New data shows that people who log on from home five days a week get fewer promotions and less mentoring than people in the office

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.

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.

“There’s some proximity bias going on,” says Nick Bloom, an economist at Stanford University who studies remote work and management practices, of the challenges facing remote workers. “I literally call it discrimination.”

Non-paywall link

  • GlitzyArmrest@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    I literally don’t care about promotions at this point. I’d rather continue working from home, that benefit is way better than a promotion.

  • assembly@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    I am remote and happy. If I wanted a new job title or new/additional responsibilities I would just switch jobs as that is easier than pushing for a promotion whether or not I was in person or remote.

  • Klanky@sopuli.xyz
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    10 months ago

    Not all of us want promotions or ‘mentoring’. Some of us just want to do our job and log off with a minimum of crap.

    • QuarterSwede@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      But everyone wants more money and promotions/switching companies are the quickest way to that end. No one makes a ton by just doing their job.

      • Klanky@sopuli.xyz
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        10 months ago

        Fair point. To me my mental health is more important. I make enough for my needs and I am content, and I am very thankful for that and recognize how rare it is. I just love how these articles want to paint everyone with the same brush.

    • andrewta@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Boss: wish granted. Your required amount of work you must complete per day is a lot higher then it used to be, but you get to work from home.

  • FunkyMonk@kbin.social
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    10 months ago

    Huh I’ve heard my whole old ass life that in the capitalistic hellscape if you aren’t jumping ship for better conditions you aren’t a real worker. Nice Propaganda though SCAB.

  • renrenPDX@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Yeah no, “promotions” these days is just someone applying internally for a higher paying job.

  • RotaryKeyboard@lemmy.sdf.org
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    10 months ago

    Yep, just as I suspected. It’s the Wall Street Journal.

    The WSJ editors hate work from home. They hate it with a passion. Given the choice, I’m sure they would bump a story about the start of a new world war if they could publish something that says that working from home gives you ass cancer.

  • circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.org
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    10 months ago

    This smells pretty strongly of BS (and besides the fact it’s a WSJ article talking about worker wellbeing). Companies which are fully remote very likely show no such pattern.

    Companies which are not fully remote may be a different story. However, RTO mandates tend to be indicative of other things, like real estate obligations the company has for office space. Perhaps tax credits for having a downtown office. Middle management which knows it is less useful in a remote setting. Those are the topics I would expect to hear about, but instead what we get is: RTO is here, so deal with it, and here’s some fluff that should make you feel better.

    But the overarching message: in companies where there are remote workers and non-remote workers, the remotes get shafted by the non-remotes. And that isn’t surprising.