no one wins a marathon with talking 

his article first appeared on the World Economic Forum Agenda Platform on March 8, 2021.

Conversations about what it means to be a sustainable and responsible organization have dominated boardroom discussions over the last decade. And, while those conversations were important, the COVID-19 pandemic exposed them for what they were: talk. While discourse and debate are vital to progress, so is action. It’s time to walk the walk, not just talk the talk, on collective responsibility to achieve gender equity.

Recent headlines warn about the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 pandemic-induced business closures on women: “Pandemic Will ‘Take Our Women 10 Years Back’ in the Workplace” and “Women running ethical biz seen worse hit by COVID than men.” Yet this is just the tip of the spear if you consider the effect of COVID-19 on intersectional groups. Today, the unemployment rates for adult Black and Latina women in the US are approaching 9% and 10% respectfully, compared with 6% for white males – a situation that is aggressively growing the health and wealth protection gap, and setting back the careers and economic opportunity of a generation of women.

The good news is that the light on this topic has never shone so brightly, and it’s illuminating bright spots of practices that have emerged out of the crisis. DEI analytics, internal labour flow analysis, health and wellbeing education, inclusive cultural training etc. are all making a difference. But it’s the openness to digital ways of working and opportunities that flexible work arrangements can afford which might just start to tip the balance.

Prior to COVID-19, 67% of organizations globally offered a variety of flexible working arrangements, but only 45% said they equally value employees who work remotely, according to Mercer’s Let’s Get Real About Equality report. In 2021, 52% of organizations plan to reinvent flexibility as a core part of their transformation agenda (tied to making progress on reskilling). During the pandemic, the percentage of remote workers jumped to nearly three-fourths of the total workforce and current estimates suggest most companies will adopt a hybrid model going forward.

The rub is that for working women and working moms the move from a pandemic response to a permanent reality requires intentional design to make it workable. The high level of employee exhaustion – 45% of organizations identify employee exhaustion as the barrier to transformation efforts this year – makes it clear that something is not working. And this demands not just work redesign, but a rethink of childcare, emergency support, work hubs closer to home and a wider acknowledgement of support networks that enable women to contribute to the workforce.

Unfortunately, these flex-work arrangements have only widened the gap between people who can work remotely and those who cannot. Intersectional groups, again, end up on the wrong side of the equation, as they are more likely to work in roles that cannot be done offsite or do not have the equipment or the head- and/or workspace to perform. To level the playing field, we’ll need to reshape work around tasks and challenge our views on what flexibility looks in a myriad of different occupations. The move to project-based structures and internal talent marketplaces are steps forward, heralding a greater democratisation of opportunity. The real acceleration, though, is skills.

A move to skills-based talent practices has the potential to be an incredible leveller, changing everything from the way we hire, develop, pay and promote talent. This move, in turn, makes it easier to offer flex work, shared work and to expand opportunities to more workers. Greater access to talent and to talent beyond the walls of the organization offers one of the few tangible opportunities to ensure cognitive and cultural diversity on critical projects. If your teams don’t reflect your customers, this is a risk.