Can Remote Work Help Diversity Recruitment?
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New research from Wharton shows that technology firms pull a more diverse pool of job applicants when they offer remote work, a finding that could help shape how jobs are designed in the future.
In their paper accepted for publication in Management Science, Wharton professors David Hsu and Prasanna (Sonny) Tambe analyzed thousands of technical and managerial jobs that were posted before, during, and after the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. When the same jobs shifted from in-person to remote, that single change yielded a 15% increase in female applicants, a 33% increase in underrepresented minority applicants, and a 17% increase in total applicant experience.
Although the study focused on tech startups, the professors said the results are relevant for business leaders across industries as they tackle the dual challenge of increasing workforce diversity and figuring out remote, hybrid, and in-person work.
“We think that there’s going to be a lot of real-world importance [to this research] as companies think through what their policy is going to be. Is it going to be equitable? How do we encourage the right behavior and balance it against the needs and wants of the employees?” Hsu told Wharton Business Daily on SiriusXM during an interview about the paper, which is titled “Remote Work and Job Applicant Diversity: Evidence from Technology Startups.”
