Proximity bias is widening inequality in the workplace

Proximity bias should be central on all leaders’ watch lists. Why? What is it? And what impact can it have on attracting and retaining talent, especially in the wake of The Great Resignation?

One of the major workplace changes stemming from the COVID pandemic is the adoption of hybrid, fully flexible and work-from-anywhere practices. Around 40 per cent of companies are looking to formally move to a hybrid working model, with those percentages much higher in certain sectors. 

While hybrid and work-from-anywhere working patterns are generally seen as a positive step, this way of working does bring with it some issues for employees. One of the most pressing of those issues is the potential for proximity bias. 

If your organisation is looking to develop a truly equitable hybrid, flexible or work from anywhere structure, you need to understand proximity bias and how to prevent or overcome it. 

What exactly is proximity bias?

Research has discovered that managers and employers tend to look more favourably on those people that they physically see most often, and as the opportunity for face to face interaction and physical connection evaporated, particularly over the lockdown periods, this bias is now flourishing. It’s affecting decision making and limiting opportunities for talent. This form of bias is often completely unconscious and simply based on feeling a stronger connection to people you interact with within the workplace.  

At other times, proximity bias is also rooted in the traditional thinking that people who come into the office are more committed and productive than those who work remotely - those prepared to really step out of what can be seen ‘as the safety and the comfort of home’ to step up to the serious issues of getting business done. 

Over the pandemic, many C-suite leaders were repeatedly ejected from their offices and forcibly restrained from entering their buildings.  Some were also highly dissatisfied as being seen to be ‘forced to work from home by HR’ as they simply could not make the shift to working remotely and breaking their working patterns of a lifetime.

This can have huge career consequences for employees who choose to take advantage of any form of flexible or remote working. 

If we’ve learned anything from COVID, we know that remote and flexible working is not the ‘lazy’ option and it's now an intentional career choice for millions of workers. Employees can be just as productive, if not more so, working remotely but this shouldn’t mean that they are unfairly penalised in other ways. 

Proximity bias disproportionately affects certain groups

Widespread moves towards hybrid and fully flexible working have been seen as both a blessing and a curse to some groups. Women, in particular, are bearing the brunt of proximity bias and further embedding gender inequality in the workplace. Catherine Mann, a member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee was quoted as saying

“There is the potential for two tracks. There’s the people who are on the virtual track and people who are on a physical track. And I do worry that we will see those two tracks develop, and we will pretty much know who’s going to be on which track, unfortunately,” 

She has been widely criticized, particularly on social media for this statement but it could be argued that this statement is just a declaration of the absolute presence of proximity bias in practice.

The scope of the probleM

In the  UK, the overall gender pay gap stands at 10.4%, with much higher rates in certain sectors such as education (26%) finance and insurance (24%) and construction (23.8%). 

The Global Gender Gap 2021 report shows the length of time it will take to achieve parity has increased from 99.5 years to an astonishing 135 years. 

Women are more likely than men to request and take advantage of hybrid and remote working options. This is often down to family and caring responsibilities. Due to this imbalance, it is women who face proximity bias that can affect their career progression and income across their working lives and increase the risk of potential poverty in their retirement years too.

Unless companies can put strong policies in place and produce an employer value proposition with remote, hybrid, work-from-anywhere and flexible working options which are equally as attractive to men too, then this is going to lead to even wider gender inequality and burn massive amounts of D&I investment on gender acceleration.

It is not just women who are disproportionately affected. Other groups such as those with mental or physical disabilities can also face the “out of sight, out of mind” penalty. And for those with disabilities, there is often huge amounts of goodwill from their employers to assist with reasonable adjustments.  This may include working from home and therefore not having to deal with the myriad of challenges that travel and dealing with physically inflexible office spaces that don’t meet the needs of this protected characteristic group. 

While at first glance it would appear that flexible working would benefit these groups, in the long term, being passed over for projects and promotions increases in an organisation with unchecked proximity bias. 

Lightbulb’s Managing Director, Fiona McKay believes that in order to avoid proximity bias that fundamentally mindsets must shift and change needs to radically happen now to prepare leaders and managers. 

“Anyone who leads or manages people needs to be developed to manage a mix of workers and that includes talent that works from anywhere, those who are hybrid and those who choose flexible work as an intentional career path.  

“Managers and leaders must be equipped with the tools to effectively manage and advocate for the professional development of their remote team members too.  It is beyond unfair to expect yesterday’s managers to lead tomorrow's workforce with a 1-hour workshop on managing remotely and being also expected to use out of date management and performance tools that in most cases were always blunt instruments, but are now simply not fit for purpose.”

Gen Z is already here

Gen Z isn’t on the distant horizon, they’re already in the workplace and will make up an increasing proportion of the workforce over the coming years. Unlike the generations that have gone before them, they are true digital natives who are seeking a  work-life balance and want to work for companies and leaders they believe in and have a clear and compelling purpose proposition. Attempting to shoehorn them into old ways of working isn’t going to work and you risk building a talent catastrophe for your organisation. 

Feedback takes centre stage

At Lightbulb, we know how important feedback is to a person’s career. Our FeedbackFirst programme is designed to eliminate gender-biased feedback so that women can receive the same and equal feedback as men and use it to progress.  By training managers to recognise the impact that gender-biased feedback has and the central role that feedback plays in leadership, you can reduce both gender-biased feedback and proximity bias. 

Key takeaways

The adoption of hybrid and remote working is a huge step forward for many organisations and one that will reap great long-term talent returns if they support it with the right tools and requisite development for managers and leaders. As with any working model, it has its own set of advantages and disadvantages but there really is time to recognise and avoid proximity bias at an early stage to create a more equal workplace that supports more equal societies.

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