The office door closes at 5 PM. Jake gathers his things, exchanges a few laughs with the team lead, and heads home. Across town, Sarah closes her laptop after finishing the same project—two hours ahead of schedule. Both are excellent employees. But when promotion season rolls around, guess who gets the tap on the shoulder?
This isn’t about performance. It’s about proximity bias—and it’s quietly reshaping who gets ahead in today’s hybrid workplace.
Proximity bias is the unconscious tendency to favor employees who are physically present over those who work remotely, regardless of their actual performance or contributions. It’s the modern workplace’s “out of sight, out of mind” problem.
Think of it this way: When your manager sees you in the office every day, you become top-of-mind for exciting projects, spontaneous recognition, and career-advancing opportunities. Remote workers, even those crushing their KPIs, often fade into the background.
The numbers tell a stark story. 96% of executives admit they notice in-office efforts more than remote work, revealing just how deeply ingrained this “seeing is believing” mentality remains in leadership.
By 2025, experts predict that 20% of the U.S. workforce will work remotely. As remote work becomes the norm rather than the exception, proximity bias isn’t just an HR buzzword—it’s a critical challenge that organizations must address to remain competitive and equitable.
Proximity bias doesn’t just hurt morale—it hits your bottom line and talent pipeline hard. Here’s what the data reveals:
Remote employees are 38% less likely to receive bonuses than on-site workers—a staggering gap that has nothing to do with output. Remote workers get promoted less often than their peers, despite being 15% more productive on average.
Let that sink in. Your most productive employees might be the ones you’re systematically overlooking.
In a recent survey, 42% of managers admitted they sometimes forget about remote workers when assigning tasks. This “forgetting” translates into:
As of 2024, only 30% of U.S. employees report being actively engaged at work, while 62% are not engaged and 15% are actively disengaged. When remote workers feel overlooked, they disengage—creating a vicious cycle where their lack of visibility reinforces the very bias working against them.
Nearly half of remote workers (48%) fear that working remotely means they won’t be heard and that their in-office coworkers will have more opportunities for progress. That fear? It’s justified.
Proximity bias isn’t always obvious. It hides in everyday interactions and decision-making processes. Here are the red flags:
Picture this: Your leadership team grabs coffee together every morning before official work hours. They chat about strategy, swap ideas, and build relationships. Remote employees miss these crucial informal interactions where decisions are shaped and allegiances are formed.
When a high-visibility project lands on your desk, who comes to mind first? Often, it’s the person you just saw in a meeting or passed in the hallway—not necessarily the person best suited for the work.
In-office employees get spontaneous praise when their manager witnesses their effort firsthand. Remote workers? They need to schedule a meeting to share their wins, which feels like bragging rather than natural recognition.
Ever been in a hybrid meeting where the conference room erupts in laughter over something the remote attendees didn’t catch? Or where sidebar conversations happen among in-office participants while remote workers sit silently on screen? That’s proximity bias in action.
Here’s where things get interesting. The assumption driving proximity bias—that in-office workers are more productive—is flat-out wrong.
Research paints a completely different picture than the proximity bias narrative suggests:
Stanford economist Nicholas Bloom’s research reinforces this. His study found that hybrid work models—where employees work remotely two days a week—achieve productivity and promotion rates comparable to in-office setups, with a 33% reduction in resignation rates.
When we dig into how employees spend their time, the picture becomes clearer:
The real productivity drain? It’s not location—it’s inefficient meetings, unnecessary emails, and unclear priorities that plague both remote and in-office workers alike.
Let me tell you about Sarah and Jake—two marketing specialists at a mid-sized tech company.
Sarah works remotely from Portland. She consistently delivers campaigns ahead of schedule, her data-driven approach has increased conversion rates by 23%, and she mentors junior team members through Slack and Zoom.
Jake works in the San Francisco office. He’s good at his job, delivers on time, and has solid results. He also grabs lunch with the marketing director twice a week and joins impromptu brainstorming sessions in the conference room.
When a senior leadership position opened, their manager Emily promoted Jake. Her reasoning? “I feel more confident in his abilities because I see him in action every day. I know I can count on him.”
Meanwhile, Sarah’s Excel spreadsheets, documented campaign wins, and measurable impact sit in a shared drive somewhere, unseen and unrewarded.
The Cost: Sarah felt undervalued and accepted a role at a competitor within three months. The company lost a high performer and spent six months and $15,000 recruiting and training her replacement.
The Solution: Emily should have implemented structured performance evaluations based on measurable outcomes, not comfort level. Sarah’s campaign successes should have been showcased in leadership reviews. Both employees deserved equal visibility for their contributions.
Organizations can’t wish proximity bias away. It requires intentional systems, deliberate processes, and leadership commitment. Here’s how to make it happen:
Stop rewarding face time. Start rewarding results.
Action steps:
What success looks like: Performance discussions focus on “What did you achieve?” not “How many hours did I see you working?”
Meetings are where proximity bias flourishes. Make them fair ground.
Action steps:
What success looks like: Remote employees participate equally in discussions, and their ideas receive the same consideration as in-office colleagues.
Not everyone works in the same time zone or has the same peak productivity hours. Embrace it.
Action steps:
What success looks like: Fewer unnecessary meetings, better documentation, and global team members contributing regardless of their location or time zone.
Promotions shouldn’t depend on who had lunch with the CEO last week.
Action steps:
What success looks like: Remote and in-office employees advance at similar rates when performance is equivalent. Leadership roles reflect the diversity of your workforce.
Proximity bias operates in the shadows. Shine a light on it.
Action steps:
What success looks like: Leaders actively question their assumptions and create systems that prevent bias before it affects decisions.
Here’s where theEMPLOYEEapp becomes your competitive advantage in fighting proximity bias.
Traditional communication tools—email, intranet, Slack—create their own proximity problems. Information gets buried, frontline employees miss critical updates, and remote workers feel even more disconnected.
The solution? A communication platform designed for equity:
When every employee has equal access to information, recognition, and opportunities to contribute, proximity bias loses its power.
Let’s be clear: Where someone works doesn’t determine how well they work.
The evidence is overwhelming. Remote workers are more productive, equally innovative, and just as committed as their in-office counterparts. The real question isn’t “Should we trust remote workers?” It’s “Why are we still rewarding physical presence over actual results?”
Proximity bias is a choice—and you can choose differently.
Start today:
The answers might surprise you. More importantly, they’ll show you exactly where to start dismantling proximity bias in your organization.
The future of work isn’t about where your employees sit. It’s about creating systems that recognize talent, reward results, and build culture based on outcomes—not optics.
Your best people might not be in the office. Make sure you’re still seeing them.
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