The COVID-19 pandemic has receded as a pressing public health concern, yet the prevalence of remote work remains steadfast. Surprisingly, a considerable 41% of American employees who possess the ability to work from home opt for this arrangement at least some days each week.
Among corporate leaders, opinions on the matter diverge, with many asserting that reduced time spent in the office leads to diminished collaboration, weaker interpersonal connections, and limited opportunities for learning and growth. This viewpoint, it seems, is not unfounded, as suggested by a recent study conducted by Harvard University.
Mixed Impact
According to the research, the advantages derived from teamwork and collaboration suffer when employees work remotely. Furthermore, the adverse impact of remote work appears to disproportionately affect younger employees, particularly women.
“We see that young workers learn more when they are working near their co-workers,” the researchers explain. “In our data, this leads to more promotions, pay raises, and top evaluations in the long run.”
The study, which was conducted on a cohort of software engineers employed by a prominent Fortune 500 company, sheds light on the impact of physical proximity on collaboration. The researchers examined the performance of engineers who worked in the same building as their entire team, comparing it to those who had geographically dispersed teammates.
The findings were striking: engineers situated in close physical proximity received a remarkable 23% more online feedback on their coding work compared to their counterparts with distant team members.
Reduced teamwork
Notably, young women displayed a particularly heightened tendency to seek further clarification and address specific challenges when working in person, demonstrating a keen ability to identify and address programming issues. However, this tendency to seek support is reduced significantly in remote work scenarios.
The consequences of reduced feedback and interaction were not insignificant. The study revealed that younger employees were more inclined to leave their positions in the absence of this valuable feedback loop.
The researchers observed that engineers under the age of 30 were five times more likely to resign when working remotely compared to their experiences when located in the same physical space as their colleagues before the pandemic. Additionally, female engineers were four times more likely to leave under such circumstances.
Starting careers
The authors highlight that this issue may be particularly acute for those commencing their careers in the present job market, underscoring the potential long-term implications of remote work on employee retention and professional development.
“The coders we study all started work before the pandemic, so they were able to form relationships in person before the offices closed,” the authors explain. “It may be even harder for workers who started jobs during the pandemic to collaborate with their teammates and ask their teammates for help.”
The study also identified a specific tradeoff, as onsite work reduced the coding output of senior engineers by over 20%. The authors suggest this could be because they had to spend more time providing feedback to more junior colleagues. As before, this phenomenon was greatest among women.
“Senior women give a lot more feedback to their younger colleagues when seated nearby, and they see a higher cost than men in terms of their own productivity,” the authors explain.
In other words, there appears to be a clear tension between short-term productivity of workers and the long-term personal development of younger employees. It’s a finding that the researchers suggest hints at a more hybrid compromise.
“If workers are coming into the office three days a week, young workers will be able to learn more if they are coming in on the same days as their coworkers than if they aren’t in the office at the same time,” they conclude.
