The Dried Up Watering Hole of Remote Work

Living remotely from the workplace can starve the social connections needed to find your next good role.

I am a long-term remote worker. I have pretty interesting networks of former co-workers in some far flung places like London, Helsinki, and Toronto, but almost no social graph where I live now. As I have been working mostly remotely on internally focussed teams for several years, my social graph has moved primarily online, and become limited mostly to internal contacts within the company which recently parted ways with me. I have no effective and durable way to access the most recently robust social graphs I do have in search of new work opportunities.

Every good job opportunity I have ever had has come from someone I already knew. Now, living quite remotely from absolutely everyone I know who might be in a position to help, I am not sure what to do. Can't show up at a bar or organize a dinner and see what opportunities people are aware of. Its a real problem.

CEOs espousing a 'Return to Office' often refer to 'our Culture' as a reason why workers should want to return. When they say this I assume they are thinking hallway chats and in person collaboration, the interactions that characterize the micro-culture of any individual organization.

The culture of any company exists within a larger context. Workers with commutes are often far from home at the end of the workday, pondering the start of a return journey which may be as arduous as it is mundane.

Between 'Return to Office' and 'Return to Home' is a third time period, experienced within 'third places', populated by people who are members of social networks which extend far beyond individual company walls.

Even for older workers whose most eager party days are long forgotten, the potential social benefits of this interstitial time period are immense. More important than any opportunity for food or drink, the opportunity to maintain and extend their social network proves itself invaluable in times when economic insecurity blossoms.

The ability to access first-hand information about job opportunities, and referrals by trusted current and former co-workers and friends, far outshines the scouting and signaling capabilities offered by job sites, even ubiquitous ones like LinkedIn. While the largest tech companies are well-funded to develop ways to support social network development by workers remotely working within their formal contexts, once a person is outside of their formal organizational structure no good ways to access, maintain, or extend such relationships are apparent.

My thoughts and perceptions about 'Return to Office' have changed as I have lived through this latest experience of unemployment after extended remote work. I enjoy working remotely, and do not prefer to commute, but I see there is real value in "the Culture". Not so much the official culture of water cooler chat and bad meeting sandwiches, but rather the worker-driven culture of shared social experience which provides a support net for all involved. That 'Culture', ignored in all the "Return to Office" discussion, has real value for workers, and I miss it dearly now.