limited opportunities For remote workers

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The zoom-ceiling prevents remote workers from getting the same benefits as those working onsite even if they are performing just as well.

The “Zoom Ceiling” Prevents Remote Workers from Career Advancement

How managers and employees can maintain a connected workplace from anywhere

By Zoe Landi Fontana, The Weekly Journal

No matter how you feel about it, remote work is here to stay. It’s worth mentioning, however, that prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, companies were already hiring and managing employees remotely—a natural occurrence for a global economy. Yet few could have predicted the scale to which the pandemic sped up this transition.

This transition has already highlighted an inequity—the “zoom ceiling”. Employees that work from home may unintentionally be foregoing advancements and recognition that their in-office colleagues will be more likely to receive.

So, what exactly is the “zoom ceiling” and how can it be mitigated?

In an interview with THE WEEKLY JOURNAL, Natasha Bowman, a business consultant with the nickname “The Workplace Doctor”, explained that this phenomenon is akin to the “glass ceiling”—the social barrier that “prevents traditionally marginalized groups from upward mobility”. The “zoom ceiling” is a professional limit that those who have been working remotely for a while, face. Bowman’s firm, Performance ReNEW, is a pioneer in creating workplace equality and has over 20 years of specialization in diagnosing and providing proven solutions for workplace issues. Over the past two years, her firm has seen the “zoom ceiling” emerge as a post-pandemic issue.

Through an organizational culture assessment, Bowman saw that remote employees received far fewer promotions and advancements than in-office employees. These organizational culture assessments previously looked at data to see who was getting promoted or receiving raises, which was then broken up by race, gender, age, and now, remote versus in-office

Bowman says that remote employees are “… finding it hard to stay connected to their workplaces and may be less favored to colleagues their managers have ‘face-time’ with”.

Like the ‘glass-ceiling’ that prevents marginalized groups from advancing past a certain point despite similar performance to colleagues, the zoom-ceiling prevents remote workers from getting the same benefits as those working on-site even if they are performing just as well.

How To Break Through The ‘Zoom Ceiling’

To create equity, managers must be very mindful of their “proximity bias”, which is based on superficial performance. Because they don’t see the work being done in person, they subconsciously assume that remote employees work less, or not as well.

Bowman presents a two-prong approach to mitigating the ‘zoom-ceiling’. Having remote workers allows for the recruitment of talent around the globe without geographic restrictions, resulting in different forms of diversity and strengthening the company’s resiliency.

Managers:

* Get trained on recognizing and addressing “proximity bias”. *Create objective measures of success to assess both remote and office workers. * Lead by example. If other employees work in hybrid or remote models, then managers should also

do so to be able to understand the challenges and dynamics that their employees face. * Do a culture check; run surveys, collect data, and make sure that there are no disparities in promotions and raises. * Have 1-on-1 discussions, and carve out time in your agenda to connect with remote employees

Remote Employees:

* Don’t be too humble. Share your successes and what you achieved this week/month so that your accomplishments are at the top of managers’ minds. * If you feel unseen, undervalued, or disconnected, let it be known. Discuss [Remote employees are]… the situation with management. Create finding it hard to stay connected that equity and lessen to their workplaces and may be the disparity. * When possible, less favored to colleagues their managers have ‘face-time’ with. have your camera on. Every moment counts where you can share Natasha Bowman your personality and Business consultant humanity. * Invest in your development. Don’t wait for your job to do it for you. Scour the internet for development courses, and tell your manager what you did; it says to them, “I am remote, but I am still engaged”. * Every once in a while, if you’re in the area, show up and have a little face-time, say hello, and show support. Companies can keep their culture strong, no matter the format of their workplace, if their leaders are proactive and intentional in their communication strategies. The small interactions that happen naturally and form the base of work relationships disappear with remote work, and must be replicated. Remote workers can still advance their careers and be active participants in their organization, but it will take active and consistent effort on behalf of the employee and the manager.