Is remote working to blame for the decline in human connection at work?

It’s easy to blame the pandemic and the sudden shift to remote and hybrid working for the decline in human connection at work. It’s therefore easy to suggest that we can reverse it, and improve connection and collaboration by bringing people back to the office. But it’s not that simple.

The pandemic absolutely accelerated change in the workplace, but the foundations were shifting well before then. Since the early 2000s, we’ve seen several key trends that have affected how people feel about work and the role it plays in our lives.

First, traditional job tenure patterns were changing. While previous generations might have expected a “job for life,” this norm has been eroding since the 1980s. By the late 2010s, we were seeing much more frequent job changes, particularly among younger workers.

Second, the rise of the gig economy was reshaping traditional employment. The growth of platforms like Deliveroo and Uber, alongside zero-hours contracts, led to more transient, project-based relationships rather than long-term bonds between colleagues working towards shared goals.

Third, even before widespread remote work, technology was changing workplace interactions, shifting colleagues from face-to-face meetings to more digital communication. This shift was particularly noticeable in larger organisations with multiple locations.

Finally, there’s been a broader cultural shift in how people view work itself. The concept of work-life balance gained significant traction in the UK during the 2010s, representing a growing challenge to the traditional British work culture, which had emphasized long hours and physical presence in the office.

So, no, the pandemic is not to blame – it simply accelerated a change that is set to continue. After all, Gen Z has entered the workforce with fundamentally different expectations about the role of work in their lives. They have different expectations around authenticity and well-being at work and, having grown up with more open discussions about mental health, they’re more likely to challenge workplace practices that could impact their well-being, like excessive overtime or always-on communication.

So, if remote working isn’t to blame for the connection crisis in our workplace, it follows that marching people back to the office is not the simple fix.

Instead, we need leaders to recognise that human connection is what matters most, rather than physical connection. We need leaders to realise that we can build and maintain connection in distributed teams, but to do so we need intention, commitment and a set of new skills designed for our inevitably changing world of work. Either that, or we block all progress towards a flexible and inclusive future of work, and we march everyone back. For the few, not the many.