Remote work may be better for the environment, it may not always be better for us. Leaving the issue of energy consumption to other sessions here at FOOTPRINT+, in this panel we address the social and personal costs of working from home.  

A large-scale meta-analysis of the impact of remote work on people’s wellbeing was published in February of this year. Based on nearly 2,000 studies, the report concludes that outcomes vary enormously depending on people’s age, location, role, personal circumstances, seniority and career stage. 

Even for the many people who have an overall better life as a result of new ways of working, there are downsides. In this session we will discuss these factors and what managers might do to address them:

• Weak ties
• Proxemics
• Generational differences
• The meetings between meetings
• Socialising and socialisation
• Mentoring
• Group cohesion
• Signalling theory
• Engagement
• Career impacts

Whatever tech is available to us, we are not blank slates and carry the baggage of our ancestry. We must take this into account when designing new ways of working.