46% Of Professionals Say Their Likelihood Of Being Promoted During WFH Has Decreased

46% Of Professionals Say Their Likelihood Of Being Promoted During WFH Has Decreased

As a team player, you want the value you bring to the table to be visible to your managers. You want a positive reputation so that when new opportunities show up, you come to mind. For this to happen, you need to build relationships within your team. These relationships are essential for career development.

If you feel as if the Covid-19 pandemic is messing up your career plans, you are not alone. On Blind, an anonymous professional network with 3.6M verified users, 29% of professionals claim their relationship with their manager has deteriorated.

The platform ran a survey from 10/12- 10/19 and had 1,800 responses. The survey asked the following questions:

  1. Since WFH began, your relationship with your manager has:
  2. Since WFH began, you believe the likelihood of being promoted to have:

Key Learnings (2,700 responses): 

  •  29% of professionals claim their relationship with their manager has deteriorated.
      • 35% of Microsoft professionals claim their relationship with their manager has deteriorated.
      • 25% of Apple professionals claim their relationship with their manager has deteriorated.
      • 24% of Facebook professionals claim their relationship with their manager has deteriorated.
      • 25% of Executive/C-Suite professionals claim that managerial relationships have deteriorated.
      • 32% of entry level professionals claim that managerial relationships have deteriorated.
  • 46% of professionals say their likelihood of being promoted during WFH has decreased 
      • 0% of Uber professionals say their likelihood of being promoted during WFH has increased 
      • 43% of Microsoft professionals say their likelihood of being promoted during WFH has decreased
      • 62% of Linkedin professionals say their likelihood of being promoted during WFH has decreased  
      • 63% of VMWare professionals say their likelihood of being promoted during WFH has decreased 
      • 50% of entry level professionals say their likelihood of being promoted during WFH has decreased 
      • 49% of mid-manager level professionals say their likelihood of being promoted during WFH has decreased

You can see the report highlighting the overall responses here.

A user at Uber asked the platform, “Developing relationships remotely at work? I’ll be joining a big tech company as a PM soon (obviously remotely like everyone else). I’m concerned it’ll be hard to quickly develop meaningful and strong relationships with team members/stakeholders since we’re all remote. The classic methods of getting lunch together and having side chats aren’t available these days and doing a side chat zoom feels weird and forced. Do you have any advice on how to quickly and organically develop strong relationships with new teammates in a new role in this post-COVID world?

Some ideas I had so far:

– try to grab a socially distanced coffee with new coworkers

– go for a socially distanced run/walk/lunch with new coworkers

– ???” 

Perhaps seeking a mentor during these uncertain times is a productive way to combat the fear of having a stagnant career. Acting on feedback is crucial to getting better at your job and earning recognition.