Linked: Remote Work Helped Meta Achieve Diversity Goals Years Ahead of Schedule

The thing that often gets overlooked in all of the hand-wringing about remote work is just how much it opens up your open positions to a wider group of people. Meta has seen the results of this:

“People who accepted remote positions in the U.S. were more likely to be Black, Hispanic, Native American, Alaskan Native, Pacific Islander, veterans and/or people with disabilities, the company reported. Globally, the company noted more women accepted remote working positions.”

Something I’ve been thinking a lot about in the industries I have worked in has been this idea that remote and asynchronous work is something that makes it less likely that the only people we can hire are the ones who are both willing and able to dedicate their entire days to be in the office and also willing to jump in and do more work at any hour of the day and weekends. That eliminates a whole bunch of people from even applying, especially women with kids, neurodiverse and disabled candidates, and underrepresented groups without a large presence in the area where your office happens to be. (When you start a company in Silicon Valley, Seattle, Austin, or some other “hot” area, your candidate pool is limited to the people who live there now or are willing to move immediately.)

Diversity is about broadening the pool of candidates. Forcing everyone to work the same ways, the same hours, in the same location is not that.

I’m not surprised that Meta finds it easier to be a more diverse workplace when they take the location part away. We have as well. We need to work on the number of hours and being “available” 24×7 to broaden it even further.

https://cheddar.com/media/remote-work-helped-meta-achieve-diversity-goals-years-ahead-of-schedule

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