We’ve been writing and publishing Buffer’s State of Remote Work report for six years now, and we’ve realized rather a lot in regards to the traits, advantages, and struggles of distant employees alongside the way in which. This 12 months, after releasing the report, we had a number of folks remark that they questioned what the outcomes can be like for less than people who find themselves managers — and it’s a great query!
We weren’t clear sufficient when publishing the report that the State of Remote Work already contains folks managers and distant work leaders. Still, it felt like a chance to dive deeper into the info to tug out extra information particular to leaders.
While we didn’t ask if somebody was a folks supervisor after they accomplished the State of Remote Work survey (don’t fear, it’s already on the checklist for subsequent 12 months), we did ask in regards to the sort of position that somebody has, and one choice was “leadership.” So, right here’s what we realized trying on the outcomes from the State of Remote Work and evaluating those that work in management to those that don’t — the solutions would possibly shock you.
Leaders nonetheless overwhelmingly wish to work remotely
To begin, leaders nonetheless wish to work remotely for the remainder of their careers (99 p.c chosen this selection) and would suggest distant work to others (one other 99 p.c chosen this selection). This is just barely greater than non-leaders, who have been at 98 p.c for each questions. Ultimately, no massive distinction between leaders and non-leaders right here.
We additionally requested respondents to explain their expertise with distant work — and curiously, leaders have been extra prone to choose that they’d a constructive expertise. Ninety-six p.c of leaders chosen that their expertise was very constructive or considerably constructive in comparison with 90 p.c of non-leaders.
The distinction between how leaders and non-leaders expertise distant work is not drastic, although leaders usually tend to have a constructive expertise than non-leaders.
Leaders do work in another way
When it involves how distant leaders work, there are some variations between non-leaders and leaders who work remotely of their preferences for working in a hybrid setup, their work location, and being on digital camera.
The largest distinction is that whereas leaders nonetheless primarily want working absolutely remotely (65 p.c chosen absolutely distant as their most popular work construction), there’s a better quantity who would like a hybrid however distant first arrange, with 27 p.c of leaders choosing that choice in comparison with 20 p.c of non-leaders.
Leaders are additionally extra prone to have expertise with the hybrid setup. Forty-two p.c of leaders labored in a hybrid setup in comparison with 35 p.c of non-leaders.
Similarly, leaders have been much less prone to make money working from home than non-leaders, although the bulk nonetheless did; 75 p.c of leaders chosen they labored from residence in comparison with 83 p.c of non-leaders.
The remaining query we checked out was about being on digital camera — 76 p.c of leaders want to have their digital camera on for video calls in comparison with 62 p.c of non-leaders.
Overall, the responses from leaders have been pretty just like non-leaders right here, however with sufficient variation that it’s clear there’s a distinction between how these two teams get work finished.
The struggles of distant leaders
Despite the various advantages of distant work, leaders nonetheless face the identical struggles as non-leaders, with a number of variations.
The lack of construction and routine that comes with distant work is usually a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it permits for better flexibility and autonomy. On the opposite hand, it may be straightforward to develop into remoted. This is a wrestle that many distant employees share, and leaders are not any exception. The prime wrestle for distant employees was the identical for each leaders and non-leaders — staying residence too actually because they don’t have a purpose to depart.
Another problem that distant leaders face is the temptation to work outdoors of conventional workplace hours. Without the constraints of a bodily workplace, it may be straightforward to let work bleed into different components of life, which might result in burnout and an absence of work-life stability. Leaders, particularly, usually tend to fall into this lure than non-leaders.
The remaining wrestle that many leaders face is creating boundaries between work and life. Compared to non-leaders, leaders usually tend to discover it tough to separate the 2, with 40 p.c of leaders battling this in comparison with 30 p.c of non-leaders.
Though the highest wrestle stays the identical, leaders total usually tend to discover it difficult to disconnect from work and to work outdoors of standard hours.
Leaders are extra impartial on careers and distant work
Over the previous few years, the subject of profession development for distant employees has surfaced many instances, with some questioning if the transfer to distant work might negatively affect their profession trajectory. The subject of distant profession development continues to be considerably cut up. In our 2023 State of Remote Work report, respondents have been more likely to pick that profession development was simpler whereas working remotely than the prior 12 months, with 36 p.c of respondents choosing that choice. Another 36 p.c stated distant work had no affect on their profession development.
Leaders fall into the class of being extra impartial in regards to the affect of distant work on profession development. Forty-two p.c of leaders imagine that distant work has no affect on profession development in comparison with 36 p.c of non-leaders. Leaders are additionally extra prone to say that distant work has no affect on promotions (58 p.c chosen this) in comparison with non-leaders (56 p.c).
At the identical time, distant work as a requirement for future roles is much less essential to leaders than to non-leaders, which is in keeping with leaders being extra seemingly to decide on hybrid choices. Overall, leaders have a extra nuanced stance towards distant work on the subject of profession development and the significance of distant work for his or her subsequent position.
What’s going effectively for distant leaders
The panorama of distant work is totally different for leaders on the subject of what goes effectively for them, too. Leaders are barely extra prone to be considerably or very engaged with their job — 65 p.c of them chosen this selection in comparison with 58 p.c of non-leaders. Leaders are additionally much less prone to be searching for a brand new job.
Related to feeling engaged of their roles, leaders additionally really feel barely extra related to their colleagues (80 p.c in comparison with 75 p.c of non-leaders). Part of that could possibly be that leaders are additionally extra prone to have attended in-person work occasions up to now 12 months. Seventy-seven p.c of leaders chosen they’d met up in particular person for work in comparison with 69 p.c of non-leaders.
Overall, not all leaders need folks again within the workplace, though leaders usually tend to desire a hybrid setup.
Leaders have some very particular distant work struggles round boundaries. At the identical time, they must be conscious that due to their place, they may really feel extra related than their direct studies or non-leader colleagues.
We’d love to listen to from you in the event you’re a folks supervisor and you’re employed remotely — does this resonate? Send us a tweet!
