Further evidence, if we needed it, that working from home isn’t beneficial for either career or tenure. Statistics from Live Data Technologies, in the Wall Street Journal, suggest that remote workers are 31% less likely to get promoted than their office occupying or hybrid colleagues, and that they are 35% more at risk should redundancies take place.

The same source also suggests that mentoring is highly skewed against those same remote workers.

At the same time, the ONS reports that the percentage of those who are economically inactive, having effectively left the UK workforce, is up by 700,000 compared to pre-pandemic, largely down to long term illness. Presence, or its absence, is key both for those outside the workplace and for those outside the labour market.

With inflation forecast to return to 2% by April, it will be interesting to see the strength of the labour market this inspires. And whether employers will find themselves softening their tone around remote working and reaching out to those now (hopefully temporarily excluded) from the labour market.

About
Neil Harrison is recognised as a leading employer brand specialist, creating insights and actionable intelligence around key people audiences. Internal employee communities, as well as external talent pools. These are insights which will help drive informed EVPs and their associated employer brands. Factors such as Brexit and a tightening labour market mean that organisations serious about talent acquisition need to act based on knowledge rather than guesswork.