A blend of working from home and office work policies can offer more flexible hours, making it easier for women and others with opportunity constraints.
Sojung Lee, president of Asia-Pacific at TeamViewer, wrote in a post that women in particular have often found that they can’t easily move or commute long distances as a result of societal expectations or family pressures. Working remotely can change the game, expanding opportunities.
“Employees regardless of gender can get the flexibility they need to manage both work and family commitments. It can also help men and women to contribute to housework in equal measure,” Lee said.
“Juggling work and family is a key barrier to women at work. All too often, the demands of care-giving fall disproportionately on women and can hinder career advancement.”
Lee said this is still important because, even though women have made “huge strides” in tech, fewer than one-third of tech sector employees globally are women, and even fewer AI workers.
“Women account for only a small share of engineering graduates,” she said, pointing to reports from the International Labor Organisation. “The journey to full representation and equal opportunity remains ongoing.”
Fostering an inclusive and diverse environment “where everyone can excel” can help power innovation, she said, with return-to-office policies acting against this trend.
Remote work can help dismantle geographical barriers, fostering recognition and cultivation of talent, regardless of physical location, she added.
She said that the Australian Bureau of Statistics estimated that more than half of women find caring for children, which often necessitates their being near or in the home, their main barrier to work – a much higher proportion than among men.
Lee also called for extended parental leave and supported reintegration post-leave where needed.
“In the EU, recent data shows that the share of women working part-time was significantly higher than the share of men.”
Remote and flexible working can help create an inclusive environment, attracting and retaining more diverse talent as well as potentially helping organisations meet Equality Sustainability and Governance (ESG) goals.
At the same time, digital workplace tooling can both support remote workers as well as enable executives to keep on top of team organisation and management, Lee said.
TeamViewer makes and sells mobility and connectivity focused applications including TeamViewer Tensor, for enterprise remote connectivity.
( Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash )
