As we know, firms are struggling with bringing their employees back to work in the office, full-time. It is obvious why employees might not want to come back (I always heard that it is not 'working in the office' that is the problem, but the 'commute to the office' they do not like), but what are the consequences?
For the organization, I have to believe at some level there is a reduction in productivity. I know there were reports, early in the lockdown, about how the productivity of teams actually increased when they went remote, but my sense is that this is research based on teams that formed their culture in-person, prior to the pandemic, and then moved online (thus reducing the inefficiency of commutes). Now that organizations are starting to form teams from scratch remotely, I have to think that is a more challenging task.
For the individuals, though, I also always thought that being away from the office would likely exclude them from much of the serendipity that characterizes human interaction and career success. The article in the url below confirms this thought by finding that people who work remotely full-time (5 days a week) are less likely to receive promotions and mentoring than those that come into the office, for at least for part of the week:
"For a while, remote workers seemed to have it all: elastic waistbands, no commute, better concentration and the ability to pop in laundry loads between calls. New data, though, shows fully remote workers are falling behind in one of the most-prized and important aspects of a career: getting promoted."
Specifically:
"Over the past year, remote workers were promoted 31% less frequently than people who worked in an office, either full-time or on a hybrid basis, according to an analysis of two million white-collar workers by employment-data provider Live Data Technologies. Remote workers also get less mentorship, a gap that's especially pronounced for women, research shows. Of employees working full time in an office or on a hybrid basis, 5.6% received promotions at their organization in 2023, according to Live Data Technologies, versus 3.9% of those who worked remotely."
And, although the article doesn't cover this directly, it is also likely true that the more someone is in person, the more of these 'benefits' they will likely experience. In terms of fully remote work, however, I was surprised by how prevalent that option appears to be:
"While many workplaces have adopted hybrid policies or reverted to a fully in-person approach, nearly 20% of all employees with college degrees or higher still work on a fully remote basis, according to December data from the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics."
What is ironic is that the same survey reports that remote workers feel more engaged and less burned-out than their in-person colleagues. But, this is either not translating into productivity (perceived or otherwise) or is something executives feel less concerned about, since they are increasingly become more assertive (and honest) in the reality of the workplace as they see it:
"Nearly 90% of chief executives who were surveyed said that when it comes to favorable assignments, raises or promotions, they are more likely to reward employees who make an effort to come to the office."
Perhaps unsurprisingly, there is a generational element to this discussion, as one of the accompanying charts in the article suggests:
How to manage this issue is clearly going to be something that companies will wrestle with, for a while. Given this, the amount of apparent consensus there is on longer term projections is surprising:
"In the online survey of 1,325 CEOs of large companies in 11 countries, conducted last year by professional-services firm KPMG, almost two-thirds of respondents said they expect most employees will be working in offices full-time in another three years."
Take care
David
David Chandler
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Remote Workers Are Losing Out on Promotions
By Te-Ping Chen
January 13, 2024
The Wall Street Journal
Late Edition – Final
B1, B5
