Rachel Cottam

If you’re requiring your teams to go back to the office, you are limiting your potential for diversity.

Just because you’re eager to see folks in-person, doesn’t mean it’s preferable or affordable for your employees. 

Let’s talk about the underestimated groups that benefit from remote and hybrid environments—and how your company can benefit from hiring them. 

Note: It’s important to acknowledge that not everyone has the ability to work from home (WFH). In many industries and service roles, remote work isn’t an option. For the purpose of this article, I will focus on companies in tech sectors or knowledge roles where remote work is both an option and a privilege.

7 identities that benefit from remote work

From single parents to folks with social anxiety, many groups benefit from remote and flexible work options. The data shows that more diverse companies perform better financially, so you might want to consider these perspectives before forcing folks to return to office.

Because I can’t speak personally from all of these perspectives, I have included quotes from other voices within my network who can speak to these benefits more personally.  

1. Caregivers and parents

In the U.S., childcare costs around $16K annually—and it’s often hard to find. Many parents choose remote roles to avoid the high costs and low supply. Executive teams who advocate for a return to office (RTO) may not have young children at home or may have a spouse who manages the work of caregiving. 

And let’s just clarify here that working parents aren’t letting their kids run wild while they attempt to get some work done.

A lot of working parents still leverage childcare to some capacity—either with a full-time nanny or government subsidized daycare or babysitting by a family member—but flexible work makes it easier to accommodate these situations. For example, if you’re in-office, it’s harder to coordinate school drop-offs and pick-ups. Or if you have an infant, it can be easier to fit in feedings if you’re working from home with a nanny. There are lots of these scenarios that execs may not think about, but impact why parents want flexible work options.

Remote and flexible roles allow parents to create the schedules that work best for them and their families.

Two other caregiving situations that shouldn’t be left out of this discussion: 

1. Caregivers to people with disabilities. Jenny has two special needs children and had to quit previous jobs to care for them: “An in-person job doesn’t support weekly specialist visits and multiple surgeries!” After she switched to remote work, she was able to care for her children at home with family assistance and give more of her time to her employer.
2. Caregivers to elderly family members. Whether it is an elderly parent, in-law, or other family member, working remotely accommodates this special kind of family support. Caregiving to the elderly typically doesn’t distract from your day-to-day work, but allows you to be there for important needs like feeding and bathroom use—and also be close by in case of emergencies. 

2. Smaller heights and larger bodies

For each two and a half inches of “extra height”, a man earned an average $1,611 more a year. The inverse was true for weight (according to a study by UK BioBank): A 4.6-point increase in BMI resulted in $4,200 less in annual income.

This weight bias is exacerbated for women—particularly in executive or more experienced roles:

• Overweight female executives can see as much as a 16% wage penalty.
• The financial net worth of moderately to severely obese women ages 57-67 is 60% lower.
• An increase of 10% in a woman’s body mass decreases her income by 6%.
• Only 18% of hiring professionals say that larger-bodied women have “leadership potential.”

Remote work helps level the playing field—both in hiring and promoting. For men and women, it’s harder to be biased about someone’s head and shoulders. 

Note: This doesn’t justify such biases, but is one more example of how remote work might be more equitable or psychologically safe. I shared this data with a friend who said, “The way I’ve been treated has varied wildly with my weight over the years. I’ve gone from invisible to not, ignored to not.”

3. Neurodiversity

Employers are legally required to provide reasonable accommodation to neurodivergent folks and people with disabilities. Remote work can make it easier—and more affordable—for employers to provide these accommodations. 

It is, however, really important to acknowledge that the experiences of neurodiverse folks vary widely by individual. Not all autistic people are savants. ADHD may present as inattention for some and hyperactivity for others. No one is a monolith. 

Managers should work one-on-one with employees to create the best plan for them. Here are a few experiences to consider: 

“As a neurodivergent person that experiences sensory overload and is also clinically diagnosed with migraines, WFH is more than a ‘perk’—it is a critical accommodation.” —Marion

“I am a bit introverted and I work best in a quiet space alone. I can focus so much better at home where I can control the noise and temperature of my environment.” —Jane

“I’m neurodivergent and have very specific needs in terms of my physical environment. When I have control of that, I’m able to tap into my ability to hyperfocus and can kick absolute butt at productivity. When I don’t have control of my physical environment, I spend half or more of my time just dealing with and sorting through the sensory nightmare that is a traditional office.” —Kelly

“I am a weird outlier here, but I am more productive in an office because of body doubling (being around other humans also working helps motivate my ADHD brain) and because human connection lessens my anxiety, especially during the first year at a new job.” —Christa

4. People with disabilities

Similar to the last point, remote work increases the number of full-time roles available to folks with disabilities. I have worked with writers who are deaf and engineers with vision loss, but always on a freelance basis. For many people with disabilities, this has been the only work arrangement available to them because full-time, in-office isn’t an option. 

Catherine said, “I have mobility issues. I am able to work. I am not able to commute.” 

Remote work opens up competitive, full-time employment options to individuals with disabilities and allows businesses to access a unique group of talent. 

5. People of color

Remote work has provided a reprieve for many workers of color. LaVonda told me that being away from daily microaggressions helps her to “focus better and reduce [her] anxiety meds.”

Many Black employees agree with her. Research from Future Forum showed that only 3% of Black white-collar “knowledge workers” wanted to return to full-time in-office work, compared with 21% of white ones.  

Not experiencing microagressions or having to code-switch has been life-changing for many professional people of color, according to Andrew McCaskill. Employees have said “‘Oh, that was great for my mental health’ or, ‘It helped me be a little more authentic at work,’ and a lot of workers just don’t want to give that up.”

LaVonda admitted that some folks can still be aggressive over zoom, but “it is far less painful when I can hit mute, speak out my annoyance, and get back to the meeting.”

6. Women

In the United States, women still bear the brunt of childcare responsibilities. 80% of single parents are mothers and, even in heterosexual couples, domestic responsibilities fall to women two-thirds of the time. 

But we’ve already discussed how parents benefit from remote work. Let’s address a few other women’s issues:

1. Menopause: On average, women experience menopause at age 51—an age where 80% of women are employed. 1 out of 4 women experience serious menopausal symptoms which could be more easily addressed at home. 
2. Non-promotable tasks: Women get 44% more requests than men to volunteer for “non-promotable” tasks in the office—planning lunches, tidying shared areas, taking notes in meetings. When women fulfill these tasks, they are viewed as less strategic employees and are less likely to be given opportunities to lead. WFH roles may eliminate some of this imbalance. 
3. Menstrual health: Women spend the equivalent of 7 years of their lives menstruating. When required to come to the office, these days can be uncomfortable, emotional, and messy. When working from home, menstruating people can log on from their bed, wear sweats for comfort, use a rice pack for the cramps, cry if they want to. 
4. Trans women: Transgender adults are more likely than cisgender adults to be unemployed, make 32% less money, and experience workplace discrimination. For trans women and non-binary employees, remote work can create distance from microagressions. 

7. Global communities

Remote work policies allow companies to hire a truly global workforce. When you’re not limited to hire within a specific radius, you can attract top talent from isolated, redlined, or international communities. 

You can also attract employees with a global mindset—those who want to travel and expand their viewpoint. Your business benefits from this diverse perspective, and these individuals benefit from flexible work. 

Remote work can grow your bottom line

Maybe you’re asking, so what? We know that work from home policies are more inclusive, but why does that matter to my business? 

Study after study has shown that diversity breeds bottom-line growth.

• Gender-diverse companies are 15% more likely to have financial returns above the national industry median (McKinsey Global Institute)
• Ethnically diverse companies typically experience a 35% increase in performance compared to counterparts (McKinsey Global Institute)
• Diverse management teams generate 19 % more revenue than non-diverse teams (Boston Consulting Group)

Before you force your team into old-fashioned in-office requirements, make sure you think about and listen to these diverse voices.

Your employees will benefit, and so will your bottom line. 

Executives and owners, I’d like to hear from you. Much of the “Return to Office” debate creates an Us vs. Them mentality, but it doesn’t need to. I’d like to bridge that gap and shed light on the C-suite perspective as well. If you are a founder or C-suite member, please share your opinion via this Google Survey. All responses will be anonymized. Thank you in advance for sharing!