LOS ANGELES—As black workers celebrate gains in the workplace in terms of equity and inclusion, billionaires like Citadel’s head Ken Griffin beat up remote work as a “grave mistake.” 

“The only grave mistake you can make as a leader in the future of work is to deny the reality that remote work is here to stay,” said company culture consultant Chris Dyer. “Listening to workers is imperative as a leader in the workplace. The Slack survey not only highlights equity and inclusion issues, it highlights leadership issues.”

Bloomberg’s report on Black workers gaining with remote work is derived from a Slack Technology Future Forum survey of 10,000 remote workers, in which only 3% of Black workers said they want to return to the office. The survey also highlighted that the majority of executives designing post-pandemic workforce policies with without direct input from employees. 

“Remote work done well improves lives and livelihoods, especially for Black workers,” said Dyer. “Reports critical of remote work continue to distort remote work done well, and poorly designed remote work. You can’t design the best remote work systems if you aren’t listening to what workers are saying.” 

The Future Forum survey reported “executive overall job satisfaction is now 62% higher than non-executives, driven by higher scores on flexibility (+51%), sense of belonging (+52%), work-life balance (+78%) and work-related stress and anxiety (+114%).”

“Executives report higher job satisfaction, and they know what drives that satisfaction, so they can’t play pretend like they don’t know why workers aren’t satisfied, or are leaving for remote work and more flexible opportunities,” said Dyer. “I have been calling the Great Resignation the Great Reflection. Workers matter, listening is how to adapt and flexibility is a mandate.”

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Chris Dyer is the founder and CEO of PeopleG2, where he manages 30 full-time remote employees and 3,000 contractors. PeopleG2 is routinely ranked one of the best places to work and has been listed as one of Inc.’s 5000 Fastest Growing Companies. Having made the transition to remote during the recession in 2009 with stunning success, Dyer is now a world-renowned expert on remote leadership and productive company culture. His commentary is featured regularly in leading media outlets such as Fast Company, Forbes, Inc., BBC, NBC and The Telegraph. Dyer is the author of Remote Work: Redesign Processes, Practices and Strategies to Engage a Remote Workforce.