Working remotely is a sought-after perk when it comes to employment, but that doesn’t mean it’s all rainbows and unicorns. Workplace politics can be more frequent and complicated when you work from home, according to research by Joseph Grenny and David Maxfield, coauthors of Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High.
Their new study of 1,153 employees found that 52% of remote workers feel their onsite colleagues don’t treat them equally, 41% believe their colleagues say bad things about them behind their back, and 64% think that colleagues make changes to projects without warning them. Unfortunately, remote employees also have a hard time resolving these problems; 84% say that their concern dragged on for a few days or more, and 47% admit to letting it drag on for a few weeks or more.
The success of co-located teams relies on managers with quality communication skills, says Maxfield. “The fact that people work remotely is not going away, but out of sight can be out of mind,” he says. “While people love the flexibility, leaders need to step up and become more effective.”