Will Remote Work Undermine Diversity Efforts? Many women and people of color prefer working from home. But at what cost?

Abstract

Granting the wishes of women and people of color may endanger their careers and companies’ attempts to diversify their upper ranks as employers face a new challenge presented by remote and hybrid work arrangements: proximity bias. Many experts worry—and surveys confirm—that managers may forget about people they don’t encounter daily and may grant promotions and high-profile assignments to those in the office. That becomes an even bigger problem if white men make up the bulk of the in-office workforce.