Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Working Conversations podcast, where we talk all things leadership, business, communication, and trends in organizational life. I'm your host, Dr. Janel Anderson.

Remote work, hybrid work, we've been talking about these topics nonstop for the past few years, but have we really stopped to think about what these changes mean for women's careers?

Today, we're taking a closer look at how this shift in how we work is affecting women, and not just on the surface level. On one hand, remote work seems like it could be the perfect solution for those juggling work and family. But on the other hand, women are being sidelined in a world that still values FaceTime with the boss over actual work. It's not as clear cut as it seems.

In this episode, we'll explore whether remote and hybrid work is a blessing, a curse, or something in between for women in the workplace. Let's dive in.

Alright, let's start with the obvious benefit of remote work--flexibility. For years, women, especially working mothers, have been asking for more flexible work arrangements, and now suddenly, many companies have embraced it. It feels like a win, right? Well, in fact, research backs that up. According to McKinsey's 2023 report, women in the workplace, women are more satisfied with remote work than men. Citing better work. Life balance is a major benefit. Now, for a lot of women, being able to work from home means being able to manage their careers without sacrificing family time, and that's huge. But here's where things get tricky.

This flexibility might come with a hidden cost. There's something called proximity bias that we need to talk about now. In this context, it's the idea that people who work in the office are viewed with a positive bias and are more likely to get promoted simply because they're seen more often by leadership. And guess what? Many women, especially mothers, are more likely to choose remote work over in office days, which could be putting them at a disadvantage when it comes to career advancement.

Now, I talked about proximity bias a bit back in episode 145, the do's and don'ts for performance reviews, discussing how managers might inadvertently give those that they see regularly slightly higher raises compared to people who are not in the office very often, or slightly higher performance evaluations, again, compared to those that they don't see very often, and the cascading career advancement and pay increases that come from that compound over time and can add to huge losses for those who are overlooked as a result of proximity bias.

While, on the other hand, turning into huge wins for those who are in the office more and are the benefactors of proximity bias. Now, furthermore, a study by LinkedIn.org found that men are being promoted at high rates than women, and that gap is even wider in the hybrid work environment. So while women might be enjoying the flexibility, it's possible that their careers are taking a hit.

Now, there's another piece that we need to talk about, and that is the second shift. Now, as we talk about that second shift, I don't mean working a second paying job or somebody who's doing legitimate shift work. I'm talking about the unpaid work that women tend to do at home. Even in a remote setting, women are still handling the bulk of the household responsibilities, sometimes even more so, especially if their spouse or partner is working in an office and the woman is working from home.

Now, during the pandemic, the Boston consulting group found that women spent an average of 15 more hours per week on domestic tasks than men. 15. That's 3 hours per business day. My friends, if we're breaking it down to business days now, I know some of those hours happen on the weekends.

But 15 hours and while being home more might make it easier to throw in a load of laundry between meetings or empty the dishwasher, it can also make it harder to draw boundaries between work life and home life.

A Deloitte study of 400 women in nine countries concluded, “For many working women, the pandemic is upending their work life balance and affecting their physical and mental health, and some are even questioning their current and long term career prospects.”

Yes, not having to commute gives women a bit more time in the day. However, according to that same Deloitte study, 65% of women had more responsibility for household chores than their male counterparts. 46% reported feeling a need to always be available from a work perspective, and that's in addition to their home life, and 27% have less time to prioritize their own health and well being. Now, as you can see, this blurring of boundaries affects focus, productivity, and even mental health.

A survey from Catalyst showed that 41% of women felt that remote work blurred their work life boundaries, compared to only 33% of men reporting the same thing. Now, if you're spending your energy managing both your professional duties and your household duties at the same time, it's going to be hard to find the space to focus on networking or going after that promotion.

And with a particularly busy family underfoot, it can be hard to even find the headspace to give your paid job the focus and attention that you're capable of and that it deserves. So while remote work might make it easier to balance career and family on the surface, it's also contributing to burnout and limiting the time that women can invest in advancing their careers and in taking care of themselves.

Now, hybrid work and remote work is often touted as being more equitable for women. But let's dig into that a little bit more. It seems like the best of both worlds. A few days in the office, a few days at home, perfect balance, specifically with hybrid work. But here's the catch. Not all hybrid models are created equal.

There's evidence that hybrid work can actually deepen gender inequality. Why? Well, when an organization affords choice over where to work, women are more likely to choose remote work for family reasons, while men might opt to go into the office more often for career advancement and networking reasons. And that plays right back into the proximity bias that we talked about earlier.

Men in the office are more likely to be noticed, while women working from home might miss out on those informal chats, networking opportunities and mentorship even now, even before the pandemic, this was an issue. Women earn less than men, often face discrimination, especially during and after pregnancy, and are less likely to be in senior leadership positions than their male counterparts with the same education and years of experience. And in many ways, the pandemic made all of that worse.

A 2022 study from work from home research found that 67% of men are returning to the office more frequently than women. Now this trend has continued, and it means that women are once again missing out on those career advancement opportunities simply because they aren't as visible.

So what's the solution? Companies need to be intentional about ensuring remote, and hybrid workers, especially women, are getting the same opportunities for advancement. Structured performance reviews like I talked about in that other episode, remote friendly networking opportunities and making sure that high impact projects are distributed equitably are all steps in the right direction.

Now just as a family now just as a friendly reminder, and for those who've been long time listeners, you've heard me say this many times in the past, but be sure to be as visible as possible when working from home. Have your camera on in your online meetings. Be sure your background is professional or blurred, and that your lighting works to light up your face so that you're seen and remembered. And then, of course, make sure to speak up and be a positive contribution in those same online and hybrid meetings.

Now, I talked more specifically about tactics for your visibility, both when working from home and when in the office. Back in episode 71 and we'll link that episode up in the show notes in case you need a refresher or in case you never caught that episode.

Now let's look at this inequality issue from a different angle. What if remote work or hybrid work was a solution for workplace inequality? Because I don't want to paint an entirely negative picture here. Remote work does have the potential to do a lot of good when it comes to gender equity in the workplace, but only if and when we do it right.

One huge benefit of remote work is that it opens up opportunities that were once location bound. You needed to move to Boston for that job. Women who might not have had access to certain roles due to geography are now competing for roles all over the world, and that is democratizing access to opportunities in a huge way. And some industries, particularly in tech companies, are starting to use remote work as a way to attract and retain more diverse talent, including women. GitLab, for example, has embraced remote work as a core part of their culture, and they've cited it as a factor in improving gender diversity at all levels of the organization.

So, yes, remote work can be part of the solution, but only if we're mindful about creating an inclusive, equitable environment that really doesn't leave anyone behind. Now, where does all of this leave us? Well, remote and hybrid work are here to stay, at least in some fashion, and at least for the next couple of years at least. Tides are turning, and I could look into my crystal ball and tell you where we're going, but I don't know if my crystal ball is quite that accurate. But for now, remote work and hybrid work are here, and for many women, they have provided a much needed chance and flexibility. But that flexibility, my friends, cannot come at the expense of career advancement.

We need to address those hidden costs, whether it's proximity bias, the second shift at home, or missing out on networking and mentoring opportunities by not being in the office more frequently. Now, for employers, and for those of you listening who manage and supervise the work of women, the challenge is to create a hybrid and remote work model that doesn't disadvantage women. That means being intentional about visibility, the promotion process, and making sure that everyone has access to the same opportunities, including mentorship and informal conversations, regardless of where they're working.

Now, if you're a woman listening to this, I have some specific advice for you. You need to be proactive now. If you want to manage the balance between your career and your family and you don't care about career advancement, you're fine where you are for the rest of forever, then you know you can tune out right now, but for those of you who do want career advancement, whether that be salary increases over time, increasing responsibility, promotions, and the like, you need to be proactive.

You need to take charge of your career. And it doesn't mean that you have to give up the remote work or the hybrid work arrangements. Advocate for yourself. Seek out mentorship, even if it's virtual mentorship, and stay visible in whatever way makes sense to you and helps advance your career. When at home, don't try to go it alone and do it all yourself.

Ask for help. Ask for help from your spouse or partner. Ask for help from your children. They're able to help with all different kinds of things and when possible, hire help, whether that's cleaning your house or delivering your groceries. Don't let your career take a backseat if you don't want to. Beware of the hidden traps that that working from home may have for you and strive to work through them. If you are in that work from home or hybrid situation, also find your peers. Find other women who are in the same kind of situation and support each other.

Create a network with and for each other so that you have somebody to be accountable for, so that you have somebody to be accountable to for creating that visibility and you can bounce ideas off of each other and help each other move forward. Remote work may have opened doors for women, but it is up to us to make sure that those doors lead to greater equity and not additional obstacles. Okay?

Remember, my friends, the future of work is not only about technology. It's about the values we uphold, the communities we build, and the sustainable growth we strive for, and our organization and the sustainable growth we strive for. We need to keep exploring, keep innovating, and keep envisioning the remarkable possibilities that really do lie ahead. As always, stay curious, stay informed, and stay ahead of the curve.

Tune in next week for another insightful exploration of the trends shaping our professional world. Now if you learned something or you simply enjoy this content, please subscribe to my channel on YouTube, subscribe to the podcast on your podcast platform of choice, and follow me on social media.

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