Could Remote Work Put You at a Higher Risk of Layoffs?

Since the pandemic hit and the nature of work got a huge makeover, with remote work becoming more of a norm, employees have enjoyed having it as a more common option. However, over the last few years since lockdowns were lifted, employers and employees have been in the battling ring over the return to the office and what that looks like.

As reported by Business Insider, if your company is reducing its workforce, whether you work remotely or not is unlikely to be the only reason for potential layoffs. However, a number of large companies that have implemented recent downsizing measures have explicitly communicated to employees that those who work remotely face a greater risk of being affected.

Staff at companies such as Wayfair, the online furniture retailer, and IBM were told by executives that remote workers were more likely to be impacted by job cuts. IBM urged its U.S. managers to begin to come into the office at least three days a week or leave.

Social networking firm Snap said its recent layoffs were a motion to “promote in-person collaboration,” and they impacted more staff who worked from home than office workers. Also among the long list of companies pushing for staff to get back into the office are Amazon, Google, and Goldman Sachs. With layoffs becoming more of a regular occurrence, this has put some pressure on remote workers.

A management professor at the Wharton School, Peter Cappelli, who has not been the biggest supporter of remote work, said, “It’s not too surprising. We might say it’s not fair, and they could both be true. There are lots of things that aren’t fair that nevertheless are predictable.”

Nick Bloom, a Stanford economist and expert on remote work, said there isn’t significant research on the correlation between remote work and layoffs, but it’s “quite possible” that it increases the risk. He said, “Proximity bias is alive and well.” He referred to a pair of experiments he ran on remote work and promotions. They found that working from home two days a week didn’t have an impact on the promotion rate; however, working from home four days a week reduced the chances by 50%.

Emily Dickens, who heads public affairs at the Society for Human Resource Management, carried out some research that revealed that 42% of supervisors overlook employees who work remotely when distributing tasks, and nearly three-quarters express a preference for their direct reports to be physically present in the office. She said, “That is something remote workers should be thinking about as they’re engaging with supervisors.”