Mastering visibility is one of the keys to being seen as a “reputable employee”.

Regardless if you’re working for an old-school leader who thinks remote working is a misguided fantasy (Gerstener, 2024) or a new-school leader who’s into hybrid work, autonomy, and management by objectives (MBO), remote workers face an up-hill journey being visible and relevant. The age-old adage of “out of sight, out of mind” remains pertinent, even with the assistance of modern technology and communications.

“Despite appreciating MBO and autonomy, remote workers [find they must] self-reinforce norms of control. They work longer and communicate more frequently to be considered “reputable employees” and to avoid career penalisation.”  (Pianese et al, 2024)

Why it matters

Maintaining your visibility enhances:

• Your career progression
• The perception of your performance and status as a “reputable employee”
• Your trust relationship with manager and team
• The perception of your contribution to team communication and collaboration

Take action

• Acknowledge that remote work requires thoughtful and intentional management of your visibility. Visibility is hindered by remoteness.
• Report regularly and meaningfully (focusing on objectives) to your leader and peers, in a way that best suits them.
• Develop and maintain your influence and trust, upwards to management and outwards to your team.
• Secure a regular one-on-one meeting with your leader, work together to keep it focused and efficient.
• Leverage those Enterprise Social Media (ESM) technologies available to you to help maintain relationships.
• Remember team objectives as well as your own. Support the team to meet shared objectives.

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Learn more  

You’re not imagining it! Studies such as Pianese et al (2024) show that additional effort is required to overcome obstacles to visibility when working remotely. And further, that reduced visibility can significantly reduce career progression, influence and trust. Proximity bias, where leaders unconsciously favour those physically closer to them, is exacerbated by remote work.

“42% of managers said they sometimes forget about remote workers when assigning tasks. This may explain why remote workers get promoted less often than their peers, despite being 15% more productive on average.” (Tsipursky, 2022)

The good news is that by taking intentional control of the remote visibility challenge, remote workers can excel equally with their office colleagues.

Go Deeper

• Estagnasié, C. (2022). Being seen at a distance: issues of digital visibility and psychosocial risks in a pandemic context. Link
• Gerstner, L. V. (2024). Remote Work Is a Leadership Killer: There’s no way of learning to manage people other than by direct observation of those who do it well. Link
• Harvard Business Review. (2013). HBR Guide to Managing Up and Across. Link
• Pianese, T., Errichiello, L., & Da Cunha, J. V. (2023). Organizational control in the context of remote working: A synthesis of empirical findings and a research agenda. Link
• Tsipursky, G. (2022). What is Proximity Bias and How Can Managers Prevent It? Harvard Business Review. Link
• Van Zoonen, W., Sivunen, A., Rice, R. E., & Treem, J. W. (2023). Organizational Information and Communication Technologies and Their Influence on Communication Visibility and Perceived Proximity. International Journal of Business Communication, 60(4), 1267-1289. Link
• Williamson, S., Jogulu, U., Lundy, J., & Taylor, H. Will return-to-office mandates prevent proximity bias for employees working from home? Australian Journal of Public Administration. Link
• Wisdom, J. (2023). Five Ways to Make Your One-On-One Meetings More Effective. MIT Sloan Management Review, 64(2), 1-4. Link