Remote working has become increasingly common and has been a great source of positive change for many people’s working patterns. However, remote working also risks creating social isolation and a lack of communication among workers.
Remote Working as a Form of Flexible Working
The ability to work remotely is part of an emerging trend of flexible working. Being able to work remotely for some, or all, of their working hours can help improve employees’ work-life balance and reduces the time and money spent on commuting to work.
However, for those who spend most or all of their working life at home, there is the potential for it to have negative social effects.
Study of Microsoft’s Remote Employees
We are now going to take a quick look at a study of over 61,000 Microsoft employees over the first 6 months of 2020 in America, who rapidly shifted to full-time remote working during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The study found that the pandemic “accelerated the shift away from traditional office work,” with many firms adopting a hybrid work model or a mixed mode model. A hybrid approach is wherein employees work some days remotely and some in the office, whilst a mixed mode approach is where the firm is made up of a mixture of full-time remote employees and full-time office employees.
“Our results show that the shift to firm-wide remote work caused business groups within Microsoft to become less interconnected. It also reduced the number of ties bringing structural holes in the company’s informal collaboration network, and caused individuals to spend less time collaborating with the bridging ties that remained”
Essentially, they found that remote work reduced effective communication and information-sharing within a business, as weaker connections existed between employees.
The study also found that many in-person interactions were not actually replaced with similar alternatives, such as videos or audio calls. Instead, more employees began to communicate through more asynchronous media, like emails and instant messages.
Therefore, many people who work a lot of time remotely lack human interaction, which can become isolating.
Atrium’s Social Connection Challenges
Atrium identifies the following factors as the most significant social connection challenges with remote team working:
- Lack of social interaction
- Lack of collaborative communication
- Lack of access to information
- Micromanagement… as some managers may feel that their employees are not working hard enough if they cannot keep their eye on them, leading to micromanagement to maintain control
Difficulty of Meaningful Social Interaction
Remote work can lead to employees missing out on things like workplace banter, eating lunch with colleagues, and chats on coffee breaks.
Not only do remote workers miss out on the opportunity to socialise during work, but working from home can also make it harder to socialise out of work. Gone is the chance to ask your colleague if they fancy a pint as you walk out of work together!