Research

Pulse Poll: COVID-19 & Re-Entry

Our COVID-19 & Re-Entry Pulse Poll was designed to uncover important data and trends about the approach organizations are taking during the initial COVID-19 office re-opening phase during which some employees are returning to the office while others are continuing to work remotely. This poll was conducted in late May and early June 2020 and includes responses from  34 organizations. In conducting and analyzing this pulse poll we strove to help organizations utilize workplace flexibility to foster their productivity, business continuity, talent management, and diversity and inclusion goals. The complete results of the poll were released to Alliance members and poll participants on July 8, 2020.

Noteworthy highlights from the results of the Pulse Poll include:

• The vast majority of participants (85.3%) have a task force focused on re-entry and nearly two-thirds of these task forces include a Diversity & Inclusion professional.
• A significant share of participants will allow all of their employees to work remotely (35.3%) and will use a “reason-neutral” process to determine who can work remotely  (44.1%). However, too many organizations are still limiting which employees can work remotely based upon their function and/or their risk level.
• A significant share are planning on launching the following trainings: Best Practices for Working Remotely (38.2%, or 13 of 34), Best Practices for Leading Remote Teams (32.4%, or 11 of 34), and Unconscious Bias (23.5%, or 8 of 34).  Only a small number (3 of 34, or 8.8%) indicated they will have no trainings to support re-entry.

For more information, please contact Sejal Shah at sejal@dfalliance.com.

“While many firms and corporations have pledged their commitment to diversity and inclusion in recent years, their actions as they reopen their offices during the COVID-19 crisis will demonstrate their sincerity and have a meaningful impact on all employees. While I’m pleased to see that a significant number of firms and corporations are focusing on inclusion during office re-openings, I hope that more organizations will follow suit. It’s critical that firms and corporations incorporate D&I professionals in their Office Reopening Task Force, allow requests to continue to work remotely to be “reason-neutral,” and provide necessary virtual trainings.”

–  Manar Morales, President & CEO of the Diversity & Flexibility Alliance