Summary: Remote work inclusivity doesn’t happen automatically. This article shares practical ways to spot where your team might be unintentionally excluding people and how small shifts, like using async video instead of live meetings, can help quieter or neurodivergent teammates contribute more without process overhauls.

When it comes to remote work, many distributed teams make the fatal error of assuming inclusion is baked into the work model. After all, if everyone can work from home on their own schedules, isn’t that already an equal playing field?

Not exactly. While 70% of companies understand that remote work is more inclusive than traditional models, far fewer recognize that distributed work doesn’t automatically equal distributed voice. In fact, it can quietly reinforce the same old in-office dynamics where the loudest voices lead, the fastest thinkers win, and the same few people always speak up—while introverts, non-native English speakers, and neurodiverse teammates get left out of the conversation.

The absence of a shared space doesn’t automatically create equity. It just hides the gaps better.

If you want to build a culture where everyone contributes, you have to design it intentionally. The effort can be well worth it; research shows that inclusive teams make better business decisions up to 87% of the time. Let’s talk about how to engage remote employees in an inclusive way.

What does remote work inclusivity really mean?

It’s not enough just to hire for diversity or allow for flexible working hours. These are important components, of course, but true remote work inclusivity goes beyond who’s on your team and when they work. It also focuses on how your communication norms allow them to show up.

Inclusivity for a distributed team means creating a culture where people with different communication styles, cognitive abilities, and levels of social comfort can participate meaningfully without having to mask, overcompensate, or burn out just to keep up. When you create an inclusive atmosphere, your distributed team can be up to 35% more productive. 

Here’s what effective remote inclusion can look like:

• Recognizing that live meetings aren’t ideal for everyone. Someone with social anxiety may freeze up when put on the spot, while someone with ADHD or autism might find the stimulation overwhelming.

• Acknowledging that long Slack threads and detailed emails aren’t always the most inclusive medium. Some teammates struggle to express themselves clearly in writing.

• Lowering the real-time pressure and providing options for quiet processors, slow responders, and deep thinkers.

Inclusive remote teams foster a sense of belonging by normalizing flexibility upfront, rather than waiting for people to request accommodations. Asynchronous tools for remote work, like Marco Polo Pro, are powerful means to this end. 

They remove barriers like speed, availability, extroversion, and the pressure to perform in real time without the stress of hand-raising or waiting your turn. Team members can express their ideas with the tone, context, and clarity on their terms and show up more fully each day.

Find out where your distributed team has inclusivity breakdowns

A McKinsey survey found that only 55% of employees feel included at work, and 39% have turned down a job because they didn’t feel like they’d belong.

Most distributed teams aren’t trying to exclude people, but inclusion gaps still happen. And when they do, they’re usually quiet, manifesting as silence, missed input, or people checking out instead of speaking up. 

That’s why the first step to building a more inclusive remote team is to spot the patterns that might be leaving people out, especially the subtle ones.

Here are three common breakdowns to look for and what to do about them.

Problem #1: The same people talk in every meeting

Every company has a handful of people who unmute fast, speak confidently, and often lead the conversation. But if you're always hearing from the same voices, you're missing out on the varied perspectives your team needs. Live meetings tend to reward fast processors and extroverts, which means quieter, less fluent, or more reflective team members may never get a word in.

Follow these steps to find out if this might be the case for your team:

1. Review a few meeting recordings or transcripts. Make a note of who speaks up and how many people stay quiet. The goal isn’t to monitor or punish non-participation but to measure asynchronous participation against live meetings and learn which method yields better outcomes for your team. 

2. Replace your next update meeting with a Marco Polo thread. Give everyone a 24-hour window to respond on their own time. 

3. Compare the results of previous meetings to your async thread. You’ll likely hear from people who’ve never felt comfortable jumping in live.

Problem #2: Decisions are made in side chats or private groups

It’s easy to think you’re being efficient when hashing things out in a quick DM or leadership text thread, but when decisions skip the broader team, inclusion takes a hit. People who weren’t “in the room” may feel left out, caught off guard, or like their input never had a chance to count.

Here are a few ways you can quickly and painlessly pivot decision-making to include more teammates:

• Set a team norm of no side threads for decisions: Establish a cultural norm that DMs are for clarity, while decisions are for the group. This reduces exclusion, removes confusion, and builds team trust.

• Use async threads for pre-decision input: Before finalizing a direction, use Marco Polo to request input asynchronously, saying, “We’re leaning toward launching Feature A next—any thoughts or flags? Drop them here by Friday.” Give people time to reflect and respond, so everyone has a chance to influence decisions, regardless of their time zone, seniority, or personality.

• Summarize decisions and tag for visibility: Even when a decision must be made quickly, follow up in a visible space: “Heads up: We decided to move forward with X. Here’s why. If you have concerns or ideas for rollout, reply in this thread.” That way, people still feel informed and invited to participate after the fact.

Problem #3: Junior or quieter team members don't speak up

When you ask for instant responses in a live setting, you’re unintentionally favoring the most senior and comfortable voices in the room. As a result, the early-career teammates and quieter contributors may stay quiet—not because they don’t care, but because they need a different pace to participate.

Instead of asking for input live, try:
Rotating who speaks first in live settings. Switch up the order or give junior team members the option to lead conversations without the pressure.

Normalize recording over performing. Encourage short Marco Polo or voice replies where people can pause, think, and redo if needed. This is especially helpful for newer or nervous team members.

Ask for feedback anonymously. Use occasional anonymous surveys or async check-ins to capture input from those who may not speak up otherwise.

Audit your communication habits for accessibility and bias

In distributed teams, it’s easy to assume everyone has an equal voice. But when you look closely, you may find patterns that favor certain people, while others get filtered out.

If you want to identify bias issues, start with a weekly communication audit where a team lead takes 15 minutes to examine a meeting recording, Slack decision thread, or async project update, looking closely at:

• Who gets the floor in meetings? Are the same people always leading the conversation? Whose voice is missing?

• Whose messages get responses? Do ideas from junior team members sit unanswered while leadership comments get instant traction?

• Whose input turns into action? Are decisions consistently shaped by the same few people, while others’ feedback fades out?

Combine this audit with an async check-in ritual where, each week, everyone responds to the same 30-second Marco Polo prompt. Something like:

• “What’s something that energized you this week?”

• “What’s one thing we could be doing better as a team?”

• “What’s a blocker or an idea we haven’t talked about yet?”

You’ll surface more diverse ideas that never make it into live calls and give people space to express themselves in the format that feels most natural to them. You can also catch and correct patterns before they become blind spots.

Normalize flexible participation across all platforms

Remote work inclusivity means giving people options. Not everyone thinks best on their feet, writes clearly under pressure, or has the same energy or environment at 9 a.m. on a Monday. If your team can only contribute by speaking up in a live meeting or writing polished Slack replies, you might be suppressing participation. That’s why inclusive teams normalize flexibility. 

Start offering multiple ways to contribute to key conversations, allowing:

• Written responses for the thinkers

• Voice notes for the talkers

• Short, async video updates for people who want to show tone, expression, and intent

For example, instead of running a Monday morning standup live on Zoom, kick off a Marco Polo thread where everyone shares their top priority for the week by noon their time. This leaves more room for authentic participation.

Encourage team leads to model this first. If leaders are showing up via async video, giving space for different formats, and slowing down to listen, the rest of the team will follow, and you’ll slowly build a healthier remote culture where more people are empowered to show up.

Design inclusive rituals without the forced fun

For the neurodivergent teammate who dreads awkward small talk or the introvert who just survived back-to-back meetings, “mandatory virtual happy hour” or other forms of forced fun can be a nightmare.

Replace these activities with low-pressure, inclusive opt-in rituals that make space for people to participate in virtual team building naturally without the pressure to be loud or social.

Try one or more of these with your team:

• Add a “This Made Me Smile” channel where people can post anything from dog photos to a funny meme to a quiet morning view

• Start a monthly intro thread where new team members record a short async video answering low-stakes prompts like:

  • What’s a small habit you swear by?

  • Share something in your space that makes you happy

  • What’s a go-to comfort show, snack, or song?

• Create a “Tuesday Tips” Marco Polo thread where teammates share a small professional tip that helped them succeed that week

These rituals don’t require performance or perfect timing. They invite people to contribute on their terms without draining energy or adding to calendar chaos.

How Marco Polo Pro helps you build an inclusive remote culture

By now, you should recognize that real-time communication channels often lack nuance and can leave people out. Marco Polo Pro is designed to make space for the rest of your team. It gives:

• Introverts time to process before sharing

• Caregivers the flexibility to respond after their household calms down

• Those in different time zones the ability to stay updated without staying up late or getting up early

• Neurodivergent teammates the chance to rehearse, reflect, and express ideas with full context and tone

This intentional communication can help your team work better. According to the Harvard Business Review, inclusive teams are twice as likely to understand customer needs and drive higher satisfaction. When everyone can contribute meaningfully, your team becomes more in sync with the people you serve.

Here’s how teams use Marco Polo to make inclusion part of the workflow:

• Share weekly leadership updates via async video, so no one has to catch a live meeting or decode a long email.

• Start story threads like “What motivates you to do your best work?” to surface deeper input from the whole team.

• Run cross-functional check-ins without forcing everyone onto a Zoom call at the same time.

With Marco Polo, you give people more ways to connect without disrupting their workflow. That’s ultimately what remote work inclusivity looks like in real life: flexible, thoughtful, and built into how your team already works.

Three things you can try this week to make your distributed team more inclusive

Replace one live meetin with an async Marco Polo check-in

Pick one recurring meeting (e.g., standup, update, retro) and replace it with a Polo thread. Give your team 24 hours to respond to a simple prompt like, “What’s one thing we could do better as a team?” It lowers the pressure and raises participation among all who work from home.

Ask your team how they prefer to give and receive feedback

Some people think best out loud. Others need time to gather their thoughts. Start a quick poll or async round asking: “What’s your ideal way to share feedback—text, video, voice, or something else?” Use that insight to flex your approach going forward.

Launch a recurring recognition thread

Recognition hits harder when it’s timely, personal, and peer-driven. Start a weekly shoutout thread where anyone can drop a Polo or message to celebrate a teammate’s big win or small moment. 

Final thought: inclusive teams are built on better habits, little by little

You don’t need to overhaul your workflows to foster remote workforce inclusivity. You just need to tweak your communication habits little by little.

Give people more ways to share. Create space for quiet voices. Swap a meeting for an async check-in. And keep asking, “Who might this format leave out?”

When you build with intention, flexibility, and a willingness to do a little better each day, inclusion becomes part of how your team works, not an extra thing to think about.

Key takeaways

• Remote work doesn’t guarantee inclusivity. Without intentional systems, the same loud, fast, or fluent voices often dominate, while others are left out.

• Live meetings and written threads can create barriers. Async video tools like Marco Polo give people the space, time, and tone to express themselves clearly and comfortably.

• Inclusion gaps are often invisible. Look for patterns in who speaks, who gets heard, and whose ideas are acted on.

• Weekly communication audits can uncover bias. A 15-minute review of team interactions can highlight gaps and prompt simple, real-time adjustments.

• Flexible participation is key. Let team members contribute via video, text, or voice—whatever works best for them.

• Inclusion is built into how your team communicates every day. When your systems are more inclusive, your team becomes more engaged and connected.