How To Ensure Inclusion and Security In Remote Work

An inclusive remote workplace supports and embraces people from different backgrounds as part of its culture. Achieving inclusivity requires systemic efforts and individuals to make conscious decisions about supporting and embracing one another. 

But it does not stop there – it’s important to revisit your security standards in a remote work setting. Cybersecurity threats, including hacking, phishing scams, and malicious antivirus, lead to unprecedented financial and data losses. Yet, one study showed that 44% of organizations with remote teams are yet to provide security training to their remote staff. 

For such reasons, we have prepared the following article highlighting ways to ensure inclusion and security in remote work. 

How to Ensure Inclusion in Remote Work?

Ensuring inclusion in remote work is not as difficult as most people think, and we will tell you why!

Make Diversity and Inclusion Part of Recruitment

It starts with your recruitment and onboarding processes. If you want to make your workplace diverse, it would be best to ensure you expand your sourcing to include a more diverse pool of candidates. 

It would also be beneficial to reevaluate job descriptions and ensure they are inclusive or free from bias. Check to see if the language in the job description is favourable for all candidates, especially those from underrepresented groups. 

Ensure Everyone is Heard and Seen (Hear and Encourage All Voices)

A key aspect of an inclusive workplace is making sure everyone feels heard and seen. In a remote workplace, ensuring everyone is heard and seen can be challenging, especially if communication is primarily digital. This also makes it even harder for people with disabilities and other underrepresented groups to voice their ideas or concerns.  

But to ensure your workplace is inclusive, start by setting clear expectations for communication and participation in your remote workplace. In addition, consider providing opportunities for feedback to allow employees to share their thoughts and feedback, especially among the underrepresented groups.

One way to accomplish this is by using solutions that promote digital connection and communication among these people, including deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals. Hand Talk Solutions has emerged as a solid frontrunner for companies looking for inclusivity solutions. 

Hand Talk Solutions can be a powerful tool for promoting inclusivity in the workplace, particularly for deaf or hard-of-hearing employees. By providing access to real-time translation of spoken or written language into Sign Language, Hand Talk can help to break down communication barriers and enable more effective communication between all employees.

Nurture a Culture of Loyalty and Belonging

Nurturing a culture of loyalty and belonging in a remote workplace can be challenging as most employees are usually physically distant from one another. But it’s vitally important to foster a sense of belonging and loyalty to promote inclusivity in the workplace. 

One of the best ways to nurture a culture of loyalty and belonging in a remote workplace is to foster a sense of community among employees. This way, they can interact with each other outside of work. Other effective ways to nurture a culture of loyalty and belonging include communicating regularly, celebrating diversity, and rewarding your employees. 

Craft Your Company’s Hybrid Work Plans and Policies

Before promoting inclusivity in your remote work setting, consider making it official. Craft your company’s hybrid work plans and policies to align with your inclusivity objectives. 

When drafting your inclusivity policies, outline how inclusive practices will be integrated into remote and hybrid working. Also, review your company’s existing policies and procedures to ensure they promote inclusivity in a hybrid work environment. 

How to Ensure Security in Remote Work?

To minimize the risk of network intrusion through cyber threats and to protect business data, it’s important to bolster your defenses. Here’s a brief overview of how you can ensure security in a remote work setting.

Train and Educate Your Employees on the Best Cybersecurity Practices

Malicious parties are constantly trying to gain access to your device or your network. They do so to attempt to recover sensitive data from company devices or networks. Some of the ways they can gain access include social engineering tactics, phishing, malware, zero-day exploits, and hacking. 

One of the best ways to prevent them from doing so is by training your employees to spot suspicious activity. You could also encourage them to take care of their devices. This includes ensuring that the devices get the latest updates and security patches. 

Use a VPN

When working remotely, companies should allow employees to access resources on the corporate network from a distant location securely. There should be no issue navigating internal company applications, intranet, file sharing systems, and company mail services. 

Remote employees might require access to the company’s applications and network from different locations, including cafes and restaurants. But such spots have poor WiFi encryption meaning malicious people can easily take over your device when you’re connected to such networks.

This is where a VPN comes in. You’ve probably heard about VPNs before – a VPN, or Virtual Private Network, is a tool that provides a secure connection between your device and the internet. 

The right VPN for your Mac or Windows company computers will encrypt the internet connection, allowing your employees to browse the internet securely and anonymously, regardless of where they might be. By using a VPN, remote employees can securely access the company’s network and resources as if they were physically present in the office. 

Enable Two Factor Authentication 

Two-factor authentication (2FA) is a security measure that adds a layer of protection to your online accounts. It requires users trying to log in to accounts to provide two forms of authentication – usually, it includes something they know, such as a password, and something they have, such as a security token or a fingerprint.

In a remote work setting, 2FA is especially crucial since employees may access sensitive company data from various locations and devices. Even if a hacker gains access to an employee’s password, 2FA will require them to provide additional authentication before accessing the account.

Conclusion

Promoting inclusivity and security in remote work environments is challenging but certainly doable. These actions require efforts from all the team members, including those in leadership positions.

As a rule of thumb, consider revisiting all your inclusivity and security policies. For instance, the general idea in security is to have a framework that oversees all security practices, such as accessing the network and data. This framework should govern all your employees’ actions, especially when handling company data.

With that said, the tips listed above should give you a great head start toward realizing a more inclusive and secure work environment.