The WFH Folks

I WFH exclusively for 6+ years.

1. If you work from home obviously you will have lack of (work) social connections, yes WFH ain't that much fun as office.

2. I don't really need to know coworkers, it's useless information unrelated to my work. I work with some people 6+ years and have absolutely zero clue about their background or anything, actually I am almost longest working person there, I see people in emails changing while I am staying there, I dunno what happens to those people who stop writing me emails, whether they had kid, died or left for other company.

3. I don't even know what is "fit into company", I deliver results, nobody cares about some unmeasurable "fit", must be an American thing.

4. I know for sure social connections and open space office in work decreased my productivity/performance and time spent working. I was among the chattiest people in work, so I would enjoy that, but certainly it would take toll on my results.

5. My kid was born 7 years ago, so I wouldn't have time for social interactions outside work anyway other than on playgrounds/trips.

This is absolutely a real problem, but I think WFH has really only exposed the issue of most peoples lack of real community, rather than causing it.

Since starting a new job a few months ago, I reached out to some former tech colleagues that live close by, and meet up every few weeks at a local pub. It's kind of of like a meetup, but there's no agenda, speakers, or specific tech focus. People are encouraged to organically invite other people that fit the group, which has seen it grow from three to twelve people in about three months.

I honestly think it's one of the best tech groups I've been part of, and has been a big part of keeping me sane in my 100% WFH job.

The insight that people are different often seems to be missing from these discussions of the pros and cons of WFH.

Some people like to socialize at work, they find it indispensable in fact. On the other side of the bell curve you find people that feel liberated by not having to socialize with everyone else. This difference has to do with personalities as well as different stages in life, and can only marginally be influenced by company policies and work routines.

None of this will determine whether WFH home will take over or not however. WFH will likely become ubiquitous because it gives companies a competitive cost advantage. People who need an on-location workplace in order to fulfil their social needs will likely chose careers in the service sector, jobs like barbers, health workers etc.

Obligatory xkcd on "standards" https://xkcd.com/927/

For me I have not missed it one bit. My co-workers are not my friends and even though I am friendly with them and joke around when we are in conversation at the workplace/Slack, when the work day ends, we don't seek to add more socializing.

I return to my family and friends and so do they.