One in three employers are planning to pay employees who work from home differently from their office colleagues, according to new research, risking a battle with remote staff who may feel relegated to second-class.

About 38 per cent of senior executives in large Australian corporations told a Herbert Smith Freehills “Future of Work” global survey released on Monday that working from home will become a privilege earned through trust and seniority, with 37 per cent revealing plans to differentiate pay between remote and in-office staff in the next three-to-five years.