Workers say they lost promotions, wages due to C-19

Lindon-based Bamboo HR, a cloud hosted platform for human resources management, has released the results of a new study revealing the average remote worker estimates that he or she lost more than $9,800 in promotions that were delayed or denied during the last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As corporations across the country claim hybrid work is here to stay, the study of more than 1,000 remote workers looks at how the shift in workplace realities is impacting pay, gender, racial and age divides, and how it left more than half of workers (53 percent) feeling burnt out on a weekly basis. Now organizations must face the fact that nearly one-third of remote workers plan to switch careers or look for a new job in the next six months, study authors said.

According to those surveyed, the pandemic didn’t just halt travel and social interactions; for many employees, it halted their career and financial progress as well. The study found that 78 percent of remote workers think their career development has been negatively affected over the past year, with the top factors being burnout (25 percent) and having to balance home and/or family life (25 percent). Thirty-six percent of remote workers feel their career progress has stalled or gone backward in the past year, with 21 percent experiencing a promotion freeze and 30 percent expecting promotions but say they were delayed or denied during the past year.

Employees said they took extra measures in order to get promoted, including working extra hours, volunteering for extra projects and responsibilities, taking on the responsibilities of someone who was laid off or who had hours cut, working on days off and working so hard they got burned out.

“One of the most important conversations of this year is if and when companies will transition back to in-person or hybrid workplaces but our data is a stark reminder that we need to be discussing more than just the logistics of this return,” said Cassie Whitlock, head of human resources at BambooHR.