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The Power of Proximity to Coworkers

Author

Listed:
  • Natalia Emanuel
  • Emma Harrington
  • Amanda Pallais

Abstract

How does proximity to coworkers affect training and productivity? We study software engineers at a Fortune 500 firm from 2019 to 2024. We leverage two shocks to colocation: (i) the office closures in 2020 and (ii) the subsequent return-to-office mandates. In both cases, co-located teams experienced bigger changes in proximity than distributed ones, facilitating difference-in-differences designs. We find that sitting near teammates increases coding feedback by 18.3% and improves code quality. Gains are concentrated among less-tenured and younger employees, who are building human capital. However, there is a tradeoff: experienced engineers write less code when sitting near colleagues. In national US data, we find suggestive evidence that the rise of remote work has had scarring effects on young college graduates: in remotable jobs, their unemployment rate has remained elevated relative to older graduates’, a pattern not seen in non-remotable jobs.

Suggested Citation

  • Natalia Emanuel & Emma Harrington & Amanda Pallais, 2023. "The Power of Proximity to Coworkers," NBER Working Papers 31880, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:31880
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Fenizia, Alessandra & Kirchmaier, Thomas, 2024. "Not incentivized yet efficient: working from home in the public sector," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 126773, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Xiaoyue Shan & Ulf Zölitz & Uschi Backes-Gellner, 2025. "Disconnecting Women: Gender Disparities in the Impact of Online Instruction," CESifo Working Paper Series 11997, CESifo.
    3. Marcus Berliant & Masahisa Fujita, 2025. "Knowledge creation through multimodal communication," The Japanese Economic Review, Springer, vol. 76(4), pages 821-890, October.
    4. Laura Ketter & Todd Morris & Lizi Yu, 2025. "A new equilibrium: COVID-19 lockdowns and WFH persistence," Papers 2506.16671, arXiv.org.
    5. Nicholas Bloom & Gordon B. Dahl & Dan-Olof Rooth, 2024. "Work from Home and Disability Employment," NBER Working Papers 32943, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Zarate, Pablo & Dolls, Mathias & Davis, Steven & Bloom, Nicholas & Barrero, Jose Maria & Aksoy, Cevat Giray, 2024. "Why Does Working from Home Vary Across Countries and People?," CEPR Discussion Papers 19003, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    7. José Maria Barrero & Nicholas Bloom & Kathryn Bonney & Cory Breaux & Catherine Buffington & Steven J. Davis & Lucia Foster & Brian McKenzie & Keith Savage & Cristina Tello-Trillo, 2025. "Tapping Business and Household Surveys to Sharpen Our View of Work from Home," NBER Chapters, in: The Changing Nature of Work, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Abou El-Komboz, Lena & Goldbeck, Moritz, 2024. "Virtually borderless? Cultural proximity and international collaboration of developers," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 244(C).
    9. Jean-Victor Alipour, 2025. "Does Remote Work Reinforce Gender Gaps in (Un)Paid Labor?," CESifo Working Paper Series 12052, CESifo.
    10. David Van Dijcke & Florian Gunsilius & Austin Wright, 2024. "Return to Office and the Tenure Distribution," Papers 2405.04352, arXiv.org.
    11. Burdett, Ashley & Etheridge, Ben & Tang, Li & Wang, Yikai, 2024. "Worker productivity during Covid-19 and adaptation to working from home," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    12. Guillaume M. A. Morlet & Thomas Bolli, 2024. "Working from home is here to stay, but how does it affect workplace learning?," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics, Springer;Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics, vol. 160(1), pages 1-19, December.
    13. Ketter, Laura & Morris, Todd & Yu, Lizi, 2025. "A New Equilibrium: COVID-19 Lockdowns and WFH Persistence," IZA Discussion Papers 17975, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Mitchell Hoffman & Christopher T. Stanton, 2024. "People, Practices, and Productivity: A Review of New Advances in Personnel Economics," NBER Working Papers 32849, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Feuillade, Mylène & Goux, Dominique & Maurin, Eric, 2025. "Rise in Home Working and Spousal Labor Supply," IZA Discussion Papers 17997, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Anna Kurowska & Agnieszka Kasperska, 2024. "Work from Home and Perceptions of Career Prospects of Employees with Children," Working Papers 2024-08, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw.
    17. Jean-Victor Alipour, 2025. "Does Remote Work Reinforce Gender Gaps in (Un)Paid Labor?," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 542, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
    18. Alipour Jean-Victor & Müller Marlene & Verkühlen Nadine, 2025. "Homeoffice: Zukunftsvision auf dem Weg zu mehr Gleichberechtigung?," Wirtschaftsdienst, Sciendo, vol. 105(1), pages 59-63.
    19. Jonathan Colmer & Eva Lyubich & John Voorheis, 2025. "Nice work if you can get it? The distribution of employment and earnings during the early years of the clean energy transition," CEP Discussion Papers dp2127, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    20. Sitzmann, Traci & Schwartz, Shoshana, 2025. "Why is progress toward diverse representation so slow? Contrasting management practice prevalence versus effectiveness for achieving diverse representation," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 68(3), pages 263-276.
    21. Lena Abou El-Komboz & Moritz Goldbeck, 2024. "International Collaboration in Digital Knowledge Work: A Production-Side Assessment of Europe’s Digital Single Market," EconPol Forum, CESifo, vol. 25(06), pages 45-48, November.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • M15 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - IT Management
    • M53 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - Training
    • M54 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - Labor Management
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population

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