The debate about innate attributes vs social construction is always contentious, but regardless of the cause, the unarguable facts of the gender pay gap speak for themselves: Women in the UK still earn over 17% less than men doing work of equal value, and these figures remain in line with the US, Australia, France and many similar markets.
Recent research about remote working has produced some positive indications though, with research from Ultimate Software published in Workforce.com suggesting that it is women who are increasingly benefiting from the greater flexibility that the modern workforce offers — finding it easier to access career growth, and achieve work-life balance.
The career implications are contrary to a prevailing narrative about remote work, suggesting that visibility can be a problem on hybrid teams in particular, and that out of sight can indeed be out of mind, when it comes to consideration for professional development and promotions.
Playing to strengths in communication
But it seems that women are using the tools the collaborative workplace gives them to deepen connections across the virtual space, and maintain effective communication with their colleagues — including HR.
As the report author Annmarie Neal indicates,
“Our research found that women who work remotely were twice as likely to report proactively leveraging HR to resolve issues, when compared with in-office women"
"This gap did not exist between in-office men and remote men. Meanwhile, women who work from home were also more likely to feel confident that HR understands their needs and concerns — 67 percent agree or strongly agree that HR is aware of their needs, versus 57 percent of in-office women. Men tended to be even more confident — 73 percent of in-office and 72 percent of remote male workers agree or strongly agree.”
Women surveyed were also more likely than men to report a promotion in the past 12 months if they were working remotely (57% of remote women vs 35% of colocated women).
