Women who work from home risk career setbacks, warns Nationwide CEO

Debbie Crosbie, chief executive of the Nationwide Building Society, has cautioned that women who regularly work from home could miss out on promotion opportunities due to lower in-person visibility.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Crosbie said that more women than men had opted for flexible working in the post-pandemic era—often because of childcare responsibilities—and that this reduced office presence could impede professional growth.

Crosbie explained that “development-watching”—the chance to observe and learn from senior leaders up-close—was integral to her own rise through the ranks. “Men are more likely to come into the office than women, and we need to be really careful that we don’t prevent women from accessing that vital learning,” she said. Nationwide introduced a “work from anywhere” policy for non-branch staff during the pandemic but has since tightened the requirement to at least two days a week in the office.

Recollecting her early career under Lynne Peacock at Clydesdale Bank, Crosbie noted how seeing an “inspiring female chief executive” tackle challenges helped her develop. She also credited her decision to have a child at 32 for granting her flexibility at pivotal moments in her career. “Many women are now having children later—in their late 30s—precisely when they’re often in line for more senior posts,” she added.

Recent data from the Office for National Statistics shows that 28% of the UK workforce is now hybrid-working (splitting their time between home and the workplace), and 13% remain fully remote. Among working parents, that figure rises to 35%, with more fathers than mothers favouring a hybrid pattern. Meanwhile, 44% of UK workers still commute to the same workplace five days a week.

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Women who work from home risk career setbacks, warns Nationwide CEO