Elma Francois Institute, CCLCS
Remote work has always existed and been utilised in modern years. However, since the COVID-19 pandemic, it has remained widely adopted across the world. It is without doubt that remote work is extremely convenient, especially amongst global and regional companies that utilise foreign workers. It possesses benefits such as flexibility, reduced emissions and opportunities for physically disabled persons to acquire work.
With these factors being distinguished, it must be acknowledged that working from home also has negative ramifications. The 18th-century French poet Joseph Roux said, “Solitude vivifies; isolation kills.”
It is a natural instinct of human beings to crave social interaction in order to fight feelings of loneliness and in the case of remote work, a person’s mental health is at risk. The main disadvantages of work from home are a decline in social skills, lack of work-life balance, lack of collaboration and culture between workers and digital fatigue.
A decline in social skills can range from trouble in initiating and carrying out conversations, maintaining eye contact, making small talk or even using proper body language. These are simple characteristics that are practiced daily at “in-office” jobs and persons often forget how crucial they can be, therefore, only in situations of remote work where it is seldom practiced, persons notice their steady decline in communication abilities. If this decline occurs, the person is now subject to further negative personality traits such as self-consciousness, anxiety and awkwardness.
There is no definite cure to the effects of long-term remote employment. However, implementing environmental changes, such as moving your “office” to your local Starbucks twice a week and joining meetings a bit earlier to engage in pleasantries, can make a drastic difference.
The concept of work from home is generally assumed to be a more flexible form of work designed for maximum ease and comfort. Despite that, prolonged and overly stressful terms of remote work can lead to a lack of work-life balance. This difficulty stems from the lack of boundaries (if any) that remote workers may set for themselves or the company that they work for, due to the blurred lines of when they actually start and end their workday. It is also a result of their personal surroundings always being associated with work.
For example, if an employee does not have an office in their home and they often work from their dining table or bedroom, these spaces are harder to relax in due to their connotation of work.
By prioritising separated spaces and utilising technological features such as focus mode, timers and alarms, remote workers can regain a sense of freedom, but it must be routinely practiced in order to fully escape the feeling of no work-life balance.
The engagements and interactions between employees in a workplace heavily contribute to its company culture.
The ideal scenario for an organisation is for its employees to share the same positive values and behaviours to uplift the business. Although remote work does not prohibit employees from engaging with one another, it can be difficult to collaborate and bond with one another due to the physical constraints.
Friendly encounters and relationships between co-workers can create a safe space for bonds to grow and as a result a balanced workflow is created, leading to increased productivity and company loyalty. Without this cohesion, remote workers may feel isolated and prone to solving problems on their own, resulting in heightened stress and a negative association with their role in their organisation.
Digital fatigue refers to the prolonged use of digital devices and continuous online activity. With the integration of social media in today’s society, it is easy to spend hours on end enjoying recreational activities such as scrolling on TikTok or Instagram. However, when it comes to remote work, it is underestimated how unhealthy sitting behind a screen for 6-8 hours every day can be. “In office” jobs, include one-hour lunch breaks every day, where workers can socialise often and offer programmes and team activities on special occasions, which acts to the advantage of workers as they get decreased screen time.
Remote workers often get feelings of detachment, depression and anxiety and it is without doubt that the increased screen time at hand is contributing to this problem. There is not much an organisation can do to tackle this issue, except promoting regular breaks and well-being programmes.
In conclusion, remote work can be seen as a double-edged sword. It is generally positive but at the expense of its social cost.
Using discretion is important when engaging in remote work due to its disadvantages on a person’s social well-being.
