Being visible and top of mind has always been critical in optimizing your career opportunities. But, now, with a significant percentage of the workforce working remotely part or full time, does the old in-person playbook still work? Or are remote employees operating at a disadvantage to colleagues who are physically present in the workplace?
There’s good reason to believe the disadvantage can be significant.
Last year, the Society for Human Resource Management surveyed managers about remote work and whether it affected the way they perceive staffers. The findings:
· 42 percent of the respondents acknowledged they often forgot about remote workers when making assignments and they gave them to others
· 67 percent considered remote workers more easily replaceable than onsite workers
· 62 percent believed full-time remote work is detrimental to employees’ career objectives
· 72 percent said they would prefer all of their subordinates to be working in the office
Proximity bias does exist and, obviously, needs to be overcome. "[Hybrid work] seems like a nice potential for flexibility, but what we’ve seen is that there is often an emphasis on face time, even if you’re not necessarily more productive," says Gayle Kaufman, a professor of sociology at Davidson College.
Complexities Beyond the Numbers
To put this issue into perspective, it’s important to acknowledge several matters:
· Many self-promotion strategies essentially remain the same as they always were. But, for remote staffers, the execution steps are more challenging and require far more overt actions. Fortunately, digital technologies exist and provide an efficient delivery system.
· The challenge can vary for employees based upon their level of experience/seniority. Individuals who have been around for a while and are well known by their managers have an advantage, in theory at least, over their more junior co-workers.
· The employee cohort facing the biggest challenge is women and people of color, a group that was underrepresented pre-pandemic and prefers remote work post-pandemic. “It turned out that women’s comments were often ignored online for the same reasons they were often ignored in person,” says Deborah Tannen, professor of linguistics at Georgetown University.
Employees, of course, are not naïve. Whether on-site or remote, they certainly understand this new reality.
“There’s a certain group of younger workers who really value the connections and the individual one-on-one mentoring (at in-person settings),” observes Luke Pardue, an economist at Gusto. He adds that many younger workers in the financial sector, in particular, indicate they want to return to the office even if they have a chance to stay home.
Time to Get to Work
There are several simple steps remote workers can take to begin to level the playing field. Most are fairly well known: Follow up conference and Zoom calls with notes; include “always-happy-to-help-out” messages in your emails, text and Slack communications; don’t let an event pass by without getting involved; be visible on your remote days; speak up in the first 15 minutes of a meeting/call etc.
And, yes, be genuine in all of these activities.
More importantly (and impactful), however, are the initiatives that directly touch your supervisor. These tend to fall under and the umbrella category of be intentional and take charge of your relationship with your supervisor. It will help you to overcome the “proximity bias“ you are up against.
These strategies need to be implemented on a one-to-one basis … and, importantly, extend over and above your company-mandated performance reviews.
· Align with corporate/department goals. Time spent on activities that are inconsistent with business goals are the work equivalent of “empty calories.” Ensure your back-and-forth with your supervisors demonstrates that you understand the key objectives and how your role is contributing.
· Put efforts into revenue/profit context. It is important to understand how your role contributes to/assists the company’s financial performance. Junior-level employees, at first, are going to say they do not have an impact. But they do; everyone does. You just need to put some thought into it. It may be meeting deadlines or ordering supplies in bulk. It might be in achieving tasks that formerly required external help. Find the money connection and present your effort in a financial context.
· Originate ideas and initiatives. Yes, it’s a bit of an exaggeration, but nonetheless true: in-house workers can be “discovered” and they can play to a crowd (or individual). Remote workers need to be aggressors to get noticed. Offer creative ideas and performance-improving initiatives to your supervisor, and don’t be afraid to “go big” with your thinking. Your ideas and initiatives shouldn’t just be about day-to-day activities – include smart recommendations, questions and observations about your career path, too.
· Build a relationship, don’t just show up. Too often, individuals – especially younger ones – are unsure about how to behave in meetings (one-on-ones plus group) with superiors. This is especially true when being given an assignment. And, that’s a missed opportunity because it is a perfect time to ask questions and make suggestions that enable you to demonstrate your strengths.
· Communicate your goals and achievements. Don’t let your supervisor evaluate you based on her perceptions of what you’ve done and what you want to achieve. Set up a “goals-and-achievement” meeting – and come prepared with facts and examples. A couple of pages or slides to share isn’t overdoing it. And consider doing the meeting in person if that is an alternative. You can even consider sending your supervisor weekly updates of what you’ve been working on and, more importantly, what you’ve accomplished.
· Learn, learn, learn. Remember the on-the-job learning that was available in the office? Remember how your learned from a mentor or simply by observing others. You need to replicate some of the learning that was available in those opportunities. How? Online classes, conferences, smart/informed questions, presentation reviews, etc. And run all of this through your supervisor so she knows the effort you are putting into your development. You can also share some of these learnings electronically with others.
· Seek out “stretch” assignments. The best way to get recognized is to successfully perform above your title level. Good rule of thumb: compare the job description for your level with the level immediately above. Seek out – or, better yet, originate – assignments at the elevated level. These “stretch” assignments will differentiate you from your colleagues and, importantly, from the constraints of your current title.
But Mikaela Kiner, founder and CEO with uniquelyHR, cautions that simply doing more work is not stretching; “it’s just more work.” Instead, “it should enable you to grow in a new direction … and include skills you want to learn.”
· Put yourself “in play.” Plant some seeds. You (and your skills, experience and accomplishments) need to be top of mind for your supervisor. But your remote status can impede that process. Change the dynamic: regularly check in, ask who needs help, see what may be in the pipeline, etc. Share your enthusiasm and interest.
Remote work makes connecting with a supervisor more challenging for employees. But it doesn’t make it impossible. Employees working remotely – either by choice or not – need to consider this “supervisor-connection challenge” part of their ongoing job description and work additional strategies into their workday to-do lists.
