The COVID pandemic has ushered in sweeping changes in the workplace including a blended work culture. This new model is a combination of ‘remote’ and ‘in-person’ working. While the concept of hybrid work is still in its infancy, a new study has revealed the impact of the hybrid work model on the lives of working women. Hybrid working models give women more autonomy in using their time than in-person working models, says study by Kriya University – IWWAG – New Lead in Zoom reports. However, the hybrid working model also includes gender bias At home, one of the major challenges for working women. The sample size for the study included 400 working women, of whom 150 were working in hybrid mode at the time of the survey.
Popularity of Hybrid Models:
At least 71% of women chose to work in hybrid mode according to the participants polled in the survey. Region-wise, 84% of women chose hybrid work in the western region of the country. While 42% women from the eastern region chose the in-person option. Taking into account age and the hybrid culture trend, the report said that women (ages 33-55) are more likely to adopt this flexible working model. Most of the women did not opt for the hybrid option despite their work being mandated at the junior level. 35% of the respondents (below 30 years) chose to work in person even after being offered a hybrid option, the report noted.
Sector wise hybrid job trends:
According to the report, some sectors were more hybrid work-friendly than others. 55% of hybrid workers Technology, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, business and consultancy belong to the service sectors. While 21% of hybrid workers worked in the consumer goods, social services, teaching or real estate and construction sectors.
The report states that female respondents in the survey claimed improvements in personal finance due to the blended work culture. The reason for this can be attributed to reduction in expenditure on commuting and other expenses. 89% of hybrid workers report commuting time savings.
On average, small organizations prefer more daily in-person presence, while medium-sized organizations prefer fully remote options and large organizations are introducing hybrid models. Also, women in senior positions are more likely to be given the option of working in a hybrid model. 21% of hybrid workers in the sample report working in consumer goods, social services, teaching, or real estate and construction, which indicates that the likelihood of working in a hybrid model is growing beyond technology.
Key challenges for women in the hybrid work model:
The gap in technical skills remains a challenge for the workforce adopting hybrid models, which may hinder the effective participation of women in hybrid workplaces. Nearly a third of women in the sample who report difficulty adapting to new technology being used by their organization for hybrid work are from technology-intensive sectors. Similarly, the absence of an organizational culture that enables hybrid work is reported as a significant downside by women, particularly in the technology (63%) and business and consulting (57%) sectors. Infrastructure is also a major challenge for many mixed workers in non-metropolitan areas. For those based in non-metropolitan areas (55%) location is a major disadvantage as is the disparity of resources at home compared to once set up. Mansi, and 44% of Hybrid employees feel a similar negative impact on networking opportunities available to women employees.
Even in our sample, 50% of hybrid workers believe that currently women’s promotions are more negatively affected in the hybrid work model than their male counterparts, and 44% of hybrid workers believe the networking available to female employees The same negative effects are experienced on occasion. In addition, women who enjoy greater flexibility to work from home also report higher gender bias. The disproportionate burden of unpaid care work expected of housewives in the hybrid work model has persisted.
“There’s an expectation that you’re at home, you can do this, you can multitask. You can take turns raising kids — you can take care of an aging parent while you’re at home. And As a result, the same expectations are not met when men are working from home and the expectations are not always set by others but by themselves…,” said a gender expert.
Preeti Rao, Associate Director, Lead, Kriya University said that “With access to the right enabling infrastructure, hybrid working has the potential to provide flexible employment opportunities to women beyond metros. But the options for remote working and the ease of transition to hybrid work vary by women’s location (metro/other), seniority level and sector. Future efforts can focus on bridging data gaps, building use cases for hybrid work across industries and geographies, and enabling policies for equal participation in the workforce.”
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