Hybrid Work
Proximity bias: why managers promote the people they can see
Proximity bias is the tendency to rate people more highly simply because they are physically close to us. It is rarely deliberate. A manager sees one person at the next desk every day and another only on a screen, and over a year the first person starts to feel more committed, more reliable and more ready for promotion, whatever the work says.
When presence becomes the measure, the people who are easiest to see are not always the people doing the most.
What is proximity bias in the workplace?
In the workplace, proximity bias shows up wherever judgment is informal: who gets the stretch assignment, whose idea gets credit in the meeting, who is top of mind when a role opens. It favors the people who arrive early, leave late and look busy, the visible signals, over the quieter evidence of results.
In remote and hybrid work it becomes structural. When some of a team is in the room and some is not, the room wins small decisions by default, and small decisions add up to careers.
How it shows up in reviews and promotions
Watch for performance reviews full of words like “presence”, “engagement” and “visible” with few specific outcomes attached. Watch for promotion slates that look like the office seating plan. Watch for remote people who are consistently rated “meets expectations” while delivering the same work as people rated higher.
How to overcome proximity bias
Telling managers to “be fair” does not work, because the bias is not felt as unfairness. It is felt as knowing someone better. Change the system instead:
- 1Define what good output looks like for each role before review season, in writing.
- 2Ask for evidence of results in every rating and promotion case, not impressions.
- 3Run meetings so the remote person speaks first, not last.
- 4Rotate high-visibility assignments on purpose rather than by who is nearby.
- 5Compare ratings by work location once a year and ask why any gap exists.
The leadership question underneath
Proximity bias is a symptom of a deeper habit: treating visibility as if it were leadership. The real question for any role is not “who can I see?” but “what does this work actually need, and how would I know it is being done well?”