I wonder if a clue to all this can be found in the routines of a friend of mine, who when forced into the office for, say, an unavoidable in-person meeting always returns refreshed and perky, determined to do it more often. Could it be that the choice to work from home has allowed us to form self-sabotaging habits that we cannot break alone? We seek out substitutes for the workplace. Since Covid restrictions were lifted, cafes and libraries have filled with freelancers who can’t bear to spend another day at their kitchen tables. A strange counterpoint to remote working has been the boom in demand for co-working spaces. It’s not as if the craving for social contact has gone, just the habit that would most easily sate it. They suffer, but refuse to go into the office. These are the employees that Microsoft’s recent New Future Of Work report found to be “lonelier and more prone to feelings of guilt when calling in sick or taking breaks, leading to overcompensation”. But the rest – probably the majority – seem to be making irrational decisions. There are people who genuinely thrive in this environment: parents with young children who can more easily fit in bedtimes and drop-offs, and those with punishing commutes or social anxiety, who get to avoid a joy-sapping ordeal. Some home workers, of course, are making rational decisions. A reported 80% of UK workers feel it harms their mental health. Remote workers are putting in longer hours but working less well (studies of individual companies put the productivity drop anywhere between 4% and 19%).
And minus several layers of social context, messages get tricky to decipher – and the disconnection grows. Without gossip, flirting, jokes, lunches and drinks, the day becomes a dull to-do list.
People feel less connected to colleagues. Rates of depression and anxiety increase – as do feelings of stress and isolation. It turns out that depriving social creatures of social contact isn’t very good for them.
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