People who work from home all or part of the time are less likely to get pay rises and promotions, fresh academic research into hybrid working has suggested, with men more likely to be penalised.
A survey of 937 UK managers found that they were 11% less likely to promote staff who worked entirely from home than those who were completely office-based. Hybrid workers were on average 7% less likely to be promoted.
Managers were 9% less likely to give a pay rise to staff working entirely from home than to those who were completely office-based, and 7% less likely to give one to hybrid workers.
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The research also found a significant gender gap: managers were 15% less likely to promote men who worked entirely from home than those who were completely office-based, and 10% less likely to give a pay increase. The figures for women were 7% and 8%, respectively.
Researchers from the University of Warsaw carried out the research. They presented 937 managers employed in various businesses and industries within the UK with two profiles of hypothetical full-time staff members who worked either five days at the office a week, five days at home, or three days at the office and two at home. The managers then chose who they were likely to promote, and also who they would give pay rises.
Researcher Agnieszka Kasperska told the British Sociological Association’s online annual conference today (5 April) that her team’s findings “indicate that individuals working from home still encounter career penalties, irrespective of the widespread adoption of this mode of work.
“Both male and female remote workers experience career penalties, but they are substantially larger for men.”
They found that in organisations with very demanding work cultures, the managers were around 30% less likely to promote and 19% less likely to give a pay rise to men who worked entirely from home than to men who worked solely in the office. The figures for women were 15% and 19%, respectively. In organisations with more supportive environments, no penalty to staff for flexible working was found.
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“In more supportive organisations, where there is less pressure and long working days and where family-friendly policies exist, we don’t find such negative consequences of remote work,” Kasperska said.
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