# Remote work and social needs By:: [[Brian Heath]] 2022-09-12 Remote work has been possible for quite sometime yet deemed unacceptable by most managers and businesses. However, today we've seen that remote work is a viable alternative for many people. As with all things, remote work has its downsides. For example, the possible intrusion of work into the home and the tendency for meetings to increase. Whenever the pendulum swings as wildly as it did for remote work because of the pandemic, you'll naturally get calls to return to the way things were. As a result, many companies are calling for the return of people to offices or hybrid work scenarios. Bad arguments for this return include management fears of poor productivity or unescapable office leases. Probably the best argument for people returning to the office is that it is easier to build [[relationships]] with each other because humans are social animals. While true, there are holes in this argument. First, the social [[nature]] of humanity was not developed to make office work more productive. It developed within close-knit tribes where work, family, and survival were intertwined. What we call work today is not what work was when our social brains developed. We needed to build close, familial-level relationships so we could trust and work [[together]] for literal survival. Our social requirements are not about casual, temporary acquaintances. They are about deep and close connections to members of our tribe. For some people, work may be their tribe, but for many they would only die for their friends and families. We need friends and family relationships for survival, not work relationships. On a reality television show called [Alone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alone_(TV_series)), people attempt to survive in the wilderness by themselves and the last person standing wins the prize. The physical challenge of finding food to survive is intense, but that isn't what gets people to quit. Most people spend the entire time lamenting how much they miss their family or how much they will personally sacrifice for their family. Do you know what I've never heard them say? I really miss my work colleagues and the daily stand-up [[The ritual of team meetings|meetings]]. Saying that we must work in person today because our biological programming requires it for our [[Society|social]] health is false and often manipulative. The other hole in this argument is that it assumes that every person and job needs the same level of social engagement. As the world becomes conscious of respecting and valuing the differences of others, it must also become aware that these aren't just surface-level differences. Some people thrive doing work alone while others thrive doing it together. Neither is right nor wrong. It's just reality. Is it right to force everyone to be social and gather at work when this will objectively exclude people's unique talents? Is it the business's right to say what is good and bad for you? This is not only the introvert versus extrovert scenario but also a function of the work itself. For analysts, there are many times when work requires [[Isolation and Collaboration|isolation]] and other times when work requires [[Isolation and Collaboration|collaboration]]. Should collaboration always win out over isolation in terms of where one works especially when a work colleague is only a phone call away? People and their work requirements are different. Remote work has accelerated the public's awareness that something is wrong with the nature of work. This merits a synthesis of something new, not a reversion to what was. Whether management likes it or not, remote work and its unintended [[Consequences]] are here to stay. #### Related Items [[Remote Work]] [[Knowledge Work]] [[Analytics]] [[Meetings]] [[Diversity]]