Essay Sample: Diversity, Inclusion, Equity, and COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has continually affected various aspects both for businesses and workers; this has therefore pushed to the business world to adjust to what is now referred to as "the new norm". Coordinating businesses and their employers in adapting to a new setting of the business environment, while at the same time keeping up with the set legal structure is very important and necessary. COVID-19 has drastically impacted the business world as more businesses have been closed and thousands are forced to operate in their homestead. It is a structural change in the business operation and its environment where various business codes like legal regulations have since been a major concern in the business fraternity.

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This literature review, therefore, tends to explore the various scholarly literature that is relative to teleworking models and the various anti-discrimination codes of conduct to access and discover the various literature gaps that might exist (Hurbean, 2018). The literature review tends to demonstrate the various theoretical foundations of telework and the various theories involving anti-discrimination laws. The review will largely look at earlier studies recommended for further scientific research. These areas of research look at including various aspects of equity, diversity, and discrimination in the workplace.

The research article by Belzunegui-Eraso, and Erro-Garcés, (2020), analyzes the implementation of various teleworking frameworks as a means of ensuring security in the wake of the COVID-19 disease. Theoretically, Belzunegui-Eraso and Erro-Garcé's study is extended further with the various safety, environmental, and legal aspects that describe teleworking. In a practical view, the companies that have applied to telework in control of the coronavirus are given. Belzunegui-Eraso, and Erro-Garcés, (2020), explains that the COVID-19 pandemic shows how the teleworking framework has been incorporated by various companies to safeguard their employees and also ensure continuity of the economy.

The study found out that many businesses in America lack effective crisis plans like the one COVID-19 presents. According to Belzunegui-Eraso, and Erro-Garcés, (2020), the continuity of activities in many businesses largely depends on their size, that is larger business appear to be more prepared in the wake of such a pandemic, the nature of the business, that is, it has been discovered that most health care firms are more prepared, the presence of professional in human resource in the company, and lastly the assessment of the risk the pandemic can have in a short term.

Belzunegui-Eraso, and Erro-Garcés, note how most companies are adopting teleworking and including certain clauses in the firm's collective plans and agreements. There exist no collective agreements that expect a setting that involve mass teleworking or implementation of teleworking in the context of health or security crisis. The Corona Virus crisis has not only tested a lack of plans to counter biological crisis but also a lack of various minimum measures that help solve health problems brought about by COVID-19 in the working environment like having face masks or having hydro-alcoholic disinfectants. COVID-19 has provided an opportunity for businesses to access the various structures that they can use to fully ensure that all employees remain working at their homes despite position in the workplace. It is a call to ensure inclusion in the workplace at the time of a health crisis.

Baert, et al, (2020), discusses the COVID-19 crisis and telework, a research study that tries to demonstrate various expectations, experiences, and hopes in a diverse working environment. The study looks at the future of digital conferencing and teleworking in the wake of a pandemic. Baert, et al, (2020), analyses how the experiences of teleworking and the resultant nature of the future are heterogeneous through job characteristics and personal factors. Baert, et al, (2020), a literal study contributes not only to the diversity of the working environment amid COVID-19 but also the general scientific understanding of teleworking.

The study by Baert, et al, (2020), attests the business environment foresee teleworking and digital engineering as the most common business practices in the future. The effects of this however are tied to past studies which suggest that teleworking leads to increased efficiency in the workplace and reduced levels of burnout. However, such a trend will harm equity in the workplace because this would affect promotions and sound relationships in the workplace. Although such findings are eminent in the event of a health crisis, Baert, et al, (2020), account that findings on burnout are however not accounted for in most literature studies and this presents an opportunity for future scientific studies. Major burnout studies have been found to focus on the traditional setting of the workplace but this provides a chance for studies to be extended into the interest of teleworking.

Teleworking in the business environment has seen a great surge in employees having to work from home. Employers and businesses must safeguard the interests of the employees with disabilities as a way to ensure inclusion and equity in the workplace. According to Crosgrove, Fink, Dillion, and Wedding, (2015), the Americans with Disabilities Acts concerning the ADA Act amendments, technological decisions, and Court decisions have all come together to work on a situation that, at the original passage of the ADA in 1990, which would have been virtually unrealistic, it allowed for all employees with disabilities to have legal requirements that they too are allowed to operate from their homes in the event of a health crisis.

Crosgrove, Fink, Dillion, and Wedding, (2015), account that age advancement in the working environment, and the increased networking abilities that link offices and homes, there is the surety in the increase of employees with disabilities teleworking. The COVID-19 pandemic being a major crisis that has seen teleworking being the new norm, many businesses that have employees with disabilities are therefore required to include them in their teleworking framework. The ADA acts provided the legal framework that allows people with disabilities to also have a chance to work from home as this will ensure equity in the workplace and the general inclusion. Crosgrove, Fink, Dillion, and Wedding, (2015), account that teleworking taking shape as the new norm in the working environment, every employer therefore ought to ensure that they engage all their employees regardless of their abilities and capabilities. Teleworking concerning the ADA acts is the framework that Crosgrove, Fink, Dillion, and Wedding, have presented in their study.

References

Belzunegui-Eraso, A., & Erro-Garcés, A. (2020). Teleworking in the Context of the Covid-19 Crisis. Sustainability, 12(9), 3662.

Baert, S., Lippens, L., Moens, E., Weytjens, J., & Sterkens, P. (2020). The COVID-19 crisis and telework: A research survey on experiences, expectations, and hopes.

Crosgrove, D. M., Fink, L. S., Dillion, A., & Wedding, D. K. (2015). The Americans With Disabilities Act, Telecommuting, and Reasonable Accommodations. Journal of Leadership, Accountability, and Ethics, 12(3), 42.

Hurbean, A. (2018). Home Work and Telework. Annales Universitatis Apulensis Series Jurisprudentia, 21, 117.