Guide for Remote Workers During Return to Office

After two years, companies are finally calling employees back into the office. If you work remotely but co-workers are returning to the office, how do you keep up? For example, the New York Times reported a Stanford study that found remote workers were promoted half as often as in-office peers even though the remote workers produced more and worked harder. The result is not that surprising: workers in office can continue talking after meetings end and access leaders. Great tips from Wall Street Journal and New York Times for remote workers to keep up:

1. Ask for people’s time, especially from your manager. Suggest a standing weekly 1:1 so you can give updates on what you are doing or get help to unjam bottlenecks. If your boss (likely) pushes back on such a meeting, ask if you can do it on a trial basis for a month. (Then you really have to make it worth their while!) You need to remind them you exist.
2. Find out exactly what you need to do to get promoted. That way you have the objectives/goals upfront and know what to work towards. Better to know now than to be denied and scramble for a plan later.
3. Respond quickly. Take advantage of your lack of commute or different time zone to answer emails quickly to “mitigate any perception that you’re less responsive when you’re at home—by showing you can be more responsive than the colleague sitting just down the hall from the boss.” The WSJ suggests using technology for alerts of your boss’ emails.
4. Make it your responsibility to be an asset to the team. Be proactive about connecting with colleagues, especially those you don’t know that well – schedule time with them, discuss articles, etc. WSJ exhorts “becoming the super collaborator they want to call first, and showing them you don’t have to come into the office for them to know they have your support.” WSJ also suggests volunteering to take on tasks that require deep thinking since working remotely enables you to work with fewer distractions. Also, “[v]olunteer to provide feedback, undertake document edits or ferret out key information after the rest of the team has clocked out (or before they punch in). By working off hours, you will extend your team’s productive day and ensure your colleagues don’t have to wait for the next draft or bit of information they need—because you’ve turned it around while they are still regenerating. And making early morning (or late night) appearances can buy you the freedom to use chunks of the traditional workday for personal priorities, exercise or errands.”
5. Try to go to the office at some point. Then you can see firsthand how things work and what people are really like. If you notice decisions are getting made by people who meet in person, know that the company is more likely committed to that group than remote workers.