In this tail-end of the pandemic, remote work has become commonplace. With the potential cost savings for companies, it seems that the work from home routine will stay for the foreseeable future.
In addition to the reduced expenditure for companies, remote workplaces provide benefits for the employees as well. For many, long commutes to and from the office have been eliminated. Transit fares in the form of gas or rail fare is reduced. Time once spent in a car or train is now dedicated to family or personal hobbies.
Not only does this save time and money, but it reduces the ecological burden such transit causes. There is no better demonstration of this than the mass reduction in pollution seen during the global lockdowns.
No Silver Bullet
There are drawbacks to this type of work. Since the lockdowns, increased mental stress and anxiety led to declining mental health for large swaths of people. Remote employees are working more hours than in pre-pandemic times, unable to separate work and recreation when the two occupy the same space.
One of biggest difficulties of the remote workplace is maintaining the team mentality. Since joining a company during the pandemic, I have yet to meet any of my coworkers in person, and as a “lurker” in discussion forums such as Discord or Teams I have yet to interact with any individual or small group in a collaborative setting for a period of time. From my discussions with friends at other companies, this isn’t a unique experience.
I’ve seen this is as well in my project group for the capstone project. Besides a weekly call for check ins, it’s been difficult to coordinate organized discussion. During the call, there are several questions from most sides that could’ve been resolved sooner in a Teams thread or on a simple one-on-one call between knowledgable parties.
How to Proceed?
In an about face, my corporate team recently began promoting being back in the office for team building (following strict COVID guidelines). There is an acknowledgement that remote working is missing components that face to face interactions can allow.
Working remotely is still new, and corporate and academic teams are still struggling to adapt to the new routine. Are there new ways to prompt discussions between team members organically, simulating the open floor plan concepts that were the rage pre-pandemic? It seems to be the missing piece in the newest workplace trend.
