There is the convenience, ease and flexibility of remote work. And there is the isolation, lack of teamwork and damage to diversity and inclusion efforts that had been gaining traction. That’s the verdict of a number of studies including one by KPMG.
“From an employee development perspective, it would be difficult to match the level of intercultural and global business skills development, team building, networking, and cross-pollination of ideas that comes with in-person interaction over time,” the report says. “For global organizations, curtailing (global travel) could hamper efforts to recruit talent, especially among younger generations who may be more mobile and aspire to obtain international work experience as part of their careers. Further, it could deny opportunities for organizations to improve the overall diversity and social consciousness of their workforces through the cultural immersion of employees living and working in foreign locales.”
In addition, “According to a poll in 2021 by the American Psychiatric Association a majority of the 1,000 people surveyed said they experienced mental health impacts from working from home, including isolation and loneliness,” according to the Sacramento Bee.
“With many workers directing all their attention to a computer screen for many hours each day, they may feel drained emotionally and cognitively,” said Dr. Shacunda Rodgers, a clinical psychologist in Sacramento. “When we were working in the office, there was a big boundary between work life and home life,” said Rodgers. “And now that people are working from home and have been working from home for, you know, nearly two years, there’s a loss of boundaries really between work life and home life.”