Working from home, particularly in the midst of a worldwide pandemic, has its share of positives and negatives. While many were not accustomed to the new settings and forced to adapt, others found it to be a refreshing difference from the day-to-day office routines.
Technology industries found it easier to adapt. Many of their employees found the isolation to be a refreshing change. For some, it removed them from hostile work environments created by harassing coworkers.
A bad reputation for hostile work environments
Tech businesses are an employment segment not necessarily known for inclusion and seemingly better known for hostility and harassment. Specific targets encompass women, transgender/nonbinary, and employees of various ethnicities, and those that are indigenous.
Project Include surveyed 3,000 tech workers. In addition to longer hours and the stress that comes with sudden and significant change, the harassment and hostility continue unabated. In fact, it has only become worse. Even more alarming is the one-third of employees/victims presuming that little if anything will be done about it.
When factoring race and gender identity harassment together, the number of harassment victims is at alarming levels and include:
- Thirty-nine percent of Asian women and nonbinary people working in technology
- Thirty-eight percent of Latinx women and nonbinary people in the technology industry
- Forty-two percent of transgender people making their living performing tech work
While business systems are not known for innovation in preventing harassment, some technology exists to block certain coworkers only interested in abusive acts. Work-at-home is inherently a more casual environment, but it should not mean that offensive behavior should be tolerated. In the end, it is up to individual employers to step up and ensure work settings that are not hostile, regardless of where the work occurs.