Workplace Proximity Bias: Challenges & Solutions for Teams

Feeling overlooked at work never feels great — but when it happens because you’re not close enough to decision-makers, it brews frustration and may (rightly) prompt a new job hunt.

The problem, proximity bias, leads managers to prefer those in their proximity. But there’s good news for business leaders. Whether the bias thrives due to excluding remote workers or a lack of communication, there are practical solutions to reduce it and maintain worker satisfaction and productivity.

This guide explains how proximity bias in the workplace works and details 9 solid strategies that tackle it.

What Is Proximity Bias in the Workplace?

Proximity bias is a tendency to favor people or things that are physically closer to us. For example, we prioritize our family and friends before strangers because we’re close to them more often.

Humans think events close to them (in time and space) are more likely to happen than distant ones. Assuming the events are positive, we naturally want more of them.

While we’re not always aware of it, we’re prone to proximity bias at work. For instance, you might experience (positive) proximity bias toward colleagues who:

• Work in the same physical area as you (say, a cluster of desks in an open office space.)

• Work closely with you on shared tasks or projects.

• See or speak to you more frequently (for instance, daily or weekly.)

• Interact with you in 3D (a.k.a., in person) rather than on audio/video/text-only.

As a result of this bias, you might favor people who fit this description. Combined with authority (say, managerial or hiring/promoting powers), it may even lead you to prioritize them for recognition, opportunities, and other professional benefits.

Indeed, fully remote workers are 31% less likely to get promoted than office-based colleagues. (On the bright side, though, the gap between hybrid and office-only workers is insignificant.)

Still, 67% of managers consider remote employees more replaceable, while 50% of employees fear remote work involves less networking — so, proximity bias is alive and thriving at work.

3 Examples of proximity bias

Examples of proximity bias include offering more recognition, career advancement, and project assignments to people physically close to decision-makers, such as on-site employees.

Scenario 1: Better performance reviews

Rosa is an on-site compliance manager. She works alongside her direct report, Rob, only a desk away. Meanwhile, Rob’s colleague Tom works remotely 5/5 days.

While Rob and Tom’s performances are comparable, Rosa praises Rob’s contributions more to other senior leaders. After the annual performance review, Rosa promoted Rob with bells and whistles, while only securing Tom a small pay increase.

Scenario 2: More responsibility and collaboration

Sarah and Latifah both joined as entry-level strategy consultants. While both mostly work from the office, Latifah works some days from home due to her health conditions.

Their line manager, Eric, doesn’t feel Latifah is as committed to the firm, so Sarah is often his first pick for challenging project assignments, on-site client meetings, and conference days.

Scenario 3: More career and job mentorship

Taylor’s business is fully remote. They have daily stand-ups with their direct reports, Abbi and Deep. While there is no geographical proximity between them, Taylor and Abbi share a home state and alma mater.

This cultural proximity means that Deep gets less career advice and job-specific mentorship from Taylor.

How Does Proximity Bias Impact the Workplace?

Proximity bias impacts key performance indicators (KPIs) across your organization, teams, and individuals. Here are the top ones to be aware of.

Impact on individuals:

• Lower morale: Not seeing your efforts rewarded due to lack of management proximity sinks morale and motivation.

• More conflict: Varying attention levels from decision-makers creates resentment and envy among colleagues, sparking interpersonal conflict.

• Turnover: When proximity bias becomes toxic, workers look for workplaces that better value them, including hybrid-friendly ones.

Team-level impact:

• Lower productivity: Neglecting to mentor and promote top talent because they’re not office-based or highly visible endangers team productivity.

• More instability: Dissatisfied workers may move teams in search of appreciation and responsibility, creating instability and knowledge drain within teams.

Organizational impact:

• Higher labor costs: Frustrated and under-engaged employees leave or “quiet quit”, raising staffing costs.

• Limited innovation: Preferential treatment based on closeness alone means the best ideas don’t surface, hindering innovation.

• Poorer customer outcomes: Spotlighting people and ideas based on proximity, not skill, increases error rates and middle-of-the-road client results.

The impact of proximity bias in hybrid workplaces

Hybrid workforces feature a mix of office and remote-based work. In the U.S., for remote-capable jobs, workers are in the office for 3.5 days on average. Only 37% work on-site every day, versus 7% that are fully remote.

However, employees and managers disagree over hybrid work impacts. For one thing, supervisors are more likely to think hybrid work decreases productivity (although almost half believe there’s no difference.)

Meanwhile, employees tend to perceive no negative consequences for skipping on-site days, but managers think this behavior risks termination. Finally, nine in 10 CEOs are likely to prioritize office-based colleagues for big projects and promotions.

These disjointed attitudes toward remote work mean that hybrid teams are even more prone to proximity bias.

Learn with Spike: Many studies — like this one from the National Bureau of Economic Research — show that team productivity either increases or stays the same with remote work arrangements.

How to Prevent Proximity Bias in the Workplace: 9 Practical Tips

Want to keep proximity bias at a distance? Here are our expert tips.

Tip #1: Offer proximity bias training and reminders

The first step to decreasing bias is awareness. Brief employees of all seniority levels on how proximity bias appears at work and how to make unbiased decisions. Plus, add practical training elements so workers learn by doing. For instance, include:

• Scenario role-play: Improvise within a set proximity bias scenario, and other participants give feedback.

• Mindfulness practice: Try techniques such as 5-minute silent meditations, mindful walking, and box breathing to still the mind and “catch” potential biases.

• Networking techniques: Practice conversation starters, rapport building, and active listening to decrease bias toward your own culture and background.

Tip #2: Decrease discretion with protocols

Ask internal decision makers — like directors or project managers — to explain in writing how they come to people management decisions such as promotions, project assignments, and pay increases.

For instance, they may have to write a 100-word statement (similar to a letter of recommendation) highlighting qualifications, skills, and numerical achievements. While admin-heavy, protocols like these reduce “discretionary” decisions often caused by proximity bias.

Bonus benefit: your organization gets the most qualified workers in key positions or projects.

Tip #3: Set and track clear performance targets

Make it easy for supervisors to make unbiased staffing choices by normalizing individual and team performance targets. Make them measurable and time-bound so you compare like for like.

For instance, in one month, Kay won two new clients and Adam won one. Here’s an illustration of long-term and short-term targets for a product manager role:

• Short-term targets: Complete five user interviews, and design three web pages.

• Long-term targets: Increase app engagement by 10%, and decrease app crash rate by 50%.

Tip #4: Foster a hybrid-friendly culture

An easy way to erase proximity bias is to force a return to work… Right?

Nope. Research shows that removing hybrid options leads to employee resentment and demotivation. As an alternative, help your whole team embrace the win-win hybrid experience — accelerating collaboration and decision-making on-site and gaining focus and work-life balance remotely.

The more staff members understand and benefit from a hybrid workplace, the less likely they are to deprioritize colleagues who aren’t physically close.

Here are two ways to nurture a hybrid-friendly culture.

Offer workers the flexibility they need to work well.

Fair workplace flexibility adjustments — such as choosing weekly remote days and start and end times — increase morale and productivity for both individuals and teams.

To ensure your people are satisfied with hybrid arrangements, identify their needs through surveys and 1-to-1 line manager “interviews”. Answers will vary from 100% remote to fully on-site, and extra personal preferences.

Analyze the results to check:

• Average preference: Will your team be mostly remote, mostly in-person, or half-and-half?

• Team differences: For example, does the marketing team prefer more remote days than product management staff?

• Task preferences: Workers may prefer to do focused, non-collaborative tasks from home, and creative tasks on-site. Use these insights to create task-based hybrid policies.

• Best days to arrange office meetups: When can most team members attend in-person events such as training workshops and all-hands meetings?

Use staff inputs to write hybrid policies for your organization and specific teams. Make sure employees can easily access them (for instance, pinned to the teamwork chat) and discuss them during onboarding.

Learn with Spike: Our comprehensive guide deep-dives into how to build a sustainable hybrid workplace.

Create equal recognition habits.

It’s tempting to mention proximity bias in a yearly management meeting and assume everyone “got it”. But habits require repetition. A simple but effective way to prevent proximity bias in hybrid settings is regular (and equal) employee recognition.

Your leadership team can remind managers periodically to celebrate their team members’ achievements, both online and in the office. Excellent forums include weekly team meetings and the team chat app.

Tip #5: Run impactful meetings

By running successful meetings on and off-screen, coworkers better understand and appreciate each other’s work, helping diminish proximity bias. Here are some failproof tips for nailing hybrid meetings.

Set meetings at accessible times.

You may have cross-geographic teams or employee demographics who are more likely to work remotely — including including people of color, mothers, and people with disabilities. In such cases, it’s doubly important to find meeting times that work for everyone. Do:

• Keep a tidy record of where and when team members work from, and check it before scheduling meetings.

• Send polls to team members with dates and times to schedule one-off and regular team meetings.

• Recur meetings when possible to avoid accidental no-shows.

• As a last resort, pick the most popular time, record the meeting discussion, and ask for absentees’ inputs after the meeting.

Request contributions equally in hybrid meetings.

People who don’t work closely with decision-makers might hesitate to speak up in meetings. So, proactively ask for equal contributions in hybrid meetings, especially from on-screen people.

For instance, pause and ask for inputs after each agenda point (e.g., “Does anyone have any questions, in the room or virtually?”)

In larger meetings, moderators can scan the room(s) for names and ask individuals to contribute based on their relationship to the topics. (e.g., “Heeba, I know you look after [project]. Did you have any views on this?”)

Invest in high-quality meeting tech.

“I think we’ve lost Jane.” Some technical issues can’t be helped. But many decrease with high-quality tech, helping on-site and remote employees make the most of collaboration time.

Invest in durable, high-performance laptops and headphones (on-site and off). Plus, offer at-home workers a second monitor (to support seamless screen sharing while connecting with colleagues on video calls) and internet connection enhancements, where necessary.

Tip #6: Contribute to employees’ well-being (wherever they are)

Help workers feel just as comfortable at home as in the office. With a positive outlook, free of stress and burnout, your staff members are more aware of their biases and better able to connect to those who aren’t immediately close.

For example, you can:

• Offer office workers space to walk, think, and take breaks. Add some office plants and comfy sofas, and ensure the breakout area is separate from the desk space. This keeps in-person workers more alert and mindful.

• Help remote and hybrid employees socialize and avoid burnout. For instance, organize online Friday after-work “drinks” and offer well-being stipends (e.g., $10 a month for a meditation app subscription.)

Tip #7: Provide more internal networking opportunities.

Internal networking connects coworkers who otherwise wouldn’t interact via teamwork. For instance, a sales director might meet an enthusiastic HR colleague looking for a department transfer.

Here are some creative ideas to bring team members together:

• Launch a monthly “coffee roulette” and randomly pair employees for a 15-minute coffee chat. Alternate between in-person and virtual monthly events.

• Organize yearly (non-technical) hackathons where mixed teams compete to solve company-wide problems — say, targeting a new customer vertical.

• Fund monthly interest clubs where cross-departmental colleagues discuss topics like their favorite books or UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Tip #8: Offer communication guidelines.

Lack of workplace communication fuels proximity bias by preventing relationship building and clear information exchange.

So, offer your team structured communication resources such as:

• Channel consistency: Clarify purposes for each comms channel. For example, use emails and group chats for regular updates; project management tools for task assignments; online meetings for brainstorming and decisions; and face-to-face conversations for general collab and informal catch-ups.

• Asynchronous communication: Normalize asynchronous (i.e., happening at different times) interactions such as chat messages and voice notes. Clarify timeline expectations — for instance, replying to certain stakeholders or on certain projects within 24 hours.

Learn with Spike: Hungry for more tips? Read our interpersonal communication skills guide.

Tip #9: Use a hybrid-enabling collaboration platform

The right technology platform helps increase visibility and build closer relationships, wherever your staff works from. In particular, seamless video meetings, intuitive emails, secure team chats, and collaborative workflows should be user-friendly and feature-rich.

Here’s what Spike — a leading end-to-end communication platform — offers hybrid teams.

• Conversational email: Build focused relationships with a person-sorted inbox that looks and feels like a chat.

• DMs and group chats: Chat 1-to-1 with your team securely, and add nuance with pre-viewable files, voice notes, emoji reactions, and more.

• Magic AI: Build rapport quickly with Spike’s AI assistant. It can refine your message tone, summarize documents, draft email replies, and more.

• Shared tasks and docs: View team members’ task status and document contributions, bias-free.

• Video meetings: Schedule or jump on one-click video calls — for a hybrid all-hands meeting or a “coffee roulette” chat.

Wrap-up: Weed Out Proximity Bias With Spike

Proximity bias not only leaves employees feeling undervalued but also threatens client outcomes and innovation.

However, take practical steps like supporting employee well-being, creating hybrid-friendly meetings and culture, and tracking performance targets — and proximity bias will diminish over time in your company.

In addition, hybrid workplaces need a robust collaboration platform like Spike Teamspace. Our conversational email, secure chat, video calls, and Magic AI assistant foster stronger relationships in your team, while shared docs and tasks maintain accountability and unbiased performance tracking.