Fair warning to all the hard-working remote workers (we include ourselves in that mix), this new set of remote work data might hurt a bit.
Driving the news: Workers who come into the office receive more mentoring, formal training, and professional development and learning than their remote counterparts, totalling about 25% more time in overall career development activities, per Bloomberg.
- In the office, workers devoted about 40 more minutes a week to mentoring others, 25 more in formal training, and 15 additional minutes to professional development.
Why it matters: Remote work has stuck around largely over worker demands for more flexibility in a tight labour market where they have plenty of options. But data on how it could hurt their career progression may give more leverage to employers trying to lure them back.
- Next month, RBC, one of Canada’s largest employers, will require over 85,000 workers to work in the office for three or four days a week, depending on their role.
- Banks are no doubt leading the charge: CEOs from JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley have also said young staff need to be on-site alongside their experienced colleagues.
Bottom line: What the data really supports is a hybrid arrangement that gives employees a few days a week to mentor and be mentored. Nearly half of workers who can work remotely already have such an arrangement, over a third are fully on-site, and 20% are fully remote.—SB