• Understand how working remotely may affect professional growth for those early in their careers

Workplace Interactions and Career Development^[1]

While working remotely is not new, the COVID-19 pandemic caused many employers to embrace it while physical offices were closed. In 2019, before the pandemic, about 4 percent of employed people in the U.S. worked exclusively from home. By May 2020, that figure rose to 43 percent, an increase of approximately 50 million workers.^[2]

While working from home, many employees enjoyed benefits such as time and money saved from not commuting, more time to spend with family, wearing comfortable clothes, and being insulated from parts of office culture that you may have disliked. Many workers were reluctant to go back to working in an office five days a week.

Less Feedback and Mentorship in Remote Environments

For professionals at the beginning of their careers, there may be hidden benefits to working in an office environment with colleagues close by. Economists who studied engineers at a large Fortune 500 company found that remote work improved the productivity of senior engineers but it reduced the amount of feedback that junior engineers received.^[3] This finding could be interpreted as a trade-off between the senior workers being able to spend more time on their own work at the expense of mentoring more junior employees. For employers, this finding reinforces policies that require employees to spend at least part of their time in the office.

Costs and Benefits of Working Remotely

While working remotely gives workers immediate benefits such as convenience and added flexibility, being absent from an office environment may carry a career penalty in the long term. Women, less experienced workers, and people from historically minoritized backgrounds often lack the professional networks that being in an office can help build.^[4] These professional networks can be essential for advancing your career. So the price of working remotely, giving up the chance to build social capital and professional networks, may not be apparent until years later when disparities in pay and advancement become obvious.^[5]

Adjustments by Employers

Some employers have embraced a hybrid model of work, allowing employees to split time between working remotely from home and working at the office. However, the economists found that the benefits of in-person work were only realized when the entire team was physically together to collaborate.^[6] This presents a challenge for human resource professionals since flexible work arrangements can help recruit and retain employees but these arrangements may need to be accompanied by different professional development opportunities to compensate for decreased interaction among team members.

The next time you are job hunting, make sure to consider the intangible benefits of working in close proximity with your colleagues. If remote work still wins you over, you may need to make an extra effort to build your network and seek mentorship to advance in your career.

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