Remote work options have become almost an expectation for flexibility and convenience in the modern workplace. The pandemic proved that many jobs can be done from home and the rise of technology has also made companies make the shift to offering more remote jobs. However, working in your pajamas and avoiding the daily commute could potentially have hidden costs that are overlooked by many.
The first significant downside is the isolation that comes with working remotely. While technology allows for virtual communication, this can never match the interactions people have in a physical office setting.
Employees are missing out on improved brainstorming/teamwork and even simple casual social interactions when they are sitting at home behind a screen. With little face-to-face communication in-person, co-workers might find it harder to feel like they know each other, which only hurts the overall teamwork of a company.
On top of this factor, sometimes it is not the best idea to mix home life and work life together. Working at home remotely might make it tricky for some people to know how to properly separate their work life and home life. Someone that commutes to an office, knows that work is done in the office and at home they can relax, meanwhile those lines might be blurry for someone whose office is their home.
There is also a genuine concern about remote work due to potential technological failures. Obviously, many companies who have a remote work option trust that they will not deal with too many technological errors. Unfortunately, these difficulties happen from time to time, with workers having trouble joining meetings, whether it is because of bad internet connection or other issues. Remote work can set companies back if workers are dealing with technical difficulties during the work day.
Finally, I think that it is especially not a good thing for recently graduated students to start their work life sitting at home. It is healthy to get out of the house and have a schedule, and learning how to work collaboratively in a real-world office setting is an important tool for recent graduates to have as they enter the workforce. Many in this generation (college students) already have an obsession with technology, it does not make sense to increase this obsession with everyone staring at screens and not having real in-person interactions during the work day. Working from home sounds like a nice opportunity, but there are many factors that make me say that it is not the best idea overall.
