The homebound hustle

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The percentage of Americans who worked from home more than doubled in the span of about two weeks in March 2020. With the genesis of COVID-19, an unprecedented and universal revolution in the workplace irrupted in such a compressed period of time, we still feel its consequences.

Nearly five years later on February 6, 2025, all federal employees were ordered to report back to work in person.ย The work from home gig was up.ย This, however, is not so for those toiling away in the private sector as the lingering effects of the COVID upheaval march on.ย 

A workplace is a well-designed and organized entity where co-workers collaborate to be productive, but COVID did its best to change such a time-honored tradition.

Before the COVID overseas invasion, about 3% of theย Geisinger health systemโ€™sย staff worked from home. Five years later itโ€™s nearly 20%.ย In a recent release Geisinger fumbled the option saying, โ€œAt this time, we gave employees the option to return to the office, remain working from home or choose a hybrid model. Many of our non-clinical employees embraced the option to stay working remotely.โ€

Remote work is not the golden goose many proclaim it to be.ย The time to rock the remote boat is overdue where collared shirts and slacks were swapped for slippers and shorts.ย 

It is hard to coordinate a collective effort when employees are not at the same venue.ย There may be ten things to distract you from work but there are 100 at home.ย Working remotely ignores human nature where distractions are a productivity killer.ย 

The research is as long as it is thorough.ย One study said employees areย between 10 and 20%ย less productive than when they are in the office.ย Another studyย revealed 41% of remote workers felt stressed compared to only 25% of those in the office.ย Forty-two percent had trouble sleeping, while only 29% of office workers reported the same.ย 

Remote workers are less likely to form new connections spending less time pooling resources with colleagues as interpersonal relationships suffer.ย This was underscored in aย 2021 studyย of 61,000 Microsoft employees in the journalย โ€œNature Human Behaviourโ€ย recounted how communication and collaboration decreased, while anxiety and depression compounded.ย 

It was not just the employees who felt the effects as aย Middle Market Business Indexย reportย released in 2023 found that 64% of executives identified remote work-related mental health issues with nearly three-quarters of executives reporting employeesโ€™ feeling isolated.

The established office culture of building relationships with colleagues cannot be overstated as younger employees learn from senior colleagues on job performance, managing a crisis, taking criticism, and celebrating successes.ย You donโ€™t learn that by doing that second load of laundry and walking the dog.

Rather, they remain lounging in their shorts imbibing on their favorite after hours beverage in their oversized coffee mug with their feet propped up on their coffee table taking in a Zoom meeting and as P.J. Oโ€™Rourke would quip, โ€œwhere no one can smell their breath.โ€

Going out for lunch means moving from your living room to the kitchen.ย A 20-second office exchange becomes a never-ending โ€œreply allโ€ misconstrued email where a lack of human connection and poorly defined boundaries only adds to the frustration experienced on both ends of the workplace equation.

It is nearly impossible to train and develop staff remotely by brainstorming through a series of emails or on Zoom. The results only erode corporate culture and where a genuine sense of teamwork is lost amongst people you have never met or managed through personal oversight. 

Likewise, remote employees use a variety of technological devices to access their organizationโ€™s network, which only escalates cybersecurity risks. 

A successful company cannot compete purely with employees anchored at home who rarely meet or even know each other.

No one ever said corporate America is rational. In these post-pandemic times, the balance of power has shifted from employers to employees. 

Rather, those who must work on-site are bombarded with a never-ending string of emails and phone calls from the homebound posse requiring confirmation as soon as they click send or leave a message.

These are the same folks who once had an office on site where their cubicles now collect dust and where any request for even a modest hybrid work arrangement that would greatly improve efficiency only falls on tin ears.

In our post-COVID world, the pendulum of remote work in the private sector needs to swing back โ€“ now.

Greg Maresca
Greg Maresca
Greg Maresca is a New York City native and U.S. Marine Corps veteran who writes for TTC. He resides in the Pennsylvania Coal Region. His work can also be found in The American Spectator, NewsBreak, Daily Item, Republican Herald, Standard Speaker, The Remnant Newspaper, Gettysburg Times, Daily Review, The News-Item, Standard Journal and more.

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