This Surprising Work Style is 40% More Likely to Result in Promotions

Half of all remote workers say one advantage of working out-of-office is feeling less tension, according to new data in a survey of 1,000 adults on the state of remote work from Ultimate Software. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics finds that 23% of the U.S. workforce works remotely at least part of the time. It’s a good time to be a remote worker.

Far from being ignored by the home office, going remote has the same – if not more – opportunity than staying in the office. In fact, remote workers are 40% more likely to have been promoted in the last year than their in-office peers.

Remote workers report higher overall job satisfaction than in-office workers – 88% of remote workers agree or strongly agree that they are satisfied with their jobs, compared to 78% of in-office employees.

If I had a choice: Out of the workers who have worked both remotely and in-office over the course of their careers, 54% prefer working remotely, vs. 32% who prefer working in-office.

Dressed for success? Remote women are most likely to dress down (37% say they dress casually of the time) while in-office women are least likely to dress down (with only 24% saying they will dress casually most or all of the time, and 35% reporting they never do.)

Remotes get promoted:  In comparison to both male and female in-office counterparts, remote women are the most likely to report having received a raise in the last year.

Women working in office environments are the least likely to report promotion in the last year (35%.) Male in-office employees were the second-lowest in terms of moving up (43%.) Meanwhile, remote workers ranked the highest when it came to getting promoted, with females at the top (57%), followed by male remote workers (51%.)

In-office, stuck in neutral: Across all respondents, in-office women are the most likely to feel there is no room for growth in their current roles and to report promotion in the last year.

Room to grow: They are 27% more likely to feel there is an opportunity for growth in their current job.

Invested in my future: Remote workers are 74% more likely to feel that their companies are committed to their career growth, as opposed to 65% of in-office workers.

Equal amounts of feedback: Remote workers no longer have to worry about being left behind just because they’re out of the office: 75% of managers offer feedback at least once a week to in-office employees and 73% of managers offer feedback at least once per week to remote employees.

Productivity. While 42% of managers say their biggest challenge is monitoring remote workers’ productivity, 90% of remote workers say they feel very productive.

Still some glitches: While it’s easier to be a remote worker – especially with the advent of new technology and tools – remote workers are nearly twice as likely as in-office employees to feel “frequently” misunderstood or misinterpreted by their colleagues, and one-third (33%) of remote workers says this happens often.

Also, 40% of remote workers say they never or almost never go to HR for help when they need something or run into problems.

— Sheila McClear

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