To think that in years to come there will be studies into the social isolation caused by working from home?

[MySugarBabyLove]

I think that on many levels working from home is beneficial, so I’m not looking at slating the existence of WFH.

But I do believe that in years to come we will start to look at the social isolation that wfh has led to.

It’s already known that people who don’t work, be that because they’re home with the kids, or because they have disabilities are more socially isolated, purely because they just don’t get the same opportunities to speak to people as people do when they’re at work. In fact there have been many threads on here over the years from SAHMs who say they feel lonely and isolated, and the suggestion has been that they should go back to work.

Let’s face it, most of our interactions happen at work, and even if we don’t end up with lasting friendships, we do end up with regular opportunities to interact with people.

And now many people are working from home. And while there are many other benefits, the work/life balance, the ability to go to work without a commute, and be home at a decent hour etc, but I do think that the lack of interaction that WFH has led to should be acknowledged.

I work entirely from home. It works for me because I have a disability as well as another health condition, so while a commute would have been possible, not having to do so does benefit me.

And yet I feel more isolated now than before I started this job. Because although I work with people, a quick chat on teams isn’t a substitute for being able to have a laugh in the office, pass people going in and out, seeing someone at the coffee point.

My job started as WFH, I’ve been there since last July, and I have never and likely will never meet any of my colleagues in person.

And the longer I do it, the more I realise how different it is to when I used to work in an office.

I don’t miss the office politics, but I do think that WFH will possibly have a negative impact on people’s social abilities and their sense of belonging and isolation, and that this is something there will be studies on in the future.

Do you belong to either of these demographics?

Because all I’m hearing from our new grads and young hires is how beneficial they find it - from increased social mobility as people are no longer tied to geographical job locations because of caring or financial responsibilities to the ones who no longer have to use annual leave to travel home for a long weekend as they can go Thursday to Monday and work from there. There are also the ones who no longer use up all their social battery at work so have an active social life outside of work - sometimes with work colleagues, sometimes without.

But then seemingly - and this might be because many of them came of age during the pandemic peak- the new grads and young hires don’t rely on work to give them a social life, they’re quite happy to go out and make one for themselves.

I love WFH and will never do a job that requires more than 1 day a week in an office again. My company has done it right though - we have to 1 office day, and all go in to the office on the same day each week (option to do every day if you’re that way inclined), they put on a catered lunch on that day each week, and the office feels like pre pandemic. I don’t mind those days, I have some colleagues I enjoy seeing face to face, but MY GOD I am so much more tired and drained on those evenings! They drain me hugely, and I can’t believe I used to do full-time M-F in an, and with two young kids with SEN back then too!

I also have health conditions myself and could never earn what I do or progress as I have in my career if I was office based. Impossible.

Yay for hybrid (and free lunches!)

True, however it also depends on the nature of work. Some work requires constant meetings, which means the people who have that kinds of work are connected to their colleagues although they don't see each other in person as often as before. However if the work doens't require a lot of email or phone call interactions, it leads to feeling of isolation.

No, because people who work from home are not imprisoned there. It's not like lockdown.

You can work at home, at the office, in the library, in a cafe, at a co-working hub.

And, you can socialise outside work. You have time to do hobbies if you are not spending 1-3 hours a day commuting.

I think it varies massively by personal preference, how suited your job is to remote working and how suited your home space is to it.

Dh was sent home from work in March 2020 and has barely been in the office since - he loves it. I hated it, got back in the office as soon as we were allowed. Some sort of hybrid is helpful but I'd hate to be at home all the time.

We did an employee survey and found about 75% of people loved wfh and the rest hated it which feels about right to me.

I wfh. In my wider team there has been a relationship between a couple who met “at” work (ah, the romance of Teams) and someone who works for me went camping with a former colleague (also from my team) last week. Seems even wfh people can be social if they’re that way inclined.

I think a lot of it depends on your age, type of work, and stage of your life.

When I was in my 20s, child free, in and out of relationships, I was very sociable. I worked in an environment with lots of other young people in a similar situation, moving between departments (junior doctor), so I had an endless stream of work friends. We worked long hours together, got very close, went to the pub together, nights out etc. In those years I met lots of people and had a great time. I’d have hated to be at home all day on my own.

Now I’m in my 50s, got 2 kids, a partner, enough friends (but not enough time to see them all), don’t want to go to the pub every night - I’d quite happily work from home. It’s not possible because of the nature of my job, but from a social perspective it wouldn’t bother me.

I do feel sorry for young people just starting out, because work environments can be a great source of friends and social activities.

I think that YANBU that there will be studies, because that's what sociologists do - study people. As do plenty of historians. Also psychologists and neuro scientists and probably lots of other people I've not thought about.

However I think that the flexibility that having the technology to be able to work at home has given so many in the workforce is such a positive thing, overall.

There is more opportunity to socialise for some people who no longer have to spend 2 - 3 hours a day commuting. The difference in people is that some people embrace the opportunities and others choose not to. Unless you are housebound, there is no reason why people need to be isolated from the rest of society, unless they choose to be.

No. I don’t belong to either of those demographics. Why?

I loved going to the pub with my colleagues on a Friday night in my early 20s. We all worked together and socialised together. It was a great time. I don’t know how else I would have met people moving to a city, I certainly wasn’t someone to join social clubs.

Im a carer now and I would love to be able to get back into the work environment with people. I have very limited opportunities to socialise these days. I would give anything to sit in a staff room and gossip over lunch.

We can't assume that young people just starting out are going to have the characteristics that led in person work to suit you so well. The pub visits that you enjoyed actively exclude some people. Work environments can be a great source of friends and social activities, or the very presence of those things can make a job more difficult or functionally impossible for a person. That includes people who are young.

The age and stage stuff is too simplistic. Our previous workplace models did exclude a great many people. That means the things that benefitted those who weren't excluded, when they were just starting out, aren't necessarily inherently positive or helpful.

I’d rather have moments of feeling isolated than have to spend hours a day in the company of backstabbers, bitches and abusive people.

Why so aggressive?

Why does talking about potential pitfalls of wrt working from home necessarily add up to “bashing” and “hate.”

You start throwing accusations around about “bashing wfh” and yet you’re doing the same in your post to people who don’t work from home.

There is absolutely no proof either way, because what is beneficial to one isn’t to another and so on.

I work from home full-time. I don’t have the opportunity to work out of an office because my employer has recruited nationally after they sold off a load of their buildings. So my nearest office is 150 miles away.

WFH actually suits me on most levels. I have an office, I can work early and late shifts because I don’t have to travel, and most of all it pays my bills.

But there aren’t opportunities to interact with people and no, conversations on teams chat are nothing like face to face conversations.

I don’t have any plans to look for an office job, but peope are allowed to point out pitfalls.

My partner would never be able to work from home. the lack of social interaction would drive him mad.

Yes I agree.

I mainly wfh and find it very isolating. I went for 3 weeks without having an actual face to face conversation with anyone which is just not healthy. Everyone says “join a club, join a group” but it’s not always that easy.

I think WFH does disproportionately affect young people joining the workforce. I had so much fun in the office/at lunch/after work with my fellow grads and they just don’t get the same now.

I like the flexibility of having to work from home. I also don't associate my work colleagues as friends. They are just people that I have to get along with (most of the time) and it's beneficial for the team if we all get along. That's it. I have friends outside of work.

But I wouldn't mostly work from home- no only because I become easily distracted and less productive. I make the effort and attend the office for 2-3 times per week. I prefer hybrid working.

I'm a bit different then. My work colleagues keep on arranging drinks at the pub and I just think... why?. Pubs are smelly and loud. I much rather go to a brunch or a book club to socialise with work colleagues.

There already are such studies happening. Good employers put in place things to help reduce the social isolation. I don't have an office I can go into, my job is entirely remote (as it is for all of it's employee's), so we have a daily slot in our diaries to "hang out" on google meets with other employee's.

Working from home is 100% preferable to commuting for me!

I WFH. At work we only have time to talk in the smoking area or on lunch, that's it
So it really makes no difference for me as we can't/don't have time to talk when working
We communicate more on WhatsApp now we all WFH!

I think there should be studies done on the commute and the effect on the family.

It was very odd though. Sister never married or had a relationship and neither did he - the whole family was isolated.

I get it.

as a single parent with two Sen children and a full time job I struggled in lockdown and then a relocation but you do have a make an effort. In my case it has taken 2 years and I now have 20 decent very good friends and a best friend and that stops me for being lovely. We are members of several local clubs as a family it helps enormously to feel connected.

I work in an office. I've realised now, after nearly 40 years of this, that all my social energy is used up during the day, Monday to Friday, on people I don't much like and wouldn't choose as friends. Sadly this means I have very little energy left for family, or the people I do actually like and whose company I enjoy. All I want to do in the evening and at weekends is be alone.

You were very confident in your assertion that it was awful for them.

I was interested in a viewpoint from that demographic that differed from the ones I was hearing from the grads and young starters we employ.

Yes and it's very bad for young people starting work as they can't learn the job as easily and make work friends