Equity Now

Findings

01 Housing Equality is Imperative

• Ensuring all housing is adequate in quality and size ensures the safety of the population as a whole.

  • Everyone should have a home

  • All homes should achieve current code minimums

    • During the shelter-in-place phase, the state of your home becomes even more important. Codes should be revised considering the bare minimums, to enable people to shelter-in-place

    • The larger the Square Foot per Person in the home, the greater the probability inhabitants will adhere appropriately to shelter-in-place guidelines.

  • Homes should have dedicated outdoor areas

    • During the shelter-in-place phase and subsequent phases, outdoors spaces are important for individuals and groups alike

    • Inhabitants sharing a small apartment with multiple generations will likely look for mental-health relief outside of the home

    • Access to Green Space, both personal and public is important for mental health and promoting of adhering to shelter-in-place guidelines.

02 Access to Childcare is imperative

• When social distancing causes schools to close and work must continue, childcare is required. Child Care in the home will fall to the care-giver allowing the most flexibility to work remotely.
  NBER WORKING PAPER SERIES THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON GENDER EQUALITY Titan M. Alon Matthias Doepke Jane Olmstead-Rumsey Michèle

  • Many childcare institutions are suffering and may not recover

    • This will make it more difficult to find quality daycare post-pandemic

      • Ripple effects on the workforce (i.e. some may not be able to go back to work)

      • Ripple effects on child development (i.e. some may be forced to utilize sub-par childcare at the expense of children

  • Childcare should be considered an ‘essential’ service

    • Exhaustive safety guidelines required

  • Childcare provided by employers / offices /etc

    • As part of the “re-opening” phases, in the case of lack of childcare availability

  • Child Care subsidy should be provided

    • In the case of school closures, in order to allow employees (Especially those with essential or non-telecommute work) to continue to work, childcare costs should be subsidized

      • This is especially true in single parent households

  • People may re-initiate multigenerational living so family members can care for eachother

    • Impacts on the LIVE typology

03 Access to Technology is imperative.

• Technology plays a vital role in “staying connected” during the initial stages of pandemic.

• Learning/Work institutions should provide required technology to all students as part of their enrollment

  • internet /computers/etc

04 Housing Fluidity is Imperative

• Homes allowing the seamless blending of work/learn/live are essential during early pandemic stages

  • Homes should allow for flexibility to become Work/Learn environments

    • Homes should have ample varying spaces to allow for closing off of areas for private work/learn/etc

      • “The Dining Room Table” concept: dining room table is not *just* for dining, but oftentimes becomes office desk / school room /etc.

  • Rooms should provide adequate sound privacy to allow for varying degree of activity levels within the home

    • Taking private calls whilst other family members take a zoom class/participate in group video class/children play/etc.

    • The availability of headsets with microphone enabled devices should be expanded.

  • Homes should have safe, dedicated areas to transition in and out of PPE and clothing/shoes etc

    • Personal protective outfits. Transition spaces are essential for Healthcare workers and workers in highly social environments like warehouse / production plants / educational buildings /hospitals etc

05 Educational Fluidity is imperative

• It begins with the perfection of personal protection, it needs to be comfortable, integrating various devices into a single outfit, and it needs to reflect personal style.

  • PPE must be comfortable and affordable.

  • PPE must be tested and minimum quality/performance must be set.

• In order to allow for varying life/societal/financial/health/ etc situations to prosper during pandemic, Learn spaces must allow for flexibility where possible.

  • University campus living/e-learning should remain flexible

    • University students of varying socioeconomic status may choose to either stay home to isolate and remote-learn OR may find it more beneficial to live on campus and e-learn, depending on what the ‘home life’ is like

    • Students have an option of a gap year or to defer a program

    • High risk faculty and employees offered extended opportunity to work remote

  • High School E-learning classes need to be flexible to allow for varying degree of home-schooling

    • Option to participate in pre-recorded classes to be “taken” when convenient

      • High school students may be taking care of younger siblings, making daytime e-learning challenging

  • Elementary Schools should have flexible learning spaces in order to accommodate social distancing in the classroom

    • The pandemic's impact on education – Harvard Gazette notes schools with back-up plans will be in much better shape. The article also talks about “the opportunity of a crisis” to think out of the box with regards to our education system.

    • Paradigm shift in “classroom” learning. Class meet in *other than* school-rooms: outdoor spaces/on site learning/ etc

    • To allow for smaller class sizes, more school “rooms” will be needed.

      • With office workers not utilizing office space, can office space become school space?

      • Classes can meet *on site* at locations relevant to learning topics

        • Traveling school rooms is the ultimate fluidity

06 Workplace Fluidity is imperative

• PPE available for every worker is imperative, especially those in “essential” work and non-telecommute work.

  • PPE must be comfortable and affordable

  • PPE must be tested and minimum quality/performance must be set

• Changing space should be allocated and devoted to transitioning into work/PPE gear

  • Especially for those in highly social work who are not able to work from home

    • Healthcare, delivery, factory workers and others with high contact with the public or fellow workers should feel safe.

  • Work environments must allow for flexibility where possible

    • Flexible schedule

      • In order to allow for varying life/societal/financial/health/etc situations to prosper during pandemic. As noted in THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON GENDER EQUALITY, unprecedented times affect women more negatively.

      • To allow for varying home-life: work is not “just” 9-5

        • The end of the “40-hour week”

          • tasks/goal oriented “work”

        • Flexibility allowed by technology (see #3)

• Flexible Location (in office / Work From Home)

  • To allow varying health/home/etc demands to prosper equally

07 Entities who embrace Diversity & Inclusion will Thrive during Pandemic

• According to 5 Ways Diversity And Inclusion Help Companies Before, During And After The Pandemic, having a mindset of inclusivity and none-rigidity will facilitate behavioral/culture shifts necessary between Pandemics

  • Organizations accustomed to remote work will have greater successes. Employees who have a strong sense of affinity with their employer and its leadership are much more likely to be able to weather the storm. Those organizations will have greater resilience

  • Organizations that created and maintained an inclusive environment will have forged strong bonds with their employees and created a sense of loyalty that is likely to translate to low turnover, this benefiting from a faster post-pandemic recovery.

  • Organizations that have already embraced diversity and inclusion will be ahead of the competition as they will be able to attract talent from a wider talent pool, and in so doing they will reduce their hiring costs, shorten their hiring cycles, and potentially increase the average quality of their new employees.