Remote work in IT. Blessing or silent despair?

More and more employers are switching to fully remote work after the pandemic and abandoning expensive offices. Even those who have never considered hiring remote employees before have found a lot of benefits in this approach, disregarding costly rent and employing skilled developers from all over the world.

For lots of developers working from home came as a blessing as well:

• Better life/balance for one
• More time on a favourite project for others
• Opportunities for travelling
• Your favourite set of furniture and devices
• More time with family. Developer's paradise! Isn't it?

Numerous companies were afraid that productivity would fall down if developers were not in the office and were allowing limited WFH policy before the pandemic or not permitting it at all. But when the crisis came, everybody was forced to do this. Eventually, it appeared productivity raised up.

So seems like it works for everyone, but is it really so?

Why productivity came up? And how it can affect us in the near future?

First of all, we lost the boundaries between home and work and started to push hard. In an office, it is evident when the day begins and when it ends. While at home, more things are happening throughout the day, and we are trying to catch up in the evening when we usually would have already closed the laptop and left the workspace.

At home, it's tougher to estimate how greatly we perform. We have more time without the necessity to travel to an office. Still, at the same time, we try to calculate at least 8 hours of continuous work, forgetting that breaks for coffee and occasional chats with colleagues also were a part of our everyday routine.

Also, without strict lines between work and home, we might get distracted by some not work-related routines. One glance at the letter lying on a table, and you are already figuring out some bureaucratic issue you have to solve. Seen a broken plate? And here we go on Amazon, choosing a new set on plates. And every time you get back to work, it's not clear how much you have been working today, so you never stop until you need to go to bed. Solving some unexpected issues also does not help. You might have problems with the broadband network, broken equipment, an uncomfortable chair, or suddenly your neighbours just started renovation and drilling building fundament. Somebody used to keep you out of those troubles in the office, and here you have to deal with everything on your own.

Those technicalities eat our time and bring anxiety. We never know when we've finished work, and though it happens to most people, we don't see how others behave in their homes, which makes you even more anxious. You don't know how everyone else is doing, and you think you are the only one having troubles while everyone else is enjoying their new precious work-life balance.

We don't see each other anymore. When we used to come to an office, we met people, talked near a coffee machine, and saw how our colleague's moods changed, either in response to anything happening in a team, in a project, in a company or even in their personal life. And there's a place for support and empathy. If changes are global, people often feel the same uncertainty, but it's almost impossible to get this understanding online.
When live interaction is gone, all we have left with are structured meetings with clear answers to routine questions. So sometimes, when you feel down, you believe you are the only one who feels this way. And then you read those reports about everyone's incredible productivity. As a result, you feel guilty, push harder, productivity rises. You feel worse.

Moreover, you might work with the same people for a year, and they will still be strangers to you. Many of us joined new teams when everybody was already working remotely. We've never had lunch together, never had casual drinks Thursday night. And without those after-work conversations and daily little chats, it's harder to work as a team. It's harder to gain trust if everything you know about your colleague is the way they write you reviews. So sometimes, all the communication you see narrows down to criticism of your work. That might create hostility on an unconscious level. You don't really know that person you have never met, and everything you are getting is what you are doing wrong. Well, it hurts. But can you complain? In most cases, you feel like you can't. Your colleagues just do their job, and hey, if they have so much to say about your code, they are probably just so much better, and your code just sucks. (Rise a hand of you even been here).

We all work differently, and while we are together in the office and stay there the same amount of time, it seems like we are all working equally. When you don't see others physically and only see their PRs or comments in different threads, it might be harder to adequately judge how the routine goes for others. And with positive reports and negative comments, you can judge others better and yourself poorly.

Socialisation was a big part of the office's day-to-day routine. It gathered teams together, brought us friends (which is especially important if you, like me, just moved to a different country before the pandemic), helped us trust our colleagues and company, and felt that you are part of a whole.

And apart from feeling lonely, this lack of communication affects us in various ways. We are talking here not just about human social interaction but just about work-related exchanges. When you see your colleagues face to face, even if you are not a skilled face reader, you will know if something is bothering them, if they are not keeping up with the task, and if there's some technical issue. People sometimes get stuck and keep struggling on their own, though if you just see it and ask, there's a better chance they will tell you the reason, and you can either fix it together or just listen. When you say things out loud, this action on its own sometimes helps you to combine thoughts together and find a decision. But when you communicate only through messenger, you never know when things are getting wrong.

But while some types of communication are lost, you might get too much of the other types.

Family time. Not all family members might feel the same way about spending more time together, and while one of you or both of you were in the office before, you've never faced it earlier, even if you have been living years together. But now, under one roof, you might have different views on how much you both want to work and how much you want to be cuddling watching Netflix. It's good when you have good communication and can talk to each other about everything on your mind, but unfortunately, sometimes you are both in despair and mack each other more and more miserable. And obviously, you love your kids and want to spend more time together, but why do they always run naked in the background while you speak on camera, all suit-up for a crucial meeting?

Another essential routine which was annoying but somehow essential is getting to work, which we don't do anymore. Why that's an issue? Let's see. We love coding. We get sucked by it. We forget to have a meal, we forget to take a walk. At first, it feels like a blessing, oh mine, I don't need to get under this cold rainy weather and can just stay wrapped in my cost fluffy (I mean very manly woollen) blanket and knitted socks granny gave me for Christmas, and we are happy. But do you actually leave your home if you don't have to? There's delivery for everything. And getting to work gave us a reason to walk more than from your bed to the table, if you even have a table. You might just open your eyes and open your laptop, which sleeps next to you, and that's it, your workday started.

And what about lunchtime? Often colleagues called you out, and you used to have lunch together and might have a short walk around the office on your way, sit in the sun in nice weather, try various places with different cuisine.

And after this is all gone, you just put the same cereals in the milk, order the same delivery to waste less time and never leave your computer.

It won't take long for your body to react. The less you move, the less you need to eat, the less you eat, the less energy level you have. And sometime later, you actually start to feel worse when you go out, you are getting tired faster, and you don't like it anymore, you move even less, you eat even less, and this all can get very serious. Both physically and mentally. And the worst thing - you don't even notice this. You are working, busy, and don't feel back pain because you don't really use your back. Or legs. So when we notice that smth went wrong, it might be too late already, and recovery will take a lot of time. Recovery from isolation and recovering your mental health might take even longer.

Depending on your life situation, you can face some of those issues, have all of them in different periods or even all at once.

To sum up:

• We are strangers to each other; there is no trust, no bond, and even a sense of hostility sometimes.
• People are just their name and a picture in messages, which might create prejudgement. And the opposite, cultural differences are harder to recognise.
• The only form of communication is scripted polls and criticism.
• You get distracted, can't estimate your work time and spend all day working.
• You don't leave home, forget to get meals and get less and less energy, leading to physical and mental issues.
• Sometimes you really need a runaway from family.
• And on top of all, you always think that everybody is working harder than you.

So what should we do about this?

There are different levels where your actions may have an effect: your personal life, your team and your company if you are in top management.

On the personal level:

• Have fixed working hours. And don't communicate after those hours. It doesn't have to be the same 9 to 6 you had in the office, so you still have remote work benefits and can enjoy extra activity during the sunny day. Simply plan as far as you can, a strict schedule if you like it or just a rough plan for a day, but give yourself a timeframe when you work and when you are doing smth else, don't mix it into one never-ending chaos.
• You know it, of course, but get a dedicated workplace, where everything is suited for work and not distracting or cosy and soft as you like it. But it should be a special place where you do your job and nothing else. Preferably in a separate room from your loved ones.
• And have a backup place. Good if you still have an optional office to go to, but if you don't, find one favourite cafe with good wifi or a friendly co-working space nearby. Do it in advance, so you know where to go if suddenly all the neighbours decide to sing their favourite karaoke on high volume.
• Go for a walk. Every day. During the first lockdown, the best thing that happened to me was a shitty internet provider, cutting my connection every day at 1pm for 3 hours. So I just had to walk. And I suddenly noticed it gets better. And all this noisy bubble around my head disappears. And if I repeat it every day or just don't comes back. Walking might feel like a waste of time, but it does help, and you can listen to audiobooks while doing this or talking to friends.
• Meet other people. Even if you think your spouse is the best person in the world. Get out and bring some fresh thoughts back to the family. If you live alone and hate people, still go meet them. It might feel good.
• Do some sports, go out for good quality food, it's a good start to keep yourself healthy and meet new people outside of work.
• Get psychotherapy if you think you might need it. That's ok, everybody needs it at some time in life.
• Don't judge yourself, don't compare yourself with others, and do your work. Sometimes we think we must work at least 8 hours a day and believe that working means actual code writing, and when there's no end to a workday, we just continue working. But in real life, communication takes a lot of time, and for higher positions, you might spend 0 hours during the day writing code. That's ok. It does not mean you were not working.

At the team level:

• Have working hours. Again. And don't communicate after those hours. Especially don't start the conversation. Sometimes you think it's easier just to write what's on your mind in the middle of the night and be done with it but think of your colleague who might be thinking he is obligated to answer right now. And write it in your notes and send it in the morning.
• Have team buildings. Whenever it's virtual or offline, find some time, make it regular, get to know your colleagues more than just commenters on your reviews, know them as people and you might actually like them and start to trust them.
• Use cameras more often. Don't hide behind the avatar.
• Write something nice in reviews as well, and appreciate the work of the others.
• Ask your teammates occasionally what is happening in their work and life (works better if you've met personally but will work anyway). Sometimes people are overwhelmed but don't think their thoughts are valuable. It's nice to share how your vacation went, and again, you can find smth in common, and your team might become a pleasant environment, not just pictures with names.

On a company level

• Care about employees. Not just say it to create a better picture in mass media, but treat people like a valuable part of a whole, not just replaceable numbers. The example you give on a top-level is the starting point for company culture.
• Sign a contract with a psychological service. You might hire a psychologist as an alternative, but people might feel safer if they speak about their problems with someone outside of the workplace.
• If you don't have resources for professional help, some of your employees might be interested in volunteering and speaking with those who don't feel they can openly talk to a teammate. Just make sure this is anonymous and doesn't spread outside of a safe space.
• Have regular company-wide meetings. Share what's going on globally in a company. Make occasional demos and show people their work is appreciated. And have Q&A sessions with stakeholders.

We can do plenty of things to make everyday work life better. So speak up and bring some of them to reality. And if you feel down, remember - you are not alone.