We’ve been writing and publishing Buffer’s State of Distant Work report for six years now, and we’ve realized lots concerning the traits, advantages, and struggles of distant employees alongside the way in which. This yr, after releasing the report, we had a number of folks remark that they questioned what the outcomes could 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 Distant Work already contains folks managers and distant work leaders. Nonetheless, it felt like a possibility to dive deeper into the info to drag out extra knowledge particular to leaders.
Whereas we didn’t ask if somebody was a folks supervisor after they accomplished the State of Distant Work survey (don’t fear, it’s already on the listing for subsequent yr), we did ask concerning the form of position that somebody has, and one possibility was “management.” So, right here’s what we realized wanting on the outcomes from the State of Distant Work and evaluating those that work in management to those that don’t — the solutions would possibly shock you.
Leaders nonetheless overwhelmingly need to work remotely
To start out, leaders nonetheless need to work remotely for the remainder of their careers (99 p.c chosen this feature) and would suggest distant work to others (one other 99 p.c chosen this feature). That is solely barely increased than non-leaders, who have been at 98 p.c for each questions. Finally, no large distinction between leaders and non-leaders right here.
We additionally requested respondents to explain their expertise with distant work — and apparently, leaders have been extra prone to choose that that they had a optimistic expertise. Ninety-six p.c of leaders chosen that their expertise was very optimistic or considerably optimistic 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 optimistic expertise than non-leaders.
Leaders do work in another way
In the case of 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 favor a hybrid however distant first arrange, with 27 p.c of leaders deciding on that possibility 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.
Equally, leaders have been much less prone to work at home than non-leaders, although the bulk nonetheless did; 75 p.c of leaders chosen they labored from dwelling in comparison with 83 p.c of non-leaders.
The ultimate 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.
Total, the responses from leaders have been pretty much like non-leaders right here, however with sufficient variation that it’s clear there’s a distinction between how these two teams get work performed.
The struggles of distant leaders
Regardless of the various advantages of distant work, leaders nonetheless face the identical struggles as non-leaders, with just a few variations.
The shortage of construction and routine that comes with distant work generally is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it permits for better flexibility and autonomy. Alternatively, it may be straightforward to grow to be remoted. This can be a battle that many distant employees share, and leaders are not any exception. The highest battle for distant employees was the identical for each leaders and non-leaders — staying dwelling too actually because they don’t have a motive to go away.
One other problem that distant leaders face is the temptation to work exterior of conventional workplace hours. With out the constraints of a bodily workplace, it may be straightforward to let work bleed into different elements of life, which might result in burnout and an absence of work-life stability. Leaders, particularly, usually tend to fall into this entice than non-leaders.
The ultimate battle that many leaders face is creating boundaries between work and life. In comparison with non-leaders, leaders usually tend to discover it troublesome to separate the 2, with 40 p.c of leaders battling this in comparison with 30 p.c of non-leaders.
Although the highest battle stays the identical, leaders total usually tend to discover it difficult to disconnect from work and to work exterior of standard hours.
Leaders are extra impartial on careers and distant work
Over the previous few years, the subject of profession progress for distant employees has surfaced many occasions, with some questioning if the transfer to distant work may negatively affect their profession trajectory. The subject of distant profession progress remains to be considerably break up. In our 2023 State of Distant Work report, respondents have been more likely to pick that profession progress was simpler whereas working remotely than the prior yr, with 36 p.c of respondents deciding on that possibility. One other 36 p.c mentioned distant work had no affect on their profession progress.
Leaders fall into the class of being extra impartial concerning the affect of distant work on profession progress. Forty-two p.c of leaders imagine that distant work has no affect on profession progress 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).
On the identical time, distant work as a requirement for future roles is much less necessary to leaders than to non-leaders, which is according to leaders being extra doubtless to decide on hybrid choices. Total, leaders have a extra nuanced stance towards distant work in the case of profession progress and the significance of distant work for his or her subsequent position.
What’s going nicely for distant leaders
The panorama of distant work is completely different for leaders in the case of what goes nicely for them, too. Leaders are barely extra prone to be considerably or very engaged with their job — 65 p.c of them chosen this feature in comparison with 58 p.c of non-leaders. Leaders are additionally much less prone to be in search of a brand new job.
Associated to feeling engaged of their roles, leaders additionally really feel barely extra linked to their colleagues (80 p.c in comparison with 75 p.c of non-leaders). A part of that might be that leaders are additionally extra prone to have attended in-person work occasions up to now yr. Seventy-seven p.c of leaders chosen that they had met up in particular person for work in comparison with 69 p.c of non-leaders.
Total, not all leaders need folks again within the workplace, though leaders usually tend to need a hybrid setup.
Leaders have some very particular distant work struggles round boundaries. On the identical time, they should be conscious that due to their place, they may really feel extra linked than their direct experiences or non-leader colleagues.
We’d love to listen to from you should you’re a folks supervisor and you’re employed remotely — does this resonate? Ship us a tweet!
