The COVID-19 pandemic brought a seismic shift to the world of work. Practically overnight, offices emptied, and millions of workers settled into a new normal of remote work. Telework offered safety, flexibility, and freedom. Many of us cheered the efficiency gains, the comfort of working from home, and the elimination of grueling commutes. But now, as we adjust to the post-pandemic world, it’s time to pay the piper.
Telework has proven effective in many ways, but it’s becoming clear that something fundamental is missing. Productivity is one concern, but the real loss is in innovation, creativity, and, perhaps most importantly, the social bonds that form the backbone of successful teams. Because remote work can only go so far when it comes to building the trust, camaraderie, and spark that arise naturally when people work together in person.
Shift to Telework: The pandemic ushered in remote work, providing flexibility and safety but also introducing challenges that are now surfacing.
Impact on Innovation and Creativity: Remote work may lead to productivity in task-oriented roles but stifles innovation and creativity due to the lack of in-person interactions.
The Missing Ingredient: Social Connection
When telework became the norm, we gained flexibility but lost a sense of connection. For teams that had a solid foundation of face-to-face interactions before going remote, this adjustment was easier. These individuals knew each other, shared memories, and had already built the trust that makes working remotely more seamless. But what happens when new employees join the team? When they have never sat down for coffee with their colleagues or shared a meal with their managers? The bonds that typically emerge in a physical office are missing, leaving them siloed, isolated, and disengaged.
- Importance of Established Teams: Telework works best when team members have previously built camaraderie and trust in a physical setting. New employees struggle to form connections and receive mentorship remotely.
Teamwork and mentorship rely on more than emails and video calls. In a remote environment, mentoring can feel stilted, forced, and shallow. Genuine mentorship thrives in unplanned moments—the kind of moments that happen over lunch, during a quick coffee break, or after a meeting. This is where trust and understanding grow, where ideas are born, and where people build the kind of relationships that make work feel meaningful. In the world of telework, where every interaction is monitored and every meeting planned, spontaneity suffers. And without spontaneity, we lose the spark that drives creativity.
- Loss of Socialization and Trust: Remote work leads to isolated interactions and monitoring of communications, reducing opportunities for natural socialization and trust-building.
The Cost of Miscommunication
Miscommunication is another growing pain of telework. In the office, if a colleague doesn’t respond to an email or seems distracted, you can walk over to their desk, say a few words, and resolve things on the spot. But in a remote world, silence can easily breed misunderstandings. A missed call or a delayed email reply can create tension that might have been easily resolved in person.
- Miscommunication and Conflict: Delayed responses in telework (like unanswered emails or missed calls) can lead to misunderstandings and conflict, which could be quickly resolved in a physical office setting.
When face-to-face interactions are missing, small misunderstandings become big issues. The nuances of body language, the small smile or nod that conveys understanding, and even the casual check-ins that build rapport—these are lost in telework. In their place, we get sterile video calls and email threads that miss the warmth and depth of real human interaction. Remote work may give us convenience, but it comes at the cost of empathy and clarity, making it easier for minor issues to snowball into major conflicts.
Innovation Thrives on Human Interaction
At its core, telework stifles innovation. Innovation is not something that happens on a schedule. It’s the product of those chance interactions, the conversations that happen at the proverbial water cooler, the ideas tossed around over lunch, and the debates sparked by passing comments. In an office setting, these moments happen naturally. In a remote environment, they disappear.
- Decreased Opportunity for Spontaneous Idea Sharing: The lack of informal, spontaneous conversations—such as those at the water cooler or lunch—diminishes opportunities for brainstorming and innovation.
Innovation thrives on energy, collaboration, and the unplanned connections that happen when people are physically together. Remote work reduces these moments, often replacing creativity with a more rigid and task-oriented approach. The brainstorming sessions, the spontaneous idea sharing, the immediate feedback—these are difficult, if not impossible, to replicate through telework. For teams whose work demands fresh ideas, strategic vision, and adaptability, telework can lead to stagnation.
- Limited Scope of Telework: Telework is better suited for roles that handle specific, individualized tasks. It may not be ideal for teams working on collaborative projects or innovation-focused initiatives.
Finding a Balance: The New Normal
This isn’t a call to return to the nine-to-five grind, five days a week. Remote work does have its place, and for certain types of roles—particularly those that involve individual, focused tasks—it can be highly effective. But for organizations looking to grow, innovate, and build teams with staying power, a balanced approach is essential. A blend of in-office and remote work may be the solution, where teams can meet in person two or three days a week to foster connection and creativity, while still enjoying the flexibility to work from home on other days.
- Finding a Balanced Approach: Telework remains valuable, but a hybrid model (e.g., two to three days in the office) allows teams to maintain flexibility while restoring some essential in-person dynamics.
The time has come to recognize that, while telework offers benefits, it has significant downsides. To build strong teams, foster innovation, and ensure effective mentorship, we need to come together physically, at least part of the time. The pandemic gave us new ways of working, but as we move forward, let’s not lose sight of what makes work fulfilling and meaningful. Telework may be convenient, but at the end of the day, human connection is irreplaceable. It’s time to pay the piper and bring balance back into our working lives.