Web Insight: do telecommuters miss the social interaction of the workplace?

With new digital technologies, completing work-related tasks away from the office has become increasingly easy. Telecommuting can be advantageous for a variety of reasons, but it might also have some downsides.

One benefit that workplaces supply is social. One question that arises from the use of digital technology is to the extent to which people would miss their social interactions if they no longer had to come into the office to work.

In the Center’s Digital Future Survey, we asked internet users who have access to the internet at work how much they miss social interaction with their fellow workers if they are not in the workplace.

Almost 20% of respondents (19.9%) strongly agreed with the statement “I really miss social interaction with my fellow workers if I am not at the workplace.” Another 19% somewhat agreed.

On the other hand, 26.5% said that they somewhat disagreed that they really miss social interaction with their fellow workers if they are not at the workplace. Another 9% said that they strongly disagreed.

Different workers are affected differently, but plans to have more work done away from the office certainly need to take the benefits of the social dimension of the workplace into consideration.

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August 12, 2019