Remote workers 35% more likely to be fired than those who return to office

Remote workers 35% more likely to be fired than those who return to office, per NYP.

The Wall Street Journal reported new data indicating that in 2023, full-time remote workers were 35% more likely to be laid off than their in-office counterparts.

Live Data Technologies' data revealed that 10% of remote employees were laid off last year, compared to just 7% of in-office or hybrid colleagues.

These findings coincide with a surge of layoffs last year and recent job cuts across various sectors, affecting media outlets like Business Insider, the Los Angeles Times, Pitchfork, and Sports Illustrated, as well as commerce sites like eBay and Wayfair, and tech giants like Microsoft.

Andy Challenger, senior vice president at the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, explained to the Journal that when hiring managers must cut staff, it's easier to select someone with whom they don't have a close personal relationship, attributing this to the emotional distance of virtual work.

George Penn, managing vice president at the advisory firm Gartner, expressed no surprise at these findings. A 2021 survey by Gartner revealed that managers and executives consider in-office employees to be higher performers.

“Managers believe employees who work remote are lower performers than those that come to the office,” said Brian Kropp, chief of human resources research at Gartner. “They will on average be more likely to lay off those who are working remote than those who are coming into the office.”

“It’s out of sight, out of mind,” Kropp noted.

Live Data Technologies' results also showed that remote workers are more likely to quit, with 12% of them leaving their company and finding a new job within two months last year.