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A Two-Year, 50-Million-Person Experiment in Changing How We Work
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A Two-Year, 50-Million-Person Experiment in Changing How We Work

The office was never one size fits all. It was one size fits some, with the expectation that everybody else would squeeze in.

Emma Goldberg
The New York Times, 2022
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9

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After working remotely for months, a project manager finally received the promotion and raise denied her before the pandemic. Working from home allowed leaders to evaluate her work, without emphasizing her social skills. New York Times reporter Emma Goldberg reveals that many people prefer remote work’s flexibility, freedom from commuting and zero pressure to fit in with an office social culture, even if being remote can delay promotions. The pandemic changed people’s belief that to succeed they must work long hours and be available constantly. As firms ask employees to return, they face pressure and resignations from those who prefer just doing their work – not dealing with the office.

Summary

For some employees, working remotely alleviates the sense that they don’t belong in their office culture.

Many of the 700 respondents to a recent questionnaire about work told The New York Times that workplace culture is a major issue. While the risk of catching COVID-19 remained a primary concern at the time, many people dreaded returning to an office’s forced congeniality and “old boys’ club.”

Prior to COVID-19, Black project manager Kristen Egziabher, 40, asked for a promotion and raise, but her bosses turned her down because, they said, they knew her work, but didn’t “know” her – meaning that she hadn’t socialized sufficiently in the office for them to regard her as part of the firm’s culture. A few months into the pandemic – which Egziabher spent working at home – her company finally promoted her and gave her an 11% raise. She views this as a result of the company judging her solely on her performance.

For Egziabher...

About the Author

New York Times reporter Emma Goldberg covers how work will change in the future.

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