By Erica Stephens, executive director, Nana Grants
The post-COVID, remote-work narrative has largely focused on why employees want to work from home without looking at systemic inequities and issues driving the desire for remote work: childcare, transportation, financial pressure and undesirable work environments.
Several major companies including Dell, Boeing and UPS have announced return-to-work mandates in recent weeks. Dell’s RTO announcement, in particular, has not been well received.
A memo obtained by Business Insider said if remote Dell employees want to advance their careers, or apply to new internal roles, they have to “reclassify as hybrid onsite.”
A senior source at Dell said the employees affected “are overwhelmingly women.” Dell’s RTO program has been described by employees as a “stealth layoff for women.”
The fundamental structure of how we work in the U.S. has not sufficiently evolved since the Mad Men days when mostly men went to work, and they were either single or had wives at home taking care of their day-to-day needs. Employers still expect employees to leave their personal lives at the front door, and that goes double for working parents.
Most employers offer scant accommodation for inherently human experiences such as illness, childbearing and raising, eldercare, and the pursuit of mental health and physical wellbeing. This failure disproportionately affects women — especially women of color — because they’re still paid less on the job and do more unpaid labor than their white and male counterparts.
Business leaders can either hear this as an indictment or see it as an opportunity. Metro Atlanta is one the largest regions in the nation and the economic engine of the Southeast. Atlanta is home to more than 330 global and North American headquarters, with more relocating every year. Why do these companies love Atlanta? We have one of the most diverse and educated workforces in the…
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