In Defence of “Remote Working”

When did offices become kid’s clubs? I’m comfortable with friendships arising in the workplace, I’m uncomfortable with our closest social bonds developing with people selected by our bosses. It feels like teachers sitting children next to classmates in the hope that they develop mutual crushes with one another. It is forced and contrived and leads to problematic social issues few people have willingly questioned, accept or deal with. So we make excuses.

Remote working is one solution too many people are quick to discard.

What about the isolation and lonliness?
I wouldn’t like not having people to talk to!
How can you spend so much time on your own?
Laughing isn’t the same when nobody else is around!
What about the serendipity you lose having no water cooler chat?

Seriously?

If those are your reasons, I’ll assume that you haven’t worked in an open-plan office or been in one in the last 10 years. Offices have evolved to become factories of distraction where people specialize in appearing to be busy without doing anything of substance the vast majority of the time. The people who complain most vigorously are typically those most likely to distract their co-workers or benefit from the lack of questions about what objective achievement. Work has become about answering emails. Remote work is coming whether most…