Thriving in the New Work Ecosystem: Flexibility and Empathy are Key PMI Manage South Asia poll shows that practitioners are in favor of remote work but some changes in work culture are needed. Is the current remote work environment working out well for project professionals, particularly for women employees? That is the moot question we wanted to investigate in our online poll, The New Work Eco-System | Opportunities and Challenges, conducted in the month of February. The results reveal how men and women view some of the common struggles and advantages that today’s ways of working present. We asked them if they found remote work to be a blessing. An overwhelming 92 percent of women respondents said they did, as against the overall 77 percent. Do you find remote work a blessing? From all respondents Do you find remote work a blessing? From Women respondents More women than men said that their productivity had gone up while working from home. Almost 9 in 10 women, as opposed to a little over 7 in 10 men, held this view. Has your productivity gone up during work from home? From all respondents Has your productivity gone up during work from home? From Women respondents However, in spite of the benefits of working from home, not everybody wants to continue with this arrangement permanently. Only 60 percent of women and 53 percent of men were willing to working from home permanently. A commonly voiced sentiment since the past two years has been the difficulties in creating a clear divide between work and home while working remotely. Our survey shows that close to 35 percent across the gender divide are struggling to set a work-life demarcation. There is also a fear that they might fall behind their colleagues if they choose to work remotely in the long term. The fear is more pronounced among women – 52 percent – than among men, which is 40.5 percent. The remaining two questions we asked had a similar number of respondents among men and women. Around 74 percent said they were able to effectively manage their team in a virtual setting. Over 80 percent said they had extra time to upgrade their skills, an important factor in advancing one’s career today. We also invited practitioners to suggest how organizations can address the challenges women professionals are facing in the new reality and support them at work .The most frequently expressed wish was flexibility. One respondent said, “Women are shouldering much of the burden at home, given that school and childcare facilities are closed and there is longstanding gender inequality in unpaid work. Women also face high risks of job and income loss, and face increased risks of violence, exploitation, abuse or harassment during these times.” On the work front, the ‘always on’ mode is affecting women. Says another respondent, “Most of our seniors call for meetings after work hours. They think the meeting will be more productive. But then we end up working 12-14 hours. It is hard for a woman to balance her work and personal life.” Here are some suggestions they have offered for organizations: • Let staff work in a self-organized mode, empower them to take decisions and own their work. • Allow women to work remotely for 3 days a week. • Set a hybrid arrangement where employees can plan their weeks and months so they can better manage work and family responsibilities. • Provide more benefits to employees like no meeting Fridays, regular reviews, company sponsored wellness programs. • Allow two long 1- hour breaks with an overall longer workday. • Define work hours and make it a rule that employees are not expected to reply to an email post 6 pm. • Use an outcome-based model to judge performance, rather than the number of hours put in. • Define quiet hours, collaboration hours and family hours in a company so that all are in sync. • Reduce the commute and let women work from a business center closer to home. The need to be empathetic and show concern when someone is going through a rough patch is another sentiment we saw in the responses. Below are some suggestions: • Show more empathy when someone cannot join a meeting or wants to take off. • Discuss the difficulties employees are facing through regular personal development chats. • Give women time and space to deal with family challenges and issues. • Address mental health issues and offer counselling if they are facing difficulties during work from home before jumping into conclusions. • Offer periodical consultations about work-life balance. • Support women in meeting their goals and stop being judgmental about their decisions. But not every solution lies with the organization. Women need to establish some ground rules at home so others around them understand and respect their work. Some suggestions our respondents offered are : • Follow a regular schedule with a clear balance of work and house. Only emergencies can disturb the schedule, practice this so neither the flow of work nor the flow of household will be disturbed. • Take family support, office support is not enough.