The ability to work from home has given me innumerable benefits, but I must admit that as a very introverted guy who's been going through some shit, and who's go-to move during times of anxiety and depression is to distance themselves from everyone... yeah, sometimes I do miss my coworkers. A lot of them are pretty great people. Doesn't mean I'd rather spend 3 hours a day sitting in traffic to see them, just means I low-key miss someone to bitch with.
this post was submitted on 16 Jun 2025
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It's something I've noticed in general.
I had an amazing boss who was single and lived alone, and really love her staff. We had unecessarily long staff meetings every week. When I started I was annoyed by them until someone pointed out that the time we spent with everyone getting distracted and going off-topic and padding out the meeting while we ate our lunch around the conference room table was, for her, the weekly family meal.
I still don't like unnecessary meetings, but it gave me a different perspective on why some people like them.
I actually don't like my coworkers very much I definitely wouldn't hang out with them so not having to be near them all day is a benefit.
It's not even that they are bad people, it's just that they are people who I wouldn't choose to hang out with.
I work in a bar, and I love seeing most of my coworkers. I obviously can't speak on the WFH aspect, as it'd be impossible for me, but enjoying the company of the people you work with isn't a foreign concept, especially in the service industry
Itt: cognitive disonannce.
The study isn't bs. Lemmy users just won't accept that they don't even come close to representing the average individual.
Or if we use less adversarial language, this study is far from universal and its findings should be applied with the understanding that not all people will not match those who were in the study. As with most things, far more research is needed to get a thorough understanding.
41 year old male, no kids, no wife or girlfriend, been work from home for 5 years now. I've never been happier and more productive.
I get my sense of community from my friends not my coworkers. This study is B.S.
Just because you have anecdotal evidence of the contrary doesn't mean it can't be true, quantitatively. I, too, am a childless man - although I do have a wife - and don't resonate with this, but that doesn't mean I'll just cast aside the findings. Many, especially young, men are unhappy in their everyday, partly due to a lack of sense od community in the "modern" world.
Yeah, you gotta have friends that are close by and you can get out with or they can come over. If you don't... Sometimes it feels lonely. But to be honest, you kinda get used to it.
You know there are always outliers because research often looks at populations in general and not the exact experience of a specific person. Unless it’s a case study but that’s different.
Either way that’s a really good thing for you, the modern world makes it difficult to make and keep close to friends.
True, and I was drawing on anecdotal evidence that I didn't elaborate on in my original comment. While I know there are people who do not do well or enjoy work from home, I have yet to meet those people, all my coworkers and friend group are loving work from home.
So a more accurate statement would have been, based on my personal experience along with with coworkers and my friend circle this study is B.S.
Tbf there's definitely some confirmation bias in there because a person who didn't enjoy being remote probably wouldn't seek that type of job
Being childfree is its own reward.
As a childless man, they will have to pry my work from home out of my cold, lots of free time having hands.
As a childless woman, SAMEEEEEE. My dog is a fantastic coworker.
No we don't. Work is work, not fucking community.
I like my coworkers. They're cool. I just went to acro yoga with one, and go bouldering with another. We show up, talk shit, and get the job done - sometimes it's a good time. Sometimes we get our asses kicked. But that builds camradrie, too.
I will say, this is blue collar stuff. When I worked as a software dev, I definitely didn't care about spending much time with my coworkers.
I used to work for a bunch of lawyers. I would happily take a fire axe to every single one of them.
They really didn't like remote working and tried to put a stop to it and "sense of community" was their excuse as well, but it was really about control.
It would be interesting if they did this study again in an environment like that, where people aren't really friendly with their co-workers. I imagine they would get a vastly different result.
This study may not be BS in particular, for that one case, but it is BS in general
I guess it's a poor choice of words but there's definite value in workplace camaraderie. Don't let your jadedness fuel the bosses' union busting.
Unions haven't got anything to do with it. Unions are about protecting you from unfair business practises, it's not a social club, nor do they try to be.
No union without social interaction to found and preserve it. It's why small businesses are much worse at ganging up on big businesses that exploit them than workers are at ganging up on bosses: Businesses aren't people, they don't have social interactions. Workers are and do, thus unions can and do form.
Unions aren't community.
They're a necessary defence mechanism against capitalism.
Humour is a defence mechanism. Altruism is a defence mechanism. And with those two, camaraderie is a given.
Also it would be a sorry state of affairs if workers under capitalism had their defence mechanisms, but not canalisation workers shovelling literal shit.
I'm a childless man and FUCK that, the office isn't my social scene. I don't care to drive in there just to talk to the same people in person. ZERO point in doing that. We have meetings electronically and that's more than enough.
You mean, you, a presumably young man, don't come to the office to chat with your 50 year old office mom, or your CEOs and managers, or your coworkers whose interests only overlap yours so far as employment opportunities? How bizarre!
They're all jerks anyways
For me WFH has helped me have a community. The office was never a real community, and the fact that we all worked together got in the way of being actual friends. Instead with the added time from WFH I was able to prioritize my social life and go to more events and meet people I actually have stuff in common with. Additionally my in-office job forced me to live in a dead suburb, WFH allowed me to move to a city with a lot more social opportunities.
Of course probably not everyone prioritized that. The office might be good for some people, but for people like me who don't necessarily socialize at the office very easily WFH is much better for community.
Mmmm I am a childless man, and I live by myself, and I am 100% cool with that, and feel fine. But to be fair, I’ve got a pretty good circle of friends, and a really strong core friend group.
Why can't your workers be your workers, your family be your family, your friends be your friends?
As a childless man, fuck no I don’t.
Truth.
I've been working from home with my older family members since COVID started and I've been pretty happy since it's always been my goal. I've also had a knee injury for the past 3 weeks, and it's potentially prevented me from making it worse, and allowed me to continue working. I've almost been working remotely for the majority of my career, which is kind of cool to think about. I like working from home, but I understand not everyone likes it.
Honestly, I'd probably sooner retire from tech and work something else if I was forced to go back into an office with no possibility of getting a remote job.
This childless man loves his peace, quiet, and alone time.
But maybe I don't qualify as I have dogs, friends, and kickass neighbors.
Would they equally write 'mothers' vs. 'childless women' in another article about remote work, I wonder.
It'd be married and single women, most likely. (Edit: they prefer to classify us by our relationships with men.)
I’m a childless man and I don’t miss the sense of community one bit.
I’m a dad and I do. Our anecdotal stories have been registered!
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