Does Homeworking Have a Downside?

Like many people over the Covid19 pandemic, I had to switch from face-to-face, to operating online. Switching to homeworking has a number of benefits. It can make the timing of work more flexible. Tasks can be completed around other committments. Operating online, also cuts down travel. For many people, this includes the daily commute. This saves time and money. Homeworking, by limiting travel, also reduces 'greenhouse gas' emissions, something that is urgently required to counter climate change. It must also improve air quality, especially in city locations. It limits congestion. Some people have, however, found it difficult to 'switch off' (or, in some cases were not allowed to switch off) when home working. It is also self-evident that, working online is much easier when for people who are IT literate and have reliable equipment with good connectivity. It works better in some employments than in others. I have been able to do all that I needed to do when homeworking but Have found the experience nothing like as 'rewarding' as interacting with actual people. So, is this unusual? Gillian Tett suggests we may be missing out on some key elements when we work at home (https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/jun/03/the-empty-office-what-we-lose-when-we-work-from-home). Tett points out that anthropologists have told us for decades that, in any work environment, the informal, unplanned interactions and rituals often matter most. She claims, that working in an office, essentially acts as an incidental information exchange. You may even gather information that you didn't know you needed. The information can be passed on in the office or even when eating with workmates in the lunch break. Tett provides many examples of how incidental information, improves efficiency in financiers, xerox machine repairers, the Internet Engineering Task Force (who use 'a rough concensus, to decide decide IT protocols) etc. Tett suggests that the Covid19 pandemic has provided a natural experiment to evaluate homeworking. It seems clear that we will lose something if we all exclusively worked from home. Perhaps there is a middle ground for some commercial activities where most activities can be done from home but with carefully calibrated opportunities to interact face-to-face? Rather obviously the office is also where many people find their friends or even their life partners.