Achieving Inclusivity Through Remote Work

What you'll learn

A strength of the tech industry is its ability to facilitate remote work. Remote work helps people — particularly those who are part of marginalized communities, such as folks who are undergoing a gender transition — and it can be a big factor when you're trying to foster inclusive teams! In this talk, you'll learn about barriers that disproportionately affect underrepresented folks in tech, like health concerns, financial/geographical logistics and emotional burnout, as well as the ways working remotely can ease those burdens, and how to promote healthy distributed teams. Some barriers are logistical, like accessibility for disabled folks or the cost of accessing resources for work for people who are just entering tech from non-traditional backgrounds. Others are more personal, like in the case of people who have mental health struggles and the stigma that can be associated with that. Jameson Hampton will also talk about location based diversity and how it can really expand the horizons of your team to have voices and perspectives from different parts of the world. One marginalized community that this talk will specifically focus on is the transgender community. The number of trans folks in tech is growing and Jameson believes it's partially because the industry attracts people who benefit from remote work. Transitioning comes with a lot of stress and baggage about how you're being perceived by others, and for many people, it can be a lot smoother and more private when you don't have to be physically present with your coworkers every day. Of course, for a distributed team to work, you need to foster a healthy culture at your company. Not everyone is in a position where they can overhaul their whole company culture, but I will provide some examples of actionable things people may be able to advocate for on their own teams, as well as small ways they can be personally supportive of their remote coworkers.

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