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Less than half of employers see remote work as a way to drive recruitment and retention, McKinsey research has found. But employees clearly think differently.
According to McKinsey and LeanIn.org’s Women in the Workplace 2023 Survey, both men and women name remote work and control over the timing of their work as two of their three most-valued benefits. (Healthcare was the No. 1 valued benefit for both genders.)
In the survey—which polled more than 27,000 employees at 276 organizations—78% of women said that remote work was among their top three most valued benefits, and 60% of men said the same.
There’s a “disconnect” between how employers and employees view remote work, Alexis Krivkovich, managing partner at McKinsey, told CFO Brew. Krivkovich is one of the founders of the Women in the Workplace Survey and an author of this year’s edition.
For instance, 86% of women and 80% men working remotely said it made them more productive, the survey found. But only half of HR leaders cite productivity as a benefit of remote work.
“Covid accelerated what technology has enabled, which was this massive cultural shift” towards remote and hybrid work, Krivkovich said. “And now what we’re seeing is men and women both really want to hold on to that flexibility as part of their future model.”
Employers, she said, need to recognize that “this is not just a women thing. This is not just a temporary thing. This is a permanent move in what talent wants to see.”
Remote work not seen as a barrier to career growth: Employees seem to feel the stigma against remote workers is fading. This year, 32% of women said they were confident they could succeed while working off-site, versus just 10% in 2021. At the same time, 27% of men saide the sam, compared with 12% in 2021.
“What it suggests underneath is [employees are] now decoupling” onsite presence from the way they “show ambition and commitment to career,” Krivkovich said.
Even so, inequalities still exist. For instance, men report benefiting more from returning to the office than women do. In the survey, men were more likely to say they found mentors and sponsors, stayed “in the know,” felt connected to their organizations’ missions, and got useful feedback when working onsite than women did.
Preventing modality bias: CFOs and HR professionals can help ensure a level playing field for employees regardless of which modality they work in. One way is to set official policies and create norms around hybrid work, something many companies are doing, Krivkovich said. “And that’s important because if you don’t set common norms, then you will see a difference in what people do and you will tend to over-reward traditional models,” she said.
A next step is to track personnel data around work modality, Krivkovich said, and ask such questions as “Do I see differences in performance reviews based on who comes in and who doesn’t?” and “Do I see differences in sponsorship and support levels?”
Companies can also ensure that managers get training on how to lead in a hybrid or remote environment, Krivokvich said. Many managers, she said, “describe not feeling well equipped to be doing what we asked the modern manager to do” such as “deliver difficult feedback remotely” and hold discussions on work-life balance and productivity.
“These are complex asks that most organizations will admit they’re only scratching the surface of upskilling their managers towards,” she said.