With the various challenges that arise with the continued trend of remote work, there is a renewed conversation around the concept of “proximity bias”. The BBC describes proximity bias as “an unconscious – and unwise – tendency to give preferential treatment to those in our immediate vicinity.”[1] Put simply, proximity bias occurs when we look more favourably on those whom we see more often. For example, at a micro level, proximity bias may mean that the people you sit near in the office or in school are the people you know best and feel the most kinship to[2]. Although existing long before the pandemic, proximity bias may be a new concept for many companies who recently found themselves with a hybrid workplace. It will further exist where workers are given the option to continue to work remotely or to come back to the office full time. Some management teams may unintentionally exclude remote workers from the most high-profile projects, insights, and relationship building and by doing so mitigates their chances to qualify for promotions, among other career and networking opportunities. Therefore, some workers may feel pressured to come into the office to get “face time” with managers or executives even if their desire is to work completely remotely. So, what can companies do?
A Connecticut based financial company, Synchrony Financial, is responding to the possibility of proximity bias in a unique way. Synchrony has adopted a new working policy where all employees must work remotely at least one day per week. The Chief Human Resources Officer, DJ Casto, at Synchrony says one of the main reasons they adopted this rule was to put home-working and office-working staff on a more equal playing field. “From a leadership perspective, we want to make sure we look like we’re supporting both groups,” he explains, noting that 85% of employees in a company-wide survey expressed a desire to work from home full time[3]. Synchrony is now working to ensure all employees – whether in the office or at home – feel seen. “What we’ve told our leaders who have chosen to come back to our hubs is that they have a responsibility to have this remote-first mindset,” says Casto, adding that they should make sure remote-working employees keep them honest in terms of engagement.
As with addressing most biases, the solution is to determine the best path to solve challenges in a systemic way. With proximity bias in the workplace, the solution is not to bring everyone back to the office, but to build guidelines and operating models that address this particular challenge, and account for distributed teams during both the big decision-making conversations and the small everyday interactions. Workplace policies can be adapted and include specific ways for remote workers to feel included. For instance, there could be a new policy that for a company wide meeting remote workers are encouraged to have their camera on when video conferencing. In this same vein, existing workplace technology, such as video conferencing can be leveraged to combat proximity bias.
On an organizational level, leaders need to be clear about what they are doing to minimize bias. This should include company-specific expectations about when and where work gets done and an outline of the process that explains how workers will be recognized and promoted[4]. It is also clear that workers will follow the example of their leaders or management. Quora’s CEO[5] has ensure his leaders will set a solid example for workers by not visiting the office more than once a month and by keeping the primary location of the Quora leadership teams away from the office. This, of course, is not practical for all organizations but ensuring your leadership is aware of the potential bias that can occur and is aware of any remote work policies is a good start.
[1] https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20210804-hybrid-work-how-proximity-bias-can-lead-to-favouritism [2] https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20210804-hybrid-work-how-proximity-bias-can-lead-to-favouritism [3] https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20210804-hybrid-work-how-proximity-bias-can-lead-to-favouritism [4] https://www.thoughtexchange.com/blog/proximity-bias-what-it-is-and-how-to-avoid-it/ [5] https://quorablog.quora.com/Remote-First-at-Quora