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Hybrid work has been touted as the best of both worlds, a compromise between managers clamoring to return to the office and workers unwilling to give up their newfound flexibility.
This is partly why the employment arrangement dominates among workers who can work from home. But there’s a flip side to this goldilocks solution, Darren Murph, head of remote control at software company GitLab, told NPR in a recent interview: “hybrid guilt.” That’s the feeling that occurs when remote workers think they need to come into the office, he says.
As companies increasingly implement hybrid policies, anxious workers have begun to assess what the new social norm is, wondering if they’re walking enough to the office or needing to show their face as much as their colleagues.
That’s because the amount of time hybrid workers spend in the office varies, a March Gallup survey found. Most said they would log in half of the time (38%), but 29% said they would log in “sometimes.”
Murph explains that the solution to this phenomenon is to fully invest in telecommuting or in-office work so that everyone has an equal opportunity in the workplace.
Our back-to-office discussion is too focused on location, he adds. It shouldn’t be about “where do people work,” but about “how does work happen?” he says.
Out of sight, out of mind
Murph finds a friend in like-minded Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman, who called hybrid work “hell of half measures” in an interview with The Washington Post. He said hybrid work lacks direction, leading some workers to commute to work in a nearly empty office. That’s why he made Yelp a completely remote company.
Studies have found that hybrid working is effective, with hybrid workers reporting higher levels of productivity and engagement than those who work entirely remotely or in-person. But research from 2015 found that remote workers don’t get promoted at nearly the same rate as their office counterparts, despite higher performance.
The discrepancy is the result of proximity bias in the workplace, where bosses tend to equate workers who are more visible to them as more successful. As the research shows, it’s been around for a while, but the pandemic brought it to a head.
This is particularly problematic for employees from marginalized groups, who are least likely to come into the office because they fear microaggressions. Early studies found that people of color and women were often happier working at home. A Future Forum study found that black workers in particular felt a greater sense of belonging and ability to manage stress when they started remotely.
But proximity biases leave their non-marginalized counterparts who enter the office with more favor, hindering DEI’s progress.
The majority of working women (94%) are nervous to even ask for more flexible work, fearing it will affect their chances of promotion, according to Deloitte’s Women @ Work 2022 report. And 60% of respondents are worried not to miss important meetings and less formal conversations when working on a hybrid schedule.
Because hybrid work risks making the workplace more unfair, it can be “the worst of both worlds,” Stoppelman says.
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