# Q7 — Keeping remote and hybrid workers included

- **Episode:** [203](https://agents.truthliesandwork.com/episodes/203.md) (2025-06-05)
- **Type:** other
- **Tags:** remote-work, hybrid-work, inclusion
- **Time:** 40:07–44:33 (start 2407s)
- **Listen:** [https://truthliesandwork.com/203?t=2407](https://truthliesandwork.com/203?t=2407)

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[40:07] Al Elliott: Yeah, love it, love it. Okay, so question number 7, how do we ensure that remote or hybrid workers feel included during the summer? Great question. I think a lot of the— I think particularly if you're in the Northern Hemisphere, then you'll be thinking summertime, it's summer, it's lovely. If you've got people who are working perhaps in the Southern Hemisphere, it's different for them. How do we make sure they still feel included? How do you make sure that They don't feel invisible or worse, that they might feel overworked because if they're in Australia and it's not summer in Australia, then, you know, they might go, oh, they'll be fine. Just give them a bit of extra work
[40:40] Leanne Elliott: Again, I think when we talked about engagement, if your remote and hybrid workers are already disconnecting, this could be a time where that's going to really become very obvious. It shouldn't just be a case of, well, how are we going to keep our remote people engaged during these periods? You should be thinking about that all All year round. But again, I think it's, it's understanding that it's as much an operational conversation as it is a people and culture conversation. If you do have employees internationally, if you do have freelancers that are in the southern hemisphere, this could be a really good opportunity to sit down with them and go, look, do you want extra workload right now? Do you want to take on extra projects and responsibilities? We've got, you know, that, that work available with the understanding that come Your summer, you know, you would expect the same situation where we'll offload some of the work that you're doing. So, again, it's that workflow that really needs looking at in terms of your people. I think the thing I would mention as well about remote workers or hybrid workers is don't make any assumptions about where they want to work during this period. As we mentioned earlier, it might be that parents are much more productive and would want to be in the office more. They might want to go up to 4 days a week in the office
[41:53] Al Elliott: Yeah
[41:53] Leanne Elliott: It might be that actually they're much better remote because it's easier for them to pick up their kids because their mum lives down the street and looks after them during the day. So, I think again, it's having that conversation, allowing that flexibility, and not making any assumptions. And I think finally, I'd make it very clear for your remote and hybrid workers, and this is true at any time of the year, but particularly in summer, is for them to feel free to use their time and go outside if they want to. We've heard so much research on this recently in terms of touching grass and Forest bathing, being in nature is really productive. So, give them permission to do that Monday check-in on a walk. Give them permission to sit outside for an hour over lunch, or take that dog walk during the day and make up that work later on. Again, it's that flexibility and that trust. It's all about managing by outcome. So, make sure your remote teams also feel able to—
[42:50] Al Elliott: Yeah
[42:51] Leanne Elliott: To enjoy and embrace the nicer weather if we have it
[42:54] Al Elliott: Yeah. And I suppose just one last tip around that is just if you do work remotely, either as a contractor or perhaps you do work literally remotely in a different country or something, it's always, you've got to make sure that people feel in the loop. And I think over summer, you've got to be even more careful of that because fewer people are off. So they might already be dealing with 3 members of staff and over summer, 2 of them might be off. So they could feel a little bit like, they're being left out. So just sort of being a bit more, what's the word you use? Intentionally. Is that the one you use?
[43:21] Leanne Elliott: Yeah
[43:21] Al Elliott: A bit more intentionality about everything you do. Um, and I suppose there's always like, you can do sort of like, um, events and sort of games and photo of the week. And I mean, it sounds a bit cheesy, but, um, there is a great company called, um, what's it called when, when, when there's loads of glitter, but it's like confetti. Uh-huh. getconfetti.com, I think it is. We had the, um, we had the founder on, um, a year or so ago, and she puts together virtual events. Um, and they're not cheesy, they're really good. Um, and there'll be, there's just some really good ideas on the website of how you can include more people
[43:57] Leanne Elliott: Yeah. And again, it's if you've got that flexibility. I know on a contract that I worked on, lots of our customers had children, so we switched up our, our kind of service delivery in the summer to include them as well. So, if we had courses around kind of parenting or social connection or that type of thing, we'd actually look at, or even healthy living. We did food courses with the children as well. Obviously, there's a bit more complications of insurance and consent and all that type of stuff. But yeah, there's a way that you can also switch around your actual service delivery over summer. It can have really great, great benefits, and the staff loved it as well, having all the kids in