Remote work – is it working for you?

Note: I'm the vice president of IABC Los Angeles (IABCLA), and I often post news of chapter happenings. Below is the second of two recent pieces Deborah Hudson, my fellow board member, wrote for our group’s website. She discusses the impact of remote or “hybrid” work.

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By Deborah Hudson, ABC
IABCLA Vice President, Member Retention; Past President

Remote or “hybrid” work seems is the new normal. But not only have locations changed, but opportunities are changing, too.

Around 10,000 employees at Google recently applied to work remotely or transfer to a different location. The real estate platform Zillow says more women have applied for the company’s jobs since it announced a year ago that most of its 5,900 employees could work from home permanently. The software company Slack, which also offered permanent remote positions last year, said that among recent hires the number of minority workers was 50 percent higher for those who planned to work primarily from home than for those who preferred the office. 

As remote work opens some doors, it seems to be introducing new barriers. In one experiment, Stanford University researchers randomly assigned workers at a large travel agency in Shanghai to work remotely or in the office for nine months. The remote workers were 13% more productive, but they were promoted about half as often as their in-office peers.

Why? According to new Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) surveys of both employers and remote workers, 42% of supervisors say they sometimes forget about their remote employees when they are assigning tasks. Being overlooked for opportunities for professional development within their company is also concern for remote workers, and losing these opportunities could affect their careers. 

What’s your experience? Are you working remote or hybrid? How are you and your company managing the issues of visibility and all that comes with it? What organizations are managing this innovatively? What are you doing to keep your career moving forward? 

Let’s share.