Former Google boss says remote workers 'won't get promotions' without returning to offices

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt believes that promotions can only be achieved through office work, while remote employees are unlikely to have such opportunities.

Schmidt, who led Google from 2001 to 2011, actively advocates for companies' return-to-office policies, asserting that in-office work primarily benefits the employees themselves, as it is the only way to gain valuable experience—and eventually, promotions.

“When I was a young manager, I didn’t know any of what I was doing. But I was fortunate to be in the office—and I learned everything by standing by the water cooler, hanging out in the hallways, and attending meetings,” Schmidt said in a recent episode of the podcast “CEO Diary” (via Business Insider).

Schmidt notes that the in-office knowledge he acquired played a “critical role” in his subsequent promotions.

“If you are in your 20s, you need to be in the office because that’s how you’ll get promoted.”

In fact, Schmidt's statements are supported by some statistical data. An analysis by Live Data Technologies claims that remote workers received promotions 31% less frequently than their office counterparts or those in hybrid roles (based on a survey of 2 million office workers).

At the same time, Schmidt acknowledged that in certain industries, working from home can enhance productivity.

“There are areas that have been studied and have evidence that the flexibility of working from home increases productivity,” he said. “I don’t like it, but I want to acknowledge that such data exists.”

Research results comparing productivity in various work environments yield mostly conflicting outcomes, which is likely related to differences in productivity measurement methods. For example, a study from Stanford University showed that remote work reduces employee productivity by 10% compared to working in the office, while hybrid work has “no effect on productivity.”

In April, Schmidt also stated that Google is losing ground to competitors in the artificial intelligence sector, partly due to its remote work policy.

“Google has decided that work-life balance, meaning working from home, is more important than winning,” Schmidt said then. “And the reason startups have the advantage is that people work like horses there.”

He added that if the tech giant wants to remain competitive against other startups, it “will not allow people to work from home and just come into the office once a week.” (After his comments were published, Schmidt recanted them, and his spokesperson stated that “Eric misspoke about Google’s work policy and regrets his error.”)

In 2022, Google informed its employees that they must be present in the office at least three days a week and later announced that attendance would be factored into performance evaluations. However, in October, the company reassured employees that it would not replicate Amazon's actions concerning the requirement to be in the office five days a week.