Before I share why I so strongly believe remote work is bad for workers, let’s get a few things out of the way. Unlike most people writing on this topic, I am not some corporate shill. No one is paying me to write this and I do not personally benefit if more people return to work in-person or are more “productive”.
I am a laborer. I work for bread, a roof over my head, and a few modern amenities. And as someone who has worked remotely and in-person, as a manager and individual contributor, at multiple companies, I think I can provide a valuable perspective.
Of course, I am biased and do hope you consider working in-person, however, my bias is born out of my personal suffering and a desire to help others.
Why remote work is harmful for workers’ well-being
With that out of the way, let’s discuss why I think remote work is bad for the well-being of workers. My rationale is simple:
Humans are social creatures and without in-person work we are less social.
There are dozens if not hundreds of frameworks for well-being or happiness and they all have one thing in common: the need for social connection.
Unfortunately, people often under appreciate just how important social connections are, however, this is not surprising as people are generally bad at predicting what’s good for them. That is why I think it’s beneficial to look a bit more closely at 5 major types of social connections that can be found in an in-person work environment.
Friends
Friends are important. A “lone wolf” is a lonely wolf and a soon to be dead wolf.
An in-person work environment like an office is one of the best places to make friends. A huge amount of filtering has already occurred to surround you with people of similar interests, beliefs, backgrounds, etc. Additionally, the amount of time spent at work makes it easy to more organically discover mutual interests and form a friendship (compared to sports leagues, volunteering, and book clubs where talking to others often feels more like an interview and transitioning into hanging out can feel like a big leap).
Of course, if you already have a lot of friends, you may not see much value in making new friends and that is understandable, but I would like to point out two things:
- Friendships don’t last forever. There can be a falling out, a move to a new city, or a natural drifting apart as circumstances change. All the research I’ve seen suggests that one’s number of friends dwindles over the course of life so it doesn’t seem that most people do a great job of maintaining a healthy number of friendships.
- New friendships promote personal growth. How many of our cherished stories of success, love, and joy involve meeting someone new and that new connection being the spark to change things for the better? Think a bit on some of your favorite stories and see how many don’t ever introduce new characters.
Lovers
For similar reasons as why an in-person work environment is a great place to form friendships, in-person work is also a great place for romance. It is an especially important considering other traditional places to meet a partner are disappearing and online dating is dysfunctional.
That said, while I think intra-office romances can work out splendidly, I think they are usually more hassle than they are worth. Where work relationships are most helpful in the realm of love is meeting friends of friends. This too can be a bit messy, but you are going to have a higher success rate (however you define it) with mutual friends than online dating or the bar.
Strangers
One fascinating thing that research has shown is that people derive significant benefits from the myriad of minor social encounters one experiences when out and about. This can range from small talk, to placing an order of coffee, or even just a simple head nod as you pass someone on the street. If you don’t leave your house during the day–as is shockingly easy to do with remote work–you miss out on all these interactions.
It is really easy to discard these seemingly trivial interactions as meaningless, but I encourage you to check out some research on that topic or place closer attention to how you feel when these moments arise in your life.
Mentors and Mentees
Work is one of the few places that naturally cultivates a system of mentorship. There is such a rich shared context and a shared desire to master certain skills that people fall into these relationships naturally (as opposed to more formal programs).
Not only are these mentor-mentee relationships easier to form when working in-person, they are more fruitful. When you are psychically with someone during the workday there is a wider field of observation that is impossible to replicate via remote work. If you want to be great at something, the devil is in the details and in-person work allows for a more granular and frequent feedback loop. A few zoom calls are no substitute.
Keep in mind that forming strong mentor-mentee relationships is not only good for skill development (and the monetary gains that comes with it). These relationships can also help you network to land lucrative jobs in the future and are enjoyable in itself–it feels good both to give back as a mentor and to have someone looking out for you as a mentee.
They say “we stand on the shoulders of giants”, but if you want to see the horizon yourself, you need to get close enough to a giant to climb up.
Tradeoffs
Of course, in-person work often does come with significant tradeoffs. There is the lost time to commuting, the decreased flexibility within a workday, and the inhumaness of requiring someone to appear productive for ~8 hours a day.
These are genuine issues, but the answer to them is not a complete rejection of in-person work. More nuance is required. As a society we need to push to make the in-person work environment more humane. Some thoughts on what that could look like coming soon..
Conclusion
Humans are bad at predicting what makes them happy, even worse at valuing the future, and unreliable at assessing their current circumstances. Despite what you may think, remote work is likely bad for you in reality.
Working together is what humans evolved to do. It’s not natural to spend 8 hours a day remotely–i.e. alone–and you are not different (despite any complexes that make you believe otherwise).
The good news is: it’s never too late to change. Consider looking for a job with a short commute or hybrid schedule, going to co-working spaces, inviting your friends over to work from your place for a day, working from a coffee shop, scheduling more after-work activities, etc.
Treat seeing people as importantly as you would sleep, exercise, or eating healthy. It’s that essential.