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Working from home has revolutionized the way businesses get things done. Now, they have full access to a world of talented professionals. However, sometimes, these employees are overlooked due to proximity bias.  

What is proximity bias? It’s when leaders favour employees who are physically closer to the business over remote employees. This occurs because there’s a common perception that physically present employees are automatically harder workers in a way that remote workers aren’t.  

This couldn’t be further from the truth. And the last thing you want is to foster an environment of favouritism and overlook your remote employees.  

So how do you fight proximity bias at work? Let’s explore the subject together. 

Make Meetings More Accessible 

It’s OK to have regular, recurring meetings; however, it isn’t ideal to organize meetings that don’t fit every employee’s schedule. If it’s beneficial for an employee to attend a meeting, but the meeting time conflicts with time zones or other obligations (such as other meetings), you could leave them out of the loop.  

Not allowing employees to participate in meetings equally can create an illusion that on-site employees are more engaged and involved than their remote co-workers. 

What you can do instead is pre-record presentations and key talking points to share with everyone at once. This way, all employees, regardless of time zone or circumstance, can review the information at their own pace and contribute thoughtfully. 

For meetings that require real-time interaction, be open to organizing meetings so that everyone can attend. The above is an alternative for situations where live meetings aren’t feasible. 

Instill a Culture that Quality Work Can be Done Anywhere 

The best thing you can do for any employee is to create a culture that not only supports them but empowers them to believe their efforts have a real impact.  

Rather than stressing the need for employees to PROVE that they are working and doing quality work, you create a culture that encourages your employees to work hard. How? By making them feel their work is appreciated, makes a difference, and is properly rewarded.  

When you feel like the work you do matters, you’re more likely to do your best. What you need to focus on, however, is ensuring that every employee feels that great work can be done anywhere. This means making sure you have the systems in place to track, submit, and safely store content and data.  

By having intuitive systems and tools in place that make it possible for all your employees to do their best work, you’re effectively creating a culture where quality work can be done from home or in the office.  

Ensure Equal Treatment 

Listen, it can be easy to forget about your remote employees accidentally. Besides, if they’re submitting their work on time, there isn’t much of a reason to check in, right? 

That’s not entirely true. 

You want to make sure you still have a personal relationship with employees, even if they’re working from afar. You can have weekly or biweekly check-in meetings with your employees to discuss company goals, check in on capacity, and just overall make sure your employee knows you’re there for them.  

You also want to make sure you’re holding similar expectations for your employees. For example, you shouldn’t expect that remote employees should do more or less work than their in-office counterparts. Rather, work should be evenly distributed across departments from employees to higher-ups such as account managers and the like. While it’s normal for a more experienced employee to have a slightly higher workload, make sure they have options to help manage said workload. 

Doing so will help make your employees feel valued and on equal terms with their colleagues. This will inspire them to do their best. 

Set Realistic, Obtainable Goals 

The more you empower your employees, the more they will do. An APA survey showed that employees who feel more valued are mentally and emotionally healthier, as well as more engaged with their work.  

Sometimes, it can feel like a gamble to rely on a remote employee – especially if your business is new to it. However, setting goals and deadlines is a great way to not only ensure that your bottom line is being met, but also that your employees feel organized and accomplished.  

What’s important is to weigh what’s achievable and organize a work schedule that allows your employees to thrive.  

Here are some key things to really avoid when crafting a work schedule for a remote employee:  

• Overloading the schedule with tasks 

• Ignoring time zone differences 

• Scheduling excessive meetings 

• Assigning unclear or ambiguous tasks 

• Overlooking employee's commitments 

• Failing to include breaks 

• Micromanaging every detail 

• Not accommodating flexible work hours 

• Using overly complicated scheduling tools 

• Ignoring employee feedback on the schedule 

• Setting unrealistic deadlines 

• Forgetting to schedule time for training or upskilling 

• Creating schedules without buffer times for unexpected delays 

• Ignoring the need for collaboration time with team members 

• Not updating the schedule when priorities change 

By avoiding these pitfalls and creating realistic and obtainable goals, you create an environment of success for you and your remote employees.  

Offer Opportunities to Everyone, Even Work-From-Home Employees 

When you see someone every day, interact with them, and physically see them work and interact with the team in the office – it’s tempting to assume any room for upskilling and promotions should go to them. Right? 

Not necessarily. What matters when it comes to professional growth is whether or not the individual has the skills and work ethic to be successful. You should always consider all your employees for potential opportunities, not just the employees you see in the office.  

Success should be measured by professional achievements and willingness to learn rather than physical presence. This means you need to look at all of your employees and make professional advancement available for every single employee, regardless of their office status.  

Measure Success by Output, not Hours 

What matters is if the work is done, and your employees are available when they need to be. The idea that staying late and logging extra hours means an employee is being more productive. However, these methods can have some serious setbacks.  

Feeling the pressure to always be online can create the sentiment that employees must always be “online,” leading to potential burnout and feelings of overall production fatigue. This can create a potentially toxic work culture where your employees don’t feel supported. 

Instead, managers should measure their employees’ productivity through a data-driven performance metric rather than the time they spend behind the desk. If an employee is creating a high-quality level of work, this needs to be treated as a good thing.  

Encourage Employees to Connect 

It’s one thing to reach out to your employees, but it’s another thing to encourage them to interact with you and their colleagues. You can make this possible by having clear and effective communication software such as Microsoft Teams or Zoom to connect.

Encourage your managers to regularly encourage check-ins and ensure that they feel they’re able to reach out as they need.  

The more interactive your employees feel they can be, the more likely they’ll be able to feel connected and as if they’re developing real relationships with their colleagues. Even from afar.  

Something you can implement to help increase employee engagement is to schedule an employee “hangout” meeting once a month, maybe on the last Friday of the month. Schedule it for the last 20-30 minutes of the day and encourage your employees to bring a drink (like tea or coffee) and sit down to have an end-of-day chitchat.  

This allows your employees to enjoy each other’s company without having to talk about projects, deadlines, and things of that sort. Instead, they can connect over typical day-to-day things that are relevant to their lives and create a truly personal connection.  

According to the Harvard Business Review, having healthy relationships at work can boost employee morale and overall productivity. Making it a worthwhile pursuit to promote employee connectedness.  

Choose itec group for Your Remote Employee Solutions 

At itec group, our goal is to empower your business with a skilled and dedicated workforce that drives growth and allows your business reach new heights. We understand how important it is for you to have reliable employees capable of filling the gaps within your business.  

If you need talented remote employees who are reliable and equipped with the skills needed to be successful in your business, itec group can source and help navigate the hiring process.  

Specializing in recruitment, we understand all of the intricacies of the current market and can help you find the solutions you need to bolster your business force. Don’t leave your talent acquisition to chance—partner with the experts at itec group to secure top-tier talent for your most critical roles and take your business to the next level.  

Contact us today.