Is Proximity Bias Killing Remote Workers’ Career Growth?

Proximity bias refers to the tendency of leadership to favor employees who are physically closer to them over those working remotely. This often results in in-office employees receiving preferential treatment, including higher-profile assignments, easier access to leadership, more frequent promotions, and additional professional development opportunities.

Although the rise of remote work has brought renewed attention to proximity bias, experts note that the phenomenon predates the pandemic and extends beyond managers. Many people feel it for coworkers on their level, too.

Occupational psychologist Ali Shalfrooshan told the BBC, “We all can reflect on occasions where the people we sit near are the people we know the best and feel the most kinship to.”

According to a Harvard Business Review article, part of the reason for this phenomenon “stems from the antiquated assumption that those who work remotely are less productive than those who work from the office.” 1

Bridger Pennington, co-founder of the startups Fund Launch and Ugly Unicorn, sparked backlash when he argued this point as a fact.

“I’ll bet your bottom dollar, Susan or Joe, whoever, on a Tuesday afternoon that’s working remote, 30% of the time they’re getting groceries,” said Pennington. “They’re running their dog to the vet, they got a kid’s dance recital. They’re not working, and you’re paying them full-time.”

Pennington isn’t alone in his beliefs. Research by tech company Owl Labs found that 60% of managers were concerned that workers were less productive when working remotely. 2

These perceptions can influence how managers evaluate performance, assign opportunities, and make promotion decisions.

Are remote workers actually less productive?

There’s no definitive answer as to whether remote employees are less productive. As noted in a Fortune article on the Pennington debacle, employees and bosses have differing opinions on what being productive means.

For many managers, productivity is tied to seeing employees at their desks, being able to ask questions in real time, and observing collaboration happening throughout the day. Employees, on the other hand, often define productivity by their ability to complete work efficiently and without unnecessary interruptions.

Research on this is also split. There are some analyses showing that working remotely leads people to be 10% less productive than working onsite. This factors in things that are hard to replicate as smoothly in the digital space, like mentorship and communication.

However, other research points to a 13% increase in productivity due to remote employees working with fewer breaks and sick days and completing more tasks.

This suggests that the idea of a productivity gap may not stem from employees doing less work, but from organizations and workers placing value on different aspects of work. What appears to be an interruption to an individual contributor may be viewed by a manager as an investment in team coordination and long-term performance.

When managers assume that in-office workers are harder-working or more dedicated, it can lead to preferential treatment regarding performance reviews, task assignments, and daily perks.

Over time, this can create a dynamic, sometimes referred to as a Zoom ceiling, that limits advancement opportunities for remote employees.

Although proximity bias is often unintentional, its effects can mirror those of workplace favoritism. And when employees identify preferential treatment in the office, it generally leads to lower workplace morale and higher turnover rates.

You may lose out on opportunities to prove yourself

In many organizations, proximity bias creates an “out of sight, out of mind” dynamic that leads to a lopsided distribution of opportunities.

Research from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) found that 42% of supervisors overseeing remote workers said they sometimes forgot about remote workers when assigning tasks. Around 67% also believed remote workers were more replaceable than onsite workers. 3

As written in one Forbes article touching on SHRM’s findings, this sentiment “may explain why remote workers get promoted less often than their peers, despite being 15% more productive on average.”

Research cited by The Wall Street Journal also found that remote employees were promoted 31% less often than workers who were fully in-office or on a hybrid schedule.

Notably, while these career hurdles affect remote workers in general, the impact is not felt equally across the board.

Proximity bias is often discussed as a personal hurdle for remote workers, but it can disproportionately affect employees from marginalized groups, as they’re more likely to opt for remote options to avoid the subjective biases inherent in physical office culture.

According to data from the Slack-backed workplace research consortium Future Forum, 81% of Black workers—particularly those in professional and knowledge-based roles—preferred hybrid or remote work, compared to 75% of their white counterparts. 4 Additionally, only 3% of Black workers wanted to return to the office full-time (vs. 21% of their white counterparts), largely due to a desire to avoid exclusionary office cultures and microaggressions. 5

Career coach Jermaine Murray told The LA Times that for his Black clients, a remote setting provides a “more objective environment” where success is determined by data rather than office politics or the exhausting performance of code-switching.

Similarly, research from Deloitte and HR Dive found that women caregivers and workers with disabilities are significantly more likely to rely on remote flexibility to enter and stay in the workforce. 6 7

Remote work theoretically levels the playing field for these groups by shifting the focus to concrete deliverables, which makes it harder for managers to be subconsciously influenced by race, physical ability, or gender. However, proximity bias creates a new subjective hurdle that effectively nullifies the benefits of a results-based culture.

Does proximity bias really risk “unequalizing” the playing field?

Professor Emerita Kimberly Elsbach of UC Davis warns that proximity bias risks undercutting the progress made in workplace diversity and equality.

Her research on proximity bias showed that physical presence creates a “halo effect” regardless of performance, where managers rated in-office employees much higher for positive traits found on performance appraisals.

“You could be playing video solitaire, for all they know,” Elsbach said about onsite employees. “But if you’re just visible at work, you were rated much higher for attributes like ‘committed,’ ‘reliable,’ ‘dependable,’ and ‘dedicated.’” 8

This creates an almost paradoxical situation where remote work helps certain groups avoid biases by focusing on results, but proximity bias “unequalizes” the effect by rewarding visibility.

When presence becomes a proxy for merit, the workforce splits into two tiers.

The inner circle becomes a demographic that is statistically more likely to be white, male, and non-disabled. Meanwhile, the most diverse segment of the talent pool is potentially sidelined and loses out on the mentorship and informal networking required for leadership roles.

If you believe you’ve hit the Zoom ceiling, experts recommend documenting your achievements and increasing your visibility within the organization.

Keep a record of your completed projects and key accomplishments so your impact is easy to communicate during performance reviews and promotion discussions.

“Letting a manager know your recent accomplishments can be really beneficial for remote workers because it’s not something a manager will have readily overheard as they would in the office,” said Elora Voyles, industrial-organizational psychologist and people scientist at the employee engagement platform TINYpulse.

Your relationships can also influence your career advancement just as much as your performance. While office-based employees may build connections naturally through informal conversations, remote workers often need to be more intentional.

“Try to schedule regular meetings with your managers,” said Voyles. “Push to do these things if your manager isn’t.”

Taking part in virtual coffee chats and informal team conversations can also help strengthen your relationships and ensure your contributions remain visible across the organization.