Are we losing something working remotely?

There is something to be said about water cooler discussions and the Monday morning quarterback of the weekend games, parties attended and the best Netflix series. Being in our offices and cubicles in a way brings us together to want to work for the betterment of the team…it helps us with our struggles on and off the field we call work. Remember when we would stay at a job just a little longer because we would miss those conversations, those people we call our work family, those people who give us another perspective on life and help us to get the job done, those people who work alongside us as we express our problems on and off the job, those people that take up a special collection to help us out when things got tough at home with a sick child or parent and those co-workers who attended our kid’s baseball and soccer games because we are a work family. We gave that all up for spending more time isolated in our homes, where sometimes still in our pj’s or sweats at 530pm, a continual stare at a screen we call our jobs…no one to monitor the fact that we just ate another bag of cookies.  There is no one by our side to help us along when we thought we couldn’t do one more report or make one more call or to tap us on the shoulder and say hey you are doing a great job keep going the team needs you…that recognition that only a co-worker or manager can provide.

Sure, working remotely cuts done on drive time, but what did we give up for that? We work longer hours where work and home life are now blended into one, no separation, little to no interaction with one long day blending into the next.

I think we need that separation where we interact with a team, the co-workers who acknowledge you with a good morning or a good night and hey I hope you have a better day tomorrow or hey great job today! I have been working remotely for the past 6 years and I envy those who have a place to go if for even a couple of days a week…