When we were sent home to work at the beginning of the pandemic [2020], we naively thought it would be for a couple of weeks or months, not a year. Fast forward to now and organisations are now trying to figure out this new way of working. As employees, we need to understand how to adapt and make it work for us.

Post-pandemic, jobseekers and employees are re-evaluating what they are looking for at work, and one big shift they are adamant about keeping is flexibility. This creates new challenges for many businesses that are still experimenting with a mix of in-person, hybrid and remote work, and struggling to ensure that their hybrid environments are equitable.

‘Proximity bias’ – the inequities in work between in-person and hybrid or fully remote employees – has emerged as a top concern for executives, business leaders and hybrid and remote

staff when it comes to post-pandemic work. Hybrid and remote employees can feel like their career trajectory lags through their in-office peers, simply because they are less visible.

At the same time, recent research from McKinsey and Mercer global trends reports flag up that a majority of respondents, especially women, say they want the continued flexibility.

Can proximity bias be mitigated or prevented? At a recent Women in Resilience discussion, our members considered preferred working arrangements in the post-Covid world, the many positives of the new hybrid world and how to be seen while working from home.

Positives of working hybrid include that it is location agnostic, and time saved from travel can be used for other productive activities. Also, working from home ‘humanises’ people – pets and children seen in the background of Zoom or Teams meetings have become widely accepted as their presence reflects different aspects of colleagues’ lives.

So, hybrid workers, especially women, should take note of some tips for ‘being seen’ and building your brand while working from home:

• Take every opportunity to be seen
• Meet key stakeholders face-to-face at every given opportunity
• Engage more often with colleagues and stakeholders, using any excuse to speak with them
• Respond quickly to emails, even if it’s a holding response
• Try to spend casual chat time with the team, and value less formal time with colleagues in the office
• Value team building; one of our panellists said they have a ‘Fri-yay’ devoted to these activities
• Network and build connections both in person and via professional social networking sites
• Attend conferences, seminars and meet more people from your professional fraternity
• Take part in industry working groups
• Ask your team when they are going to be in the office and plan your days according to this
• Open a meeting with a personal comment, something remembered from a previous meeting about others’ personal lives
• Step outside your comfort zone and be comfortable with failure
• Take one step at a time, and slowly push the boundaries.
• Take opportunities; don’t wait for them to come to you.

Bethany Warren and Milena Maneva are both committee members of the global Women in Resilience group