Debbie Crosby’s alert that lacking a ‘physical presence’ in the office could cost women their promotions receives a mixed reaction.
The boss of the world’s largest building society has said women who work from home potentially put their career growth in jeopardy.
Debbie Crosbie, chief executive of Nationwide, also said that given a choice, women are less likely than men to go into the workplace.
And that’s problematic for women’s career progression, she hinted, as “being seen…is a really important part of development.”
What is development-watching?
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Crosbie also said “development-watching” — her term for observing leaders up close — was “vital learning” denied by working from home.
Crosbie’s strong suggestion is that a “physical presence” in the workplace is the key to getting promoted.
A manager at the UK’s largest independent job site, CV-Library, Chez Gray, isn’t so sure.
Can you secure promotions while working from home?
Gray says she has secured five promotions in the last four-and-a-half years — ranging from junior software engineer to senior tech lead — “all while working remotely.”
“Working from home has been a launchpad for my career”, Gray added yesterday in a statement to Moore News.
“But it’s not without its challenges. To succeed, you have to be proactive — build connections, advocate for yourself, and constantly upskill.”
Is being ‘physically seen’ the key to being promoted as a woman?
Jennifer Allen, also of CV-Library, where she is a senior product manager, took issue with the “physical presence” stipulation from Crosbie, who became Nationwide’s CEO in June 2022.
“It’s no longer about being physically seen. It’s about showing your value through the quality of your work and staying engaged,” Allen told Moore News.
“It’s empowering for women to know that the old model of being ‘seen’ so you can succeed is fading. And it’s being replaced by opportunities to excel regardless of location.”
What do people miss out on when they Work From Home (WFH)?
Instead of “shouting down” Nationwide’s Ms Crosbie “maybe we should applaud her for recognising there could be another way,” says Lucy Smith of Hug.
Taking to LinkedIn, Smith, the social impact organisation’s CSO, sounded sympathetic to the financial services CEO’s specific points, posting:
“As someone who works from home every day, I can’t ignore what’s missing.
“The camaraderie…, the energy of collaboration, and the unexpected moments of learning that come from simply being around colleagues.
“I’ll never forget how much I learned early in my career just by observing my managers in action, or picking up business skills by osmosis.
“And I’m worried that future generations risk losing out on this too.”
How many employers have freshly issued return-to-work orders?
The debate over the value of ‘water-cooler moments’ and Crosbie’s “development-watching,” already seems a bit academic.
At least six large, US-headquartered companies used January 2025 to instruct their staff to return to the office.
“JPMorgan, Disney, Amazon, Google, Meta, and X all pushed ‘working from home’ as the future [during the pandemic]. And now they want everyone back at their desks,” Geoff Shepherd, a CXO head-hunter, wrote on social media.
How many of WPP’s staff are petitioning the advertising giant over its ‘in-office’ working mandate?
The world’s largest ad company, WPP, has told staff that a mandatory four-day-a-week office attendance policy will replace the flexible arrangements it pivoted to during covid.
The advertising and branding behemoth is now being petitioned by more than 20,000 of its workers demanding the “reconsider this mandate.”
For women who wish to work remotely, figures from a banking and financial services recruiter — handed yesterday to Moore News — might cause concern.
What proportion of financial services employers are demanding enforced office attendance?
A jobs agency placing workers across London’s Square Mile, Bowers Partnership, says it received “fewer” fully remote roles in January 2025.
“[While] hybrid working is still going strong,…around 30-40% of our clients are encouraging more office-time,” the agency’s founder, Natalie Bowers, told Moore News.
What did Nationwide CEO Debbie Crosby actually say about working from home?
In her BBC interview, Nationwide’s Debbie Crosby said: “Post the pandemic, there has been a lot more flexibility given; not just to people who have child caring responsibilities, but also to people who have either caring responsibilities.
“I’m a great fan of that. I just think that we’ve got to be really careful of making sure women get the chance to be present in the business-place as well, because being seen — and then seeing other leaders — is a really important part of their development. We need to be careful that we don’t inadvertently prevent women from taking opportunities by not being in the office”.
What has a digital leader at Barclaycard Payments said of the Nationwide boss’s WFH comments?
To his online followers, Dan Reed, head of digital servicing for small business at Barclaycard Payments, admitted he “can’t keep quiet” after listening to Crosbie.
The building society boss’s interview with Radio 4 on December 31st 2024, is here (from about 18:20 onwards).
“Why is that, I wonder?” started Reed, citing Crosbie, a former project manager for Clydesdale Bank, saying in her interview that Nationwide found that its female staff were less likely than male staff to attend the office.
“Is it because women are, predominantly, expected to be responsible for childcare, school drop off / pick up, and general wrap-around trad-wife roles? As well as their actual job, too?
“If so, fix that. Help to change the societal narrative that expects this of women.”
What has ex-M&S boss Lord Stuart Rose said about working from home?
Lord Stuart Rose, the former boss of Marks & Spencer and Asda, said on January 20th 2025, that working from home was creating a generation who are “not doing proper work.”
He was later criticised for being “incredibly out of touch.”
The retail tycoon told BBC Panorama: “We have regressed in this country in terms of working practices, productivity and in terms of the country’s wellbeing, I think, by 20 years in the last four.”
This Moore News article is an edited version of the original, which can be read on Women In Tech.co.uk.