Topic 2 | Communicate Like a Remote Working Pro

Raise Your Intercultural Awareness

In a globally connected society, diversity is present in a remote workspace. We will encounter people with different ethnicity, culture, religion, age, preferences, and vulnerabilities. It is an unwritten rule that we respect each other’s perception and celebrate our differences.

Why is Diversity at Work important?

Diversity is a strong component of communication from the heritage to the language. Perhaps, people see the world differently and these differences add value to the way we work and communicate. Below are the reasons how diversity is essential in a team.

  1. We approach the same problem with diverse opinion and perception based on our culture
  2. It enriches your communication skills and the ability to express thoughts
  3. Raise awareness of cultural values and equality in the workplace

Embracing Diversity

Through diverse interactions, we innovate our process and techniques at work. However, it also derives old problems by putting a team together. Generally, we need to keep an open mind when communicating with other people. It is also the responsibility of the company to connect everyone in the team and allow them to personally introduce themselves.

According to Hutchinson, the first step of embracing diversity at work is self-awareness and understanding how we respond to the beliefs and values of other people. He mentioned that we should answer these questions before we can explore how we will adapt or change our behavior or attitude.

  1. What ethnic group, socioeconomic class, religion, age group, community, or vulnerability do you belong to?
  2. What are your experiences with people who belong in these groups?
  3. How did you feel about them? How do you feel if you were in their shoes?
  4. Knowing your response, what about do you find embarrassing or wish you could change?
  5. How will you act when you experience rejection?

Answering the questions above will assist you to identify your self-awareness. The next procedure is to make adjustments to make preference gaps meet. Ultimately, the key idea is to respect people by determining and anticipating their differences. Overall, working remotely in diversity at work is a big topic, but it can be learned by experience. For more information, you can read this journal article by Roberson, Ryan, and Ragins (2017).

Barriers to Intercultural Communication

Discrimination at Work: What Else Do You Need to Know?

Companies should have strong policies against discrimination and all workers should uphold the values of equality. All employees should be informed of these rules at work. Below are provisions for your guidance:

  1. Any age, race, gender, socioeconomic class, disability discrimination is prohibited in any workplace. You must be aware that there are human rights laws protecting people from decimation.
  2. We must be mindful of our actions even in remote work and any form of harassment or discrimination can employment.
  3. If you experienced discrimination from your co-remote workers, do NOT be afraid nor hesitate to report them to your accounts manager or human resource personnel. Make a structured complaint following these guide questions:
    1. Who is the complaint about? Is it a department or an individual?
    2. What are you complaining about?
      • Racial hatred
      • Gender discrimination and inequality
      • Sexism and harassment
      • Age discrimination
      • Socioeconomic prejudice
      • Disability discrimination and mistreatment
    3. Reason of complain
    4. When did the alleged event(s) happen? (be precise)
    5. Supporting documents

 

Cultural Differences Between the Philippines and the Western Countries

Remote work bridges many Filipino remote contractors with Western clients, and this context can reveal some significant differences between the two cultures involved in certain areas: