Will you pay the price for working from home?
Some fear not being seen might eat into crucial workplace opportunities
In the anticipated and evolving new world of hybrid models, will workers pay a price for not being seen at the office?
Some worry that if they aren’t spotted in the hallways on the daily they might experience diminished esteem, mentorship or promotion opportunities.
Before the pandemic, sociologists documented the bias toward workers who use flexible arrangements. While the pandemic might have neutralized that, concerns about visibility threaten lasting change. Why is visibility so important? With the help of the Angus Reid Forum, we surveyed thousands of Canadians during the pandemic and recently conducted followup interviews to answer this question.
Trust is a dominant reason. Some managers perceive that those working remotely aren’t actually working — or at least that’s what some employees think.
“They have this idea that if they can’t see you working, then you’re probably not working,” explained a 39-year-old policy analyst. “That’s being driven from a top-down attitude and managers who don’t know how to digitally manage people well. There’s insecurity. It’s a trust issue.”
Trust matters, but status — one’s social standing relative to others — is another powerful dynamic. The higher-ups in the authority structure exchange status when they interact with each other, their employees and their clients.
“Your workplace is only as good as your direct report,” said a 39-year-old policy analyst. If they value visibility, “then you need to play the game … give them what they need in the relationship or else you’ll get overlooked for projects or not be developed or supported.”
Status blends authority and control. “He likes seeing people in the office, to be able to walk over to confirm we’re working,” said a 38-year-old communications professional about her manager. “He walks by to see what’s on our monitors … like we’re playing Candy Crush or something.”
“I had this director,” said a 28year-old policy analyst, “every meeting you would come into the board room, and he’s always the first person in the meeting, sitting at the head of the table. Everyone files in and sits on their respective sides. You lose that in a virtual environment. Directors and managers lose that ability to set the tone, control the meeting — even through body language, through where people are sitting.”
In the virtual world, “we’ve moved to videos on all the time,” he adds. “It’s an attempt to get some of that status structure back into meetings.”
Other status perks might also be threatened in some hybrid models. Reflecting on the perspective of upper management, a 53-year-old financial services strategist said: “If I can’t sit in my special office on the sixth floor that has a controlled entry, that takes away part of the prestige. You’ve crawled up the corporate ladder to get controlled access to the sixth floor.”
Status flows through visibility, sometimes at the extreme. “Some want to be on-site 24/7,” said a 64-year-old communications strategist, referring to executives.
“They would change their mailing address to work if they could because that’s where they get their self-importance and self-worth.”
Clients have status needs, too. “If certain ‘biggies’ are very into physical presence,” says a 46year-old director of strategies, “we must showcase ourselves, present ourselves in an office. It assures clients that we’re there to provide quality service and we have an army to serve them.”
So, will employees who aren’t as visible be penalized?
“Maybe,” speculated a 35year-old fundraising manager, “but it wouldn’t be overt. Because you want to be, you have to be seen as a team player to get promoted. And leadership defines how you’d be seen as a team player.
“If they place great value on physical presence in an office, then that’d be one of the criteria you’d be judged on.”
Visibility “is what senior people value, and they’ll see people in the office (and say), ‘Yes this person, not this one,’ ” said the financial services strategist, referring to unequal advancement opportunities. “Some senior people have been successful by being face-to-face. So, they believe that’s the way to run a successful company … face-to-face collisions in the hallway are critical.”
“It’s the, ‘Hi, how are you — handshake — let me pop in your office for a seco0nd’ model,” he adds.
Employees’ preferences are rightly shaping deliberations about the “best” hybrid model. But someone else is on the other end of the see-saw. Recognizing the significance of status — and its link to on-site visibility — might foster understanding of the resistance to remote work.
Perhaps Zoom could help by adding a handshake symbol alongside the clap and thumbsup in the “reaction” menu.