Working from home has become normal for many employees, but new research suggests it may still carry a career penalty — and that penalty may fall more heavily on men than women.
A study led by King’s Business School found evidence of bias against remote workers in both the U.K. and Germany, even as hybrid work has grown rapidly since the pandemic.
Researchers asked about 5,300 employed people to assess hypothetical candidates as if they were making promotion or hiring decisions. Candidates who worked from home received lower ratings, especially when they did so three or four days a week.
The most surprising finding was that fathers and workers without children tended to face bigger drops in ratings, while mothers were penalized the least.
But researchers caution that this does not necessarily mean mothers benefit from working remotely. In the U.K., mothers already received lower office-based ratings, so homeworking caused less additional damage. Men often started from a higher rating, meaning they had more to lose.
For employers, the takeaway is clear: offering flexibility is not enough. Organizations also need to make sure employees can use flexible work options without being seen as less committed, less capable, or less promotable.
