During his internship at a major bank last summer, Costa
Kosmidis spent most of his time working remotely. The bank did its best to help
interns bridge the distance, he said, including by putting into practice “an
open ‘virtual door’ policy” that made senior staff readily available by phone
or email for job-related queries and career advice.
اضافة اعلان
Nevertheless, when Kosmidis, 22, starts a job at the same bank
after graduating from Fordham University this year, he hopes to spend more time
in the office.
“You can feel people’s energy better when you’re around them,”
Kosmidis said. Assessing someone’s availability, for example, is trickier from
afar: “It’s a quick glance when you’re in the office, but when you’re online,
you’re not sure how much they have on their plate.”
Remote work is often favored by established employees who know
their manager, are comfortable in their role and want to balance work with
family responsibilities or other personal obligations. For those just starting
their careers, working in isolation can make fitting into an organization — and
eventually progressing up its ranks — more difficult.
Companies have become more open to remote work during the
pandemic. Now, as they plan for what work will look like going forward, they
are paying more attention to what it means to build a career without the
traditional opportunities for networking, mentorship and visibility that come
with a full-time physical office. Some of their employees are also giving more
thought to what long-term remote or hybrid work might mean for their futures.
“We’re beginning to hear from employees, in particular young
employees who are — believe it or not — concerned,” said Johnny C. Taylor Jr.,
CEO at the Society for Human Resource Management.
Prithwiraj Choudhury, an associate professor at Harvard Business
School who focuses on the changing geography of work, said he had seen three
common practices at companies that managed remote work successfully. These
companies took the time to compile information and practices in handbooks or
guides that employees can consult from anywhere; paired remote workers with
mentors outside their department so that they could speak frankly without
endangering team relationships; and created what he called the “virtual water
cooler.”
In one study, Choudhury and his colleagues randomly assigned
some interns at a global bank to take part in one-on-one video meetings with
senior executives. Others met virtually with fellow interns, and some were
assigned no extra meetings at all. Those assigned to meet with the senior
employees had better performance reviews at the end of the summer and were more
likely to receive job offers.
Managed effectively, remote work can lead to more in-depth
conversations, Choudhury said.
“When people talk about office hallway conversations and office
water cooler conversations, the reality is that those are really limited,” he
said. Being remote forces people to make an effort to make those meetings
happen and puts everyone on a level playing field. On video, “you see the senior
manager’s dog walk by,” he said. “You would not see that in the real office.”
Some companies have also started training managers to help
remote workers forge their career paths. Nationwide Insurance, which early in
the pandemic moved a majority of its 25,000 workers permanently to hybrid or
full-time work-from-home arrangements, trained managers to facilitate career
development for associate workers, creating templates for conversations about
workers’ skills and interests and pairing them with mentors or company
resources to help them reach their goals. Nationwide also created a fully
virtual four-week leadership course available to workers at all levels of the
organization.
“We’ve been intentional to create experiences so that out of
sight doesn’t mean out of mind, which was a big concern for some,” said Erin
Pheister, Nationwide’s senior vice president of talent and organization
effectiveness.
Software developer HubSpot, based in Massachusetts, trains
managers to work with distributed teams, with an emphasis on conversations that
establish team cohesion and build personal relationships, said Katie Burke, the
company’s chief people officer. That means being very clear upfront about how
the team should work together and encouraging people to chat about their out-of-office
interests and pastimes.
HubSpot also encourages managers to embrace what Burke calls
“intentionality” in their approach to team events. Bonding opportunities like
virtual happy hours are great, for example, but if they are announced last minute,
people in different time zones or those with caregiving responsibilities often
can’t join.
The hope is that intentional efforts to include remote workers
can help battle managers’ tendency to favor in-person employees. When the
Society for Human Resource Management surveyed managers about remote work last
year, 42% reported that they often overlooked remote workers when handing out
assignments — not for punitive or intentional reasons, Taylor said, but because
they simply forgot about them.
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