The Society for Human Resource Management released research that reveals negative perceptions of remote work, with supervisors expressing a preference for onsite staffing and remote workers expressing reservations about losing opportunities for networking and logging more hours.
Two thirds of supervisors (67%) admit to considering remote workers more easily replaceable than onsite workers, 62% believe full-time remote work is detrimental to employees’ career objectives and 72% say they would prefer all of their subordinates to be working in the office.
In addition, 67% of supervisors say they spend more time supervising remote than onsite workers, and 42% say they sometimes forget about remote workers when assigning tasks.
While most employees agree remote work is beneficial and increases performance, more than half say working remotely on a permanent basis would diminish networking opportunities (59%), cause work relationships to suffer (55%) and require them to work more hours (54%).
Among remote workers surveyed, 34% say working remotely on a permanent basis would reduce the number of career opportunities available, and 29% believe they will have fewer developmental opportunities while working remotely.
“With Covid 19 forcing a leap to remote work in many sectors of our economy, and organizations struggling to determine the best workforce strategies post-pandemic, there’s one fact that can’t be ignored – remote work is not ideal for everyone,” said SHRM President Johnny C. Taylor, Jr..
“Remote work can offer benefits, but employers need to take a closer look at whether remote and onsite workers have the same opportunities and whether managers have the tools they need to be effective leaders.”