Should working from home come with a trigger warning? | Opinion
In early 2020, I asked my editor if I could work from home one day a week.
I got a firm-but-friendly no.
It was disappointing, but under the slippery-slope theory, the reasoning made sense. Let one person do it, and pretty soon you’re looking at a half-empty office, right?
Just a couple of months later, though, COVID-19 hit and everyone at San Luis Obispo Tribune was required to work remotely.
More than three years later, the situation hasn’t changed.
And it’s not just us.
Millions of Americans were sent home due to the pandemic and never went back — some by choice, but others because, for better or worse, “the office,” as they once knew it, had disappeared.
And while that’s made life easier for many — so much so that they aren’t willing to go back to the old office routines — the lack of social connection has triggered loneliness and depression for others.
Say goodbye to the daily commute
There are plenty of upsides to working from home.
No more commuting.
No need to pack a lunch.
And dressing for success? Forget about it.
Right now, I’m wearing the same workout clothes I wore to bed. My dog, Archie, is sacked out by my side — something that never could have happened back in the old Office Days.
Still, dogs and sweatpants don’t compensate for the loss of workplace families.
Working by yourself, day after day, is isolating, especially if you also live alone.
Arthur C. Brooks, a Harvard professor who writes for Atlantic magazine, refers to it as a potential “happiness disaster.”
“‘Zoom forever’ could escalate our epidemic of loneliness,” he warns.
He’s got that right. Zoom-type meetings are no substitute for face-to-face interaction.
It’s like being back in Catholic school, where you had to raise your hand to be recognized and by the time you were called on, you’d either forgotten what you were going to say or somebody else had already made your point.
Nor can occasional get-togethers — usually held outside of regular work hours — replace day-to-day bonding.
Now there’s no one to tell me how to spell “boutonniere.”
No one to catch me up on “Succession” so I don’t actually have to watch it.
No one to vent to when my computer refuses to acknowledge my new password and we’re six minutes away from deadline.
Yep, after three years, a steady diet of WFH has gotten stale.
How many of us are out there?
There’s no running tally of how many employees are working from home, though we do know the number shot up due to COVID.
According the U.S. Census Bureau, it tripled between 2019 and 2021, when roughly 18% of all employees — nearly 28 million — worked from home, compared to just 5.7% in 2019.
In some areas of the country, nearly half of all workers were based at home in 2021.
In Washington, D.C., for instance, 48.5% of employees worked remotely, and in San Francisco County it was 45%.
In Sacramento County, 23% of employees were based at home. In San Luis Obispo County the figure was nearly 18%.
For the most part, those of us still working from home are doing sedentary, computer-based work — which is another potential pitfall.
With no office stairs to climb and no daily walks to Starbucks for coffee, it’s all too easy to stay glued to our desks — even if the “desk” is a kitchen table.
Go back to the office — or else
Not all of us are complaining about working from home. Some employees rebelled when ordered back to the office by business leaders.
But not even Draconian policies like the one from Elon Musk — who, according to the Los Angeles Times, sent out an email warning Tesla employees to be at the office a minimum of 40 hours per week — have been enough to inspire everyone to run back to the office.
A September survey of 1,000 remote workers by insurance agency Reli Exchange found that 75% of respondents had been ordered to return to the office at least part-time. Of those, 26% said they would not comply even if it meant losing their jobs.
Still, the office isn’t on its last legs — at least not yet.
A separate survey by Gallup found that 65% of employees whose careers lend themselves to remote work would prefer a hybrid situation, where they would split their time between the office and home.
That’s the best of both worlds, though the workplaces of the future are likely to be different from those we remember.
There will be fewer people around, since on any given day a certain number of employees will be working remotely.
Employees may no longer have their own desks, but rather, will rotate to whatever work station is free.
And some amount of “Zooming” will likely be around forever.
That I can live with.
So how about it, boss?
When we have a new office, can I come in one day a week?
This story was originally published April 13, 2023 at 5:30 AM.
