The Pandemic-Stratified Workplace: Workspace, Employee Sense of Belonging, and Inequalities at Work

Abstract

In the wake of 2020, employees are currently diverging according to remote, hybrid, and completely onsite workspaces. However, questions remain regarding the impact of this stratification when it comes to employee cohesion and sense of belonging at work, and whether extant theories of belonging adequately capture employees’ feelings of belonging in post-pandemic work environments across the world. Thus, drawing from original, international survey data (N = 6,497), we explore how working remotely, in a hybrid environment, or onsite/in office matters for employees’ sense of belonging at work. Using logistic regression, we observed no differences according to workspace. However, we did find that older employees, those paid hourly, and those identifying as a “minority” in some way were significantly less likely to report feeling a sense of belonging at work. Lastly, a follow-up regression showed that compared to their peers working onsite or in an office, “minority”-identified employees who began working remotely before the pandemic (but not those who started working remotely after the pandemic began) felt an elevated sense of belonging. These results suggest, first, that despite the potentially disruptive nature of work changes in the short term, workspace by itself does not significantly impact employee sense of belonging. However, for “minority”-identified employees in particular, remote work options may offer elevated feelings of belonging in some cases. Going forward, organizations should continue to focus on effective diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies to bolster belonging among all employees across different workspaces.