November. This monthlong tribute to the rich ancestry and traditions of Native Americans began in 1915 as a single and unofficial day of recognition for “First Americans.” It wasn’t until 1990 that a joint Congressional resolution designated November as National American Indian Heritage Month. Visit the US Library of Congress’s Native American Heritage Month website to explore digital exhibits and collections: you can listen to panels from events like the Mother Tongue Film Festival, hear a song in Yup’ik (one of the languages spoken by Indigenous people of western and southwestern Alaska) that dates back to 1777 about a vision of a sailing ship, find local in-person events, and explore historical and modern-day images. And for audiophiles, a new podcast from Bloomberg, In Trust, explores the Native American tribe Osage Nation, which, in 1872, purchased a prairie in northeast Oklahoma the size of Delaware. Today, much of this land, known as Osage County, no longer belongs to the Osage Nation people. Learn more about what happened in this wonderfully complex and thoroughly engrossing series. 

ASK INTERSECTION 

One of our readers asks, ‘How can I get buy-in—and manage resistance—when driving cultural change in my organization?’ 

Thank you for writing in! Let’s start by acknowledging that change is never easy. And resistance, while part and parcel of the change process, can add to the difficulty of enacting substantive change. The good news is that there are plenty of resources for leaders seeking to bring their people on board. To start, senior partner Kirk Rieckhoff shares broadly applicable insights about organizing change within federal government—and challenges the notion that change should ever be easy. Next, learn how to prepare for and lead a change journey, which, as journeys go, often don’t go according to plan (an important insight in itself!). Along the way, it will be essential to harness positive influence for good, especially as you’re addressing the causes (rather than the symptoms) of the problems you’re trying to solve. Finally, our collection of insights about change management addresses areas such as harnessing resources effectively, engaging team members efficiently, and tapping into your ability to influence change.

For McKinsey’s latest thinking on diversity, equity, and inclusion, visit our Diversity, Equity & Inclusion collection page.

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