Remote workers are NPCs now?

Hi! I’m Peter, CEO of Kickresume, and these career-related stories caught my attention this month — and might catch yours too.

I've always been a huge fan of remote work. Hell, I encouraged it at my own company because it seemed like such an obvious win-win.

• They save money and time on commuting. 

• They make the same salary as their in-office counterparts. 

• They get to sleep in until 8:59 AM and still make their 9 AM standup. 

• They're just as productive as people sitting in office. 

• And they climb the corporate ladder just as fast as everyone else.

Everyone wins.

Turns out, I was only right about three of those things. The other two? Absolutely wrong. 

Can you guess which ones those are? (It’s like 2 truths and 1 lie, but with better odds.)

Your promotion is also remote

Because I know everyone's just dying to solve this thrilling game of mine, let me spare you the suspense.

The truth is, remote workers really do save time and money on commuting. They also do earn the same as office workers. And they can roll out of bed 5 minutes before work starts.

Now, about that productivity claim… Turns out remote workers aren't as productive as in-office workers. They are actually more productive.

And study after study backs this up. The percentages range anywhere from 13% to 40% higher output, depending on the research. But all agree on the basics.

So, logically, you'd expect that if remote workers are being more productive than their office counterparts, they'd obviously be getting promoted left and right, right?

Wrong.

According to an analysis of two million white-collar workers by Live Data Technologies, remote workers were promoted 31% less frequently than people who worked in an office.

And it's not just one isolated study. Researchers from Stanford a few years back found things were even worse: working from home reduced promotion rates by about 50%.

Fantastic, so remote workers do better work, but get fewer promotions. That’s completely logical.

And it almost looks like being productive isn't actually what gets you promoted.

So…what the hell is?

Pics or work didn’t happen

Turns out getting promoted has nothing to do with actual performance. 

It's all about being seen while you work, even if that work is pretty average.

(Not that this is exactly new…before it was just about who talked the loudest in meetings. Remote work just put a modern spin on an old problem.)

Nicholas Bloom, an economist at Stanford (the lead researcher of the study mentioned earlier, btw), has a term for this: proximity bias. Basically, managers unconsciously favor employees who are physically present in the office.

And it works on two levels.

There's the obvious part: out of sight, out of mind. If you're not physically there, you're not top of mind when opportunities come up.

But then there's also a more systematic problem. That Live Data Technologies research also found that remote workers get less mentorship and feedback. 

So they're not just missing out on opportunities, they're also getting less help to actually grow in their careers. Which obviously doesn't help their promotion chances either.

Now, Nick says this bias is unconscious, but it seems like it's really not that deep.

Nearly 90% of CEOs openly admit they’d rather promote an in-person employee over a remote worker.

But don't worry, corporate leaders have a solution. 

As the chair of PwC UK helpfully suggests: "If you're asking me my opinion on how you succeed in your career, I'd be in the office four to five days a week."

Ah yes, because that's totally the problem we need to solve.

Advice for the visibility-impaired

To me, the more obvious advice is to make yourself impossible to ignore if you want that promotion.

Become a bit of an oversharer about your work. Send those weekly updates nobody asked for, schedule regular one-on-ones with your manager, and maybe hop on a few more video calls than strictly necessary.

(I know, I know. It shouldn't be necessary. But it is what it is.)

That said, not everyone is dying to climb the corporate ladder anyway. If you're happy with your current remote role and paycheck, and you'd rather keep your flexible schedule than play visibility politics, more power to you.

And if you're a manager reading this, maybe ask yourself whether your remote workers are getting the same shot at opportunities as the people you see every day.

Made it all the way down here? That kind of dedication is exactly what we're looking for on our Kickresume subreddit.

If you join, you'll instantly get 15 days of Kickresume Premium free.

The promo code will be waiting in your welcome message.

Catch you later! 

Peter